From: roger@crux.Princeton.EDU (Roger Lustig)
Subject: Re: On Polish Anti-semitism
Originator: news@nimaster
Reply-To: roger@astro.princeton.edu (Roger Lustig)
Organization: Princeton University
Date: Sun, 11 Oct 1992 06:47:09 GMT

In article <dobo.718777510@swalwell> dobo@cs.UAlberta.CA (W. Dobosiewicz) writes:
>roger@crux.Princeton.EDU (Roger Lustig) writes:

>>[...lots of stuff deleted...]

>>Well, "recently" must mean "within the last decade or so."  After all,
>>around 1968 there were *massive* falsifications of Polish history wrt
>>WWII, the Jews, etc.  Even the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was revised to
>>be understood as more a Polish rebellion than a Jewish one.  See
>>Dawidowicz.

>I consider myself to be well versed in history, but I have not yet heard
>this one. I do not know anybody by the name Dawidowicz, so instead of

Lucy Dawidowicz, _The Holocaust and the Historians_, Harvard, 1981.  Adam
cited the book just a few days ago.  She also wrote _Hitler's War Against
the Jews_.

>seeing him/her, may I ask you to give some details of this revision. I
>really want to know who wanted to "polonize" the Ghetto Uprising and for

Gomulka certainly wanted it, as part of the anti-Semitic campaign of the
government.  Historians whom Davidowicz names as working toward this
goal include Pilichowski, Walichnowski, Poteranski, and others.  The 
Polonization of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising itself was accomplished by
one Eugeniusz Duraczynski, who, according to Davidowicz,

"was obviously trained in Marxist historiography.  Since anti-Nazi
resistance was, according to Duraczynski, logically the province of
the Communist-led proletariat, the Jews, having been primarily
artisans, tradesmen, and profssionals in prewar Poland, could not
have playeda significant role in the resistance movement.  Consequently,
Duraczynski argued, the Warsaw ghetto uprising was accomplished mainly
by Poles: "The Jewish population, first imprisoned in ghettos and later
exterminated in a body, neither participated in principle in the Polish
resistance nor organized a resistance movement of its own (the uprising
in the Warsaw ghetto in the spring of 1943 was the exploit off
barely a few hundred Jewsih combatants armed and supported by the
Polish resistance)." "  (p.118)

She cites: Leon Shapiro's article on Poland in the American Jewish
Year Book for 1971, and a 1974 paper by Krzysztof Dunin-Wasowicz.
(Apologies for missed diacriticals...)

>what silly purposes (after all, Warsaw had its genuine "Polish" uprising
>and there is no need to steal glory from anybody). Until you (or someone
>else) bring in some details, I will suspect this is a malicious
>fabrication.

Sorry, no.  She documents the fabrications and distortions of Jewish
history in wartime Poland that the official historians created in 1968.

>>Well, why not?  I'd *love* to hear how Polish anti-Semitic sentiments
>>grew, why they infected the nationalist parties, why the Aryan legislation
>>of Nazi Germany began to be copied in Poland in the late 30's.  These 
>>causes are the very thing that interests me.

>Could you give ONE example of "Aryan legislation of Nazi Germany" (or
>anything even remotely similar) that was adopted by the parliament of Poland
>in the 30s?

Not by the parliament, but, as I have cited before, by professional
societies of architects, doctors, and engineers.  On the other hand,
many of Poland's political parties were officially anti-Semitic.

>I have to accuse you publicly of spreading lies. 

Accuse Lucy Davidowicz, then; it's her book that I'm relying on.

>As you wanted examples of
>anti-Polish false statements being promoted publicly by American Jews, you
>have a good example now: one produced by yourself.

Could you point it out to me?  I've documented everything I've written
here.

>(Unless, of course, you give the example, in which case I will promptly
>withdraw my accusations with appropriate apologies.)

You know, you might *wait* next time, and just *ask* for the documentation.
Davidowicz's chapter on Poland (pp.88-124, plus copious endnotes) is
well-researched, according to everyone I've asked.

Seriously, before accusing someone of lying, please take the trouble to
find out what they're talking about.  The book is readily available
(Harvard UP keeps things in press) and is meticulously documented.

Roger