by Prof। Iwo Cyprian Pogonowski 1997

THE LATEST WORD
by Prof. Iwo Cyprian Pogonowski

WHY DOES GEORGE WILL SLANDER POLES? THE ANSWER MAY BE TERRIBLY SIMPLE.

I first learned about George F. Will's anti-Polish views a few years ago when he as well as many others protested against Poland entering NATO. Other times, he mentioned Polish alleged anti-Semitism when there was no need to.
Now the chance of trashing Polish people comes again and Will grabs it. Such a chance appeared as well before J.Gross the author of "Neighbors." Encouraged by Rabbi Israel Singer's, the General Secretary of the World Jewish Congress, statements in 1996 such as " If Poland does not satisfy Jewish claims, it will be publicly attacked and humiliated in the international forum." So it is a plan to deliberately slander Poland's name and manipulate the American public's opinion against Poles. It was permitted to slander Poles now. Both Gross and Will are driven by hatred and fame.
Gross (who is not a historian) while accusing Poles of a vicious crime, failed to truly research the archives. None of them checked reliable sources. Or they did but chose sensationalism over justice. If George F. Will did what a professional journalist should do, he would know that there are always two sides of a story. I say that he based his article on other articles as such and did not read the book. Because if he did, he would know that it's the best example of hoaxes, clumsy, and the best of ridicule. And if he read it and still believed it, he is one naive fellow. His news is old news anyway. The exhumation of the buried exposed some interesting facts.
Conducted by the Institute of National Remembrance against the protests of Jewish leaders but with the presence of young Polish Jews reading prayers revealed about 200 bodies compared to the 1600 expected. Also, 89 shells of German type of weapons were found. With such serious accusations, Polish historians surely hoped for an autopsy, but because of the protest of Jewish groups it wasn't possible. Looks like someone isn't cooperating. Of course, the author would rather keep the original story. It fits the stereotype better of anti-Semitic Polish peasants turned murderers. The "eyewitness" on whose accounts the book is based claimed that Jews were axed with no shots fired, no presence of Nazis troops, appears wrong more than once. Other potential burial sites were checked and no traces of human remains were found. Sorry about that, Mr. Will, no more exciting revelations against Poles. Lawsuits are pending. There is more bad news. The buried victims had jewelry and money on them, which excludes greed as a motive. As it is the degenerate imagination of Szmul Wasersztajn and J.Gross to make up stories about the tortures and "little children being roped together by their legs…then put on pitchforks and thrown into smoldering coals". Almost forgot, the Lenin statue buried among suggests that revenge for Jewish collaboration with Soviets was more likely the reason if Poles committed the crime. Later, the author of "Neighbors" admitted that the number "1600" was symbolic. He does not explain why he based the book on Wasersztajn's accounts of the event alone rather than 29 other Jewish witnesses who had a totally different story to tell. Gross admitted that he made a foolish mistake by naming two more witnesses, one never lived or was near Jedwabne , the other was in …Siberia at the time. What's more interesting is the fact that the documents J.Gross refers to, all say that it was the Germans who carried out the killings not the Poles. How he came to his conclusion puzzles everyone. One of the accused at the trial who came from a respected family, a soldier of the Polish Underground, a prisoner of Pawiak, Aushwitz [Auschwitz - WK.], Sachsenhausen was tortured in the prisons of communist Secret Service for alleged involvement in the killings of Jews. Gross did not mention Jewish collaboration with Soviets because as he said "it is a fact well known in the West." Did George Will know about it or is it news to him? Gross also failed to prepare the reader to objectively view the book by keeping silent about tens of thousands Poles (innocent women and children included) deported from the area to Siberia, by 1941, by the Soviets. Poles, whose names appeared on deportation lists written by Jewish neighbors. Guess who filled the positions of deported Poles? Polish historians accuse the author of "Neighbors" of not using all the information from files available in Polish and German archives as well. I'll say that George Will did not do his homework, but repeated someone else's rubbish. How someone like George F. Will could not distinguish fact from fiction, amazes me and proves that not only American society at large but also the educated ones are showing signs of ignorance and prejudice. Does this carnival of anti-Polish propaganda ever end? Is 60 years of prejudice not enough for American Jews and American media to do what they please? Vicious racial statements like " The hatred of Jews is fed to Poles with mother's milk" are just one of many examples. If George F. Will did not hear about Jewish collaboration, it does not mean that it did not happen, his knowledge of history must be limited then. Not surprisingly, this aspect of living in a Soviet occupied country is never mentioned in "Neighbors." Since the Soviets took over, there were more Jewish denouncers to Soviet authorities in the Lomza district than any other parts of occupied Poland. The trial of the Jedwabne massacre that took place in 1949 was conducted by communist UB (Office of State Security). People like Jakub Berman, Shlomo Morel, and Rubin Nussbaum ruled the country. At a time when according to Arthur Bliss Lane, the American Ambassador in Poland " the government composed of Jews who have received their indoctrination in the Soviet Union and who are responsible for the repressive measures of the Security Police, the lack of freedom of the press, and the lack of independence of the nation". The trial was based on the testimony of one "eyewitness," Szmul Wasersztajn, who claimed to see the massacre although from 3 km away. The number of persons suspected in the crime was 9 (yes, nine) which is far from the 1600 stated by Gross, repeated by Will ("…half of the Polish town murdered the other half" as 1600 was the number of victims). But it stands for 1/200 of the Poles and that hardly represents "the whole Polish community." You tell me how can 9 people without guns terrorize 1600? And if it was possible to fit 1600 Jewish souls (some other "eyewitnesses" claim 2200 and 3300) into one barn, that must have been the largest barn in all of Europe at the time. The original barn was actually big enough to fit less than 400. So, let's say those barbaric Poles locked in the first 400, burned them, then locked the next 400, then burned another 400 and one more group of 400. That way you could fit 1600 or even more. But you can burn the old wooden barn, only once. The book is full of such misrepresentations and the most respected scholars won't touch it knowing how ridiculous some claims are. I was surprised to see that Newsweek picked that story out. The only explanation would be the great anti-Polish propaganda. There is hardly a paper in the US or a TV station that is not a part of it. Why is it that the public hears nothing about Jewish Police or Judenrat in the ghettos or rich Jews who let their poor Jewish brothers suffer and die on the sidewalks while they dined on caviar and collaborated with Germans to buy their way out? Because the US seems to be a country consisting of the greatest censorship among other great things. Freedom of speech applies to the one who has access to the media. And people like J.Gross or George F. Will don't want to give up their "talking stick" just yet. Not until they trash Poland's name completely.