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POLAND, WARSAW, HUNGARY, TOULOUSE, AND CANADA FROM ANTISEMITIC MURDER, TO JEWISH RESCUE & REDEMPTION

THIS WEEK IN HISTORY: THE JEDWABNE POGROM
Tamara Zieve

Jerusalem Post, July 8, 2012

On July 10, 1941, hundreds of Jewish residents of the Polish town of Jedwabne were rounded up, corralled into a barn and burned to death.… Initial accounts pointed to German Nazis—occupying Poland at the time—as the perpetrators of the massacre.

Fifty-nine years later, however, Polish-American historian Jan Gross detracted responsibility from the Nazis, publishing a controversial account of the pogrom entitled Neighbors: The Destruction of the Jewish community in Jedwabne, Poland. Gross stated that while the Germans were in control and allowed the pogrom to occur, it was the Polish residents that actively killed 1,600 of their Jewish neighbors. Gross’s conclusion sparked heated debate over who was responsible for the crimes and how many people were killed in the massacre.…

This in turn led to a three-year investigation into the pogrom, conducted by Poland’s Institute of National Memory (IPN). On December 19, 2001, IPN officials announced “that no proof whatsoever was uncovered during the investigation of any armed German unit coming to Jedwabne on 10 July,” a conclusion which backed Gross’s findings.

Tackling the second question of how many people were killed in the pogrom, in June 2001 the IPN carried out an exhumation of the two mass graves in which victims were buried. A memorial monument built in the 1960s at the side of the barn where the victims were killed concurred with Gross’s count of the dead.…

The overall investigation revealed that some 40 Polish residents of Jedwabne took an active part in the pogrom.… Reconstructing the events of July 10, 1941 the IPN stated: “From the morning hours the routing of the Jewish populace from their homes and assembly in the town square went on. They were ordered to pull out the grass protruding from between the stones with which the square was paved.”

The report continued: “Acts of violence and force were committed against those assembled. They were committed by residents of Jedwabne and the vicinity, and of Polish nationality. When questioned, numerous witnesses indicated the arrival in Jedwabne on that day of uniformed Germans. Those Germans, probably in a small group, assisted in the operation of leading the victims to the square, and there their active role ended.”

A group of some 50 Jewish men, including the local rabbi and kosher butcher, were forced to destroy the Lenin bust in the square and later carry a fragment of it to the barn on wooden stretchers, according to the report. “The victims of that group were annihilated in an unknown manner and their bodies were flung into a pit dug inside the barn. Fragments of the smashed Lenin bust were thrown on top of the corpses.”

A larger group of…Jews were led away from the square one-and-a-half hours later. They were led into a wooden, thatched-roof barn belonging to Bronislaw Sleszynski. After it was closed, the building was likely drenched with kerosene from the supply dump left by the Soviets, the IPN asserted.

Courts of the Polish People’s Republic in 1949 tried 21 Poles on suspicion of participating in the pogrom. One was sentenced to death, ten were sentenced to 8-15 years in prison and ten others were pronounced not guilty. No additional living suspects were found.…

On July 11, 2011 Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski asked for forgiveness at a ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of the Jedwabne massacre: “Today, Poland can still hear the never-fading cry of its citizens,” Komorowski said. “Once again, I beg forgiveness.” Elan Steinberg, vice president of the American Gathering of Holocaust Survivors and their Descendants, welcomed the apology as an “important step in the confrontation with the truth by the Polish nation,” which emphasized that “the Holocaust was not solely a German affair.”

Two months after the ceremony on September 1, 2011, anti-Semitism reared its ugly head once again, as vandals defaced the Jedwabne memorial site, covering it with racist inscriptions and swastikas in green paint. Vandals also smeared a wall surrounding the memorial with signs saying “They were highly flammable” and “I’m not sorry for Jedwabne.”

A JEWISH WEDDING IN WARSAW
Michael Freund

Jerusalem Post, May 30, 2012

[Recently], hundreds of guests milled about, chatting amiably as they awaited the start of the joyous ceremony.

Bedecked in white, the striking bride made her way down the aisle, each step drawing her closer to the wedding canopy where her groom stood smiling broadly. As a light breeze stirred the air, the wife-to-be circled her intended seven times in the traditional manner, her eyes closed in concentration as she uttered a silent prayer.

After the rabbi guided the young couple through the rituals that would culminate in the forging of their matrimonial bond, a glass was shattered to recall the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. Cries of “Mazel Tov” rang out, which were hastily followed by blissful and energetic dancing, as the guests pushed forward to take part in the celebration.

From New York to London to Tel Aviv, it is a scene that has become fairly common, as a new generation comes of age and fashions the next link in the chain of Jewish destiny. But this was no ordinary Jewish wedding. What made it unique was that it took place in Warsaw.

That’s right: Warsaw, the Polish capital. Less than seven decades after the Germans and their henchmen murdered over 90 percent of Poland’s three million Jews, the city is once again witnessing a revival of Jewish life.

The once unthinkable has now become reality: there is a minyan three times a day at Warsaw’s Nozyk synagogue, and a well-stocked kosher store offers a wide array of items. There is even a kosher falafel stand that has opened near the synagogue. If gastronomy is any guide, Warsaw’s Jews are definitely on the upswing. The city also now boasts a number of Jewish social, cultural and educational institutions.…

The miracle taking place in Warsaw—and that is truly what it is—is largely thanks to the efforts of one very dedicated man: Polish Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich, who has been working in the country for nearly two decades, devoting himself to rebuilding Jewish life. Where others saw only devastation, he saw opportunity, a chance to salvage something from amid the ashes.

All across Poland, there are untold thousands of people who have been discovering, or rediscovering, their Jewish roots in recent years.… Known as the “hidden Jews” of Poland, many of their forebears were forced to conceal their Jewish identity because of Nazism and Communism. With the fall of the Iron Curtain, and the changes that have taken place in Polish society, it is now much easier for people to “come out of the Jewish closet” and explore their heritage.

To be sure, anti-Semitism remains a significant problem in Poland, and no one is under any illusions that Polish Jewry will once again recoup its pre-war glory. But the Jewish people have an obligation to reach out to Poland’s “hidden Jews” and help them to recover their birthright. After nearly being snuffed out by Hitler and his henchmen, and then quashed by Stalin and his surrogates, the indestructible Jewish spirit somehow managed to survive.…

As I stood and watched [the] wedding in Warsaw, I suddenly felt as if I was catching a glimpse of a profound and undeniable truth. However bleak our situation might be, and regardless of the challenges we face, let no one have any doubts: the Eternal One will never abandon His people Israel.

BANDWAGON ANTI-SEMITISM AFTER THE TOULOUSE MURDERS
Manfred Gerstenfeld

Condemnations poured in after Mohammed Merah, a Frenchman of Algerian origin murdered a Jewish teacher and three children at the Otzar HaTorah school in Toulouse in March. Then-French President Nicolas Sarkozy visited the school after the murders. He and his challenger, François Hollande—who was subsequently elected President—halted their campaigning for two days out of respect for the victims. The condemnations not only came from France, including from several Muslims, but from all over the world. The King of Morocco even sent a delegation to the school to offer condolences.

Yet, there were also other reactions to the murders. The school received many hate emails and threats soon after. It has recently become known that in the aftermath of the Toulouse massacre, anti-Semitism in France increased greatly. The Jewish community’s protection service, SPCJ documented more than 90 anti-Semitic incidents during the ten days following the murders at the school.

The French Interior Ministry documented 148 anti-Semitic incidents in March and April, 43 of which were classified as violent. This was more than double the figure for the same months in 2011. The last violent incident in April happened in Marseille, where a Jewish man and his friend were assaulted by attackers who said they were Palestinians and wanted to exterminate the Jews. The SPCJ published its report after another violent attack on June 2nd against three Jews in Villeurbanne near Lyon. It stated that these attacks reflected the empathy that some have shown toward Merah. After yet another anti-Semitic attack in the Paris suburb of Sarcelles, Interior Minister Manuel Valls attended a religious service there to show his sympathy for the Jewish community.

In the present century, major outbursts of anti-Semitic incidents in Western Europe have usually been linked to developments in the Middle East. This was the case during the second Intifada in 2000, the second Lebanon war in 2006, and Israel’s Cast Lead operation in Gaza in 2008-2009.

These waves of anti-Semitic violence differed greatly from three earlier post-war ones. In the second half of the previous century, there were three upsurges of anti-Semitic violence: the “Swastika Epidemic” (1959-60), one in the late 1970’s-early 1980’s, and one between 1987-early 1990’s. These incidents were studied by anti-Semitism expert Simon Epstein. He concluded that these waves were governed by some autonomous laws. In other words, they were “bandwagon” types of anti-Semitism. Someone initiates the incidents and others unconnected to him carry out additional ones.

The aftermath of the Merah killings may thus indicate a frightening perspective. Not only can developments in the Middle East greatly increase anti-Semitic incidents abroad, but a major act of anti-Semitic violence can also ignite many other similar incidents. The perpetrator of such aggression may thus think that the impact of his crime is not only on those whom he aggresses against but also on others he indirectly causes to be attacked.

There are at least two lessons to be drawn from developments after the Merah murders. One is that sympathy with the Jewish community or with the victims—while very welcome—is overshadowed by the violence coming from an assortment of origins. The most clearly identifiable ones are elements in the Muslim community. This shows that the forces of evil, no matter how small, can often overcome the forces of good.

It is this reality which many are seemingly unable to understand. Much effort is undertaken in Europe to fight anti-Semitism, including through Holocaust education. However substantial the effort made to tell people that anti-Semitism is intolerable, its impact lags behind what evildoers can accomplish in contemporary European societies. Defamation and delegitimization are easy to carry out. Fighting them is extremely difficult.

Another lesson is less transparent. Once a certain narrative has permeated societies, various bandwagon effects increase. The Merah epigones were probably marginal in society. In the mainstream however, other types of  bandwagon effects appear in many other areas. For instance: if at dinner parties the dominant dialogue is anti-Israeli, those who want to curry favor with the host or show that they conform to the dominant mood chime in, while those who have pro-Israel opinions may remain silent. Once this type of bandwagon has enough participants, they are often self-sustaining and people get on board for social rather than ideological reasons.

In the academic world, if leading professors of a university department happen to be anti-Israel, junior staff can succeed in their career plans if they adopt their views. The same often goes for students who want to get good grades. Somewhat similar bandwagon effects occur with reporters who write for anti-Israeli TV stations, or with many European newspaper correspondents in Israel. The bandwagon effects against Israel in Europe have never been properly investigated, yet they are likely a major force in the huge bias against it.

(Dr. Manfred Gerstenfeld has published 20 books,
of which several address anti-Israelism and anti-Semitism.

MOHAMED MERAH REMINDS CANADA OF AL-QAEDA
Editorial

National Post, July 9, 2012

On Sunday, TF1, a television station in France, aired recorded excerpts of the final conversations between local counter-terror police officers and Mohamed Merah, the Toulouse gunman who killed three soldiers, three young Jewish children and the father of two of the children, during a killing spree in March. Merah claimed to be acting on behalf of an al-Qaeda network, punishing Jews and the French military for crimes committed against Islam.

Merah was eventually killed in a shootout with police on March 22. But not before French police tried to talk him into surrendering. During those negotiations, Merah claimed to have been tasked with carrying out jihadist terror attacks in the United States and Canada.

The authenticity of these claims cannot be verified.… Even so, Canadian media were quick to pick up on the story and the hint of al-Qaeda’s interest in striking our homeland. Plots to attack the United States and Israel, and even some of our European allies, are old news—but Canadians remain intrigued by any notion that we too may be targets.

We should always be vigilant about such risks. But there is no longer any reason to be surprised when, as happens from time to time, intelligence chatter indicates that Canada and Canadians are on al-Qaeda’s hit list. We generally have less to worry about than the higher profile and, therefore, more attractive (from a jihadist’s perspective) targets next door in the United States. But as a secular liberal democracy, Canada is still a ripe target for attack in its own right.…

WALLENBERG: A MOMENT OF REFLECTION
Irwin Cotler

Jerusalem Post, July 12, 2012

Tuesday, July 17, will mark an important moment of remembrance and reminder in the Knesset, as Israel commemorates the centenary of the birth of Raoul Wallenberg, an honorary citizen of Israel, the US and Canada, a Swedish non-Jew who saved more Jews in four months in Hungary in 1944 than any single government.

The disappeared hero of the Holocaust—who embodied the Talmudic idiom that ‘if you save a single life, it is as if you have saved an entire universe’—confronted the Nazi killing regime and showed that not only that one person can confront evil and one person can resist evil, but that one person can prevail, and thereby transform history.

His incredible heroism including:

• The granting of Shutzpasses—passes conferring diplomatic immunity on their recipients—which survivors have told me were crafted by Wallenberg in such a way that they appeared to be even more authentic in their design than the original, and which inspired others to do the same. By this remedy alone, some 20,000 Jews were saved.

• Establishing an international save haven of 32 safe houses—as they came to be known—protected by neutral legations. Some 32,000 people were saved through this initiative alone.

• The organization of hospitals, soup kitchens, and day care centers—the staple of international humanitarian assistance—which provided women, children, the sick, the elderly—the most vulnerable of victims—with a semblance of human dignity in the face of the worst of all horrors and evils.

• In October 1944, as the Hungarian Arrow Cross—the Nazi puppet government—organized mass deportations to the death camps, Wallenberg went down to the trains, distributed the Shutzpasses, and gave life to those consigned to death.

• In November 1944, as thousands of Jews—mainly women and children—were sent on a 125-mile death march, Wallenberg followed, distributing food, medical supplies and improvised Shutzpasses, once again saving people destined for death.

• To the Nazi desk murderer Adolph Eichmann, Wallenberg was the Juddenhund—the Jewish dog—but to those he was saving, and those he saved, he will always be known and remembered as “the guardian angel.”

Wallenberg’s last rescue was perhaps his most memorable. As the Nazis were advancing on Budapest and threatening to blow up the city’s ghetto and liquidate the remnants of some 70,000 Hungarian Jews, Wallenberg put the Nazi generals on notice that they would be held accountable for their crimes, brought to justice—if not executed—for their war crimes and crimes against humanity. The Nazi generals desisted from their assault on Budapest and some 70,000 more Jews were saved, thanks to the indomitable courage of one person prepared to confront radical evil.

While Wallenberg saved so many, he was not saved by so many who could. Rather than greet him as the liberator he was, the Soviets—who entered Hungary as liberators themselves—imprisoned Wallenberg. He disappeared into the Soviet Gulag, with the Soviets continuing to claim that he died in July 1947.…

I will close by recommending that Israel establish, like Canada did, a Raoul Wallenberg commemorative day to be marked on January 17—the date of his disappearance—so that Israelis, particularly young Israelis, can learn about, reflect upon and act upon his humanitarian legacy.… In a word, Wallenberg demonstrated how one person, having the compassion to care and the courage to act, can make a profound difference. Indeed, Wallenberg made that profound difference in Jewish and human history.

(Irwin Cotler is a member of Canada’s parliament
and the country’s former minister of justice and attorney-general.
)

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