The Polish government has announced that it
will make referring to Nazi concentration camps that were situated in occupied
Poland as “Polish concentration camps” punishable. Where will the offenders be
sent?
The Poles have for a long time, rightly
objected to the fallacious referral to the Nazi camps as Polish. However, we should
not forget that many Poles were virulent and sometimes even murderous
anti-Semites. Indeed pogroms took place after the war had ended, in which Poles
killed Jews who were trying to return to their homes in Poland.
Moreover, considering the exceptionally high
level of anti-Semitism still to be found in Poland: 45% in Poland compared to
16% in Germany and 11% in the UK, the Polish government should perhaps
concentrate its resources on fighting anti-Semitism and educating its own
population against racist xenophobia.
Worryingly, the current administration, as
well as public and media sentiment is going wildly nationalistic. Is there a
way of sending Poland out of the EU until they start behaving again? Countries
such as Poland should be shown a yellow card. Perhaps even a red one.
I think the offenders should be sent to Ramallah.
ReplyDeleteMichael
Only 16% in Germany, just 11% in the UK?
ReplyDeleteI wonder where those figures might be coming from and how reliable they can possibly be. As is well known, the borders between antisemitism, antizionism or plain hostilty toward Israel are blurring ever more. The terms have become interchangable to a large extent. In Germany and the UK it is no longer politically correct to admit an attitude of good old antisemitism. So one voices "criticism" of Israel. Some even call it a "Pariah state". That this is acceptable with reference to Israel, but not to Syria, Libya, Mali, Somalia, Turkey, Ukrainia, Irak, etc. etc. proves, in my opinion, that it is merely veiled antisemitism.
I doubt therefore, that the above figures for Germany and the UK reflect the true attitude of their respective populatins. My guess is that they disregard the fashionable camouflage with which antisemitism is voiced these days.
It could be that Poles have no such compunctions. Many of them admit to their antisemitism and do so with pride.