Jan T Gross Rebutted Why Rescuers Covert Nowak

Nowe Klamstwa Grossa, by Jerzy Robert Nowak. 2006

Contra FEAR: A Valuable Unmasking of the Frauds of Jan T. Gross

THE NEW LIES OF [JAN T.] GROSS is the title of this Polish-language book. As always, Jan T. Gross tells untruths and half-truths, plays fast and loose with the facts, and even repeats decades-old guttural Communist propaganda. Yet, writing to a German audience, Adam Michnik vel Szechter [Readers: Get your air-sickness bags] glorifies Gross to the point of comparing him to eminent Polish writers such as Mickiewicz. (p. 12).

THE MEME OF CATHOLIC CHURCH INDIFFERENCE TO JEWS

Gross grossly (pardon the pun) mischaracterizes Catholic clergy, notably Cardinal Sapieha, as coolly indifferent to the fate of Jews. (pp. 24-25). As one of the correctives, Nowak cites ZAGLADA ZYDOW W KRAKOWIE by Aleksander Bieberstein.

As usual, Gross belittles the WWII Polish rescuers of Jews. Nowak cites historian Jan Zaryn and his estimate of 1 million Poles assisting Jews in some way. (p. 13). This comes out to 3.6% of ethnic Poles–hardly a trivial figure.

JAN T. GROSS MISCHARACTERIZES THE SOURCES HE CITES

Nowak (pp. 70-71) takes Gross to task for misrepresenting Zygmunt Klukowski’s DIARY FROM THE YEARS OF OCCUPATION 1939-44. All along, while gratuitously bashing Poles, Gross ignores the main source of help for the Germans in their destruction of Poland’s Jews. It was the Judenrat and Jewish ghetto police, which Nowak details profusely.

JAN T. GROSS REPEATS LONG-DISCREDITED, FANTASTIC NUMBERS

Incredibly, Gross repeats the refuted figure of 1,600 Jedwabne dead even though a forensic dig has proved the actual toll as about 300–only five times smaller. (p. 16). Gross misquotes the IPN Jedwabne Commission as calling attention to “many Jedwabnes” in the Podlasie region, in which Poles murdered a total of many thousands of Jews. Actually, the Commission writes of Jedwabne and Radzilow with each a “few hundred” Jewish dead, along with other places in which a few to about 15 Jews perished. (p. 47). [Gross makes his argument in the context of supposed “massive Polish-German collaboration”. Is Gross there tacitly backing off his original premise that Poles acted alone in killing Jedwabne’s Jews, while the Germans only watched and took photographs?]

KIELCE POGROM HORROR STORIES

Gross tells us that “one-quarter” of Kielce participated in the pogrom (that is, over 12,000 Poles) when actually the crowd (mostly onlookers) never exceeded 500. (p. 35). He calls Kielce the bloodiest pogrom in peacetime 20th century European history, even though, costing 37 Jewish and 3 Polish lives, it was dwarfed the Russian pogroms at Odessa (1905, over 400 Jews killed), Kishinev (1903, 45 Jews killed and 600 wounded) and the German Kristallnacht (1938; 91 Jews killed.)(pp. 34-35). He repeats the lie about anti-Communist Polish Scouts participating in the pogrom even though they had been framed: Their “admission” of guilt had been extracted by torture of the teenagers. (p. 39).

POLES (AND JEWS) ENJOYED THEMSELVES WHILE JEWS (AND POLES) SUFFERED

One oft-repeated Polonophobic tall tale is the one, based on Czeslaw Milosz’ CAMPO DI FIORI, of Poles, while riding on a carousel, enjoying themselves at the same time that the Jews were getting burned in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Gross does not disappoint. Nowak points out that the carousel was not even operating at the time. (p. 35). But even it was, it means nothing. It was completely normal for those going through a war to enjoy themselves, and otherwise attempt a semblance of normal living, whenever possible, notwithstanding all the suffering and carnage going on around them!

WHY DID POLISH RESCUERS OF JEWS TEND TO KEEP IT COVERT?

Another myth is the one about Polish rescuers of Jews being afraid of postwar mentions of their actions for fear of popular anti-Semitic disapproval. Some of the instances cited by Gross are bogus. (p. 65). Otherwise, there was a disinclination to admit Jew rescue because some neighbors may not react positively upon learning that their lives had been endangered. The Communists caused most of the fears of acknowledging Jew rescue. They arrested people known to have aided Jews, reasoning that such people are potentially dangerous in that they, having successfully deceived the Germans, have good conspiratorial skills, are likely to have ties to the Polish Underground etc. (pp. 58-61). [Also, being of a clearly activist mindset, such people are dangerous: They may now turn any anti-Communism they feel into practical action.].

POLES PORTRAYED AS GREEDY EXPLOITERS OF JEWS

Throughout the German occupation, it was the Germans who were the heavy-handed despoilers of not only Jewish but also Polish properties. (p. 16). Gross conveniently forgets this as he tries to demonize Poles as greedy thieves of Jewish property.

JAN T. GROSS (AND TOO MANY OTHER JEWS) MISREPRESENT POLISH ENMITY TOWARDS HOLOCAUST-SURVIVING JEWS AS THE NORM

Jan T. Gross focuses on a few instances of Poles being hostile to Holocaust-surviving Jews coming back to reclaim their properties, and tries to pass this off as something that often happened. It did not. Nowak cites several authoritative sources that make it clear that, in the vast majority of instances, Jewish property reacquisition occurred without incident. (pp. 72-75). Nowak reminds us that Poles also lost properties, and that tardiness in return of property was caused by the Communist government’s antipathy to private ownership of property. (p. 75).

In addition, the shoe is on the other foot. Hilary Minc, one of the many Jewish Communists in the Soviet-imposed puppet government, had a heavy hand in expropriating Poles of their properties. (p. 76).

THE ZYDOKOMUNA: AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH

Gross tries to deny or downplay the Zydokomuna (Judeo-Bolshevism) through various canned exculpations and non sequiturs–such as “Jews were victims of Communism”. (p. 120). Even if true, since when does one prevent the other? [In addition, Gross’ reasoning assumes that Jews in positions of power necessarily cared about the lot of Jewish commoners.] Ironically, the more true Communist anti-Semitism was, the more untrue was the argument that Jews welcomed Communism as a haven from anti-Semitism.

Jan T. Gross would have us believe that “very few” Jews supported Communism. Nowak rebuts this by citing Hersh Smolar, who stated the exact opposite. (pp. 272-273).

We also hear the silly line that Jewish Communists were no longer Jews. Nowak shows how Jewish Communists identified with at least the revenge aspects of Judaism (pp. 191-196). Jewish Communists were granted burials in Jewish cemeteries, and Israel welcomed and protected various named justice-fleeing Jewish Communists. (pp. 134-135).

Predictably, Gross also tries to confuse the issue bringing up Feliks Dzierzynski [Dzerzhinsky]. The essential difference is this: Whereas Poles are well aware of, and are ashamed of, “Bloody Felek”, Jews don’t seem to feel the same about his many murderous Jewish counterparts, such as M. S. Uricki, J. Unszlicht, I. Jakir, B. Kun, G. Jagoda, N. A. Frenkel, M. Berman, and L. Rajchman. (p. 134). [In addition, Dzierzynski, if anything, is the exception that proves the rule. Dzierzynski had been a highly-Judaized Pole. His colleagues, lovers, and eventual wife were all Jewish Communists. See my review of CHEKA, by Leggett.]

To counter Gross’ intellectual dishonesty about the Zydokomuna, Nowak presents a great deal of evidence of the massive scale of Jewish-Communist collaboration in the USSR and, not only Poland, but also other satellite nations. For instance, he quotes Jewish historian Walter Laqueur on the fact that 76%-91% of high-level Soviet functionaries in the 1920’s were Jews (p. 123), who were ~2% of USSR’s population. As for the abundance of Jews in not only the Polish security forces (U. B., or Bezpieka), but also among various Communist institutions, Nowak mentions Polish patriots such as General Emil Fieldorf “Nil” and Witold Pilecki, who were tried and murdered Jews. (pp. 178-on). [For more on this, see my review of BESTIE, by Pluzanski.]

TWO SIDES TO JEWS

Far from being an anti-Semite, as he is (surprise) sometimes accused, Nowak honors Jews who rescued Poles during Stalinist times. (pp. 276-277). He also has a list of Polonophile Jews (p. 294), and he wishes that these were the ones, instead of Polonophobes such as Jan Gross, that are honored at Polish universities.

Would that ever happen!