From: pawel@tethys.ph.albany.edu
Subject: Re: Nazi camps
Reply-To: pawel@tethys.ph.albany.edu
Organization: SUNYA School of Public Health, Albany, NY
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 92 13:57:39 GMT

In article <1992Sep3.124337.16897@cbnewsl.cb.att.com>, saal@cbnewsl.cb.att.com (samuel.saal) writes:
>In article <87748@netnews.upenn.edu> kkniaz@eniac.seas.upenn.edu
>(Krzysztof W. Kniaz) writes:
>
>>In article <1992Sep2.165613.18689@cbnewsl.cb.att.com>
>>saal@cbnewsl.cb.att.com (samuel.saal) writes:
>
>
>>Nor is mnie, but shall I remind you what sparked the whole discussion?
>>Someone posted a letter to the canadian newspaper , protesting 
>>against the expression" Polish Death Camps", instead of the correct form
>>"Nazi-German Death Camps"; and what did you do? You said : Canadian
>>Newspaper should keep writing about Polish Death Camps, because of the
>>Polish complicity in the holocaust. Now that is a blunt distortion!
>
>Your record is unblemished.  In addition to distorting 50 year old
>history, you are able to distort 5 day old history.  All I was saying
>was that the newspaper's choice of words was technically,
>syntatctically, and semantically correct and defensible.  The camps
                                                           ^^^^^^^^^
>were on Polish soil.  That they didn't chose to find a phrase
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>euphamistic enough to further minimize the connection between Poland
>and the camps should bother no one other than distorters, apologists,
>and revisionists.
>
>>That's way I do not see any difference between you and some Polish
>>apologist: you clearly distort the history! I am not denying crimes
>>commited on Jews by some Poles. I understand , you don't deny
>>many counts of help from Poles toward Jews either.
> ^^^^
>"many" is a relative term.  Unless quantifiable, it is superfluous.
>
>>                                                   But your statement
>>supporting the name of "Polish Death Camps" is an insult to both Jews
>>and Poles who were killed by Nazis.
>
>To Poles, especially those with revisionist motives, it certainly is.  To
>Jews ... NOT!
>-- 
>Sam Saal      kingfish!saal OR saal@kingfish.att.com
>	Vayiftach HaShem et Peah Ha`Aton

  My limited knowledge of English tells me that "Polish camp" means
a camp "owned, ran, supervised" by Poles and is not equivalent to
the statement "the camps were on Polish soil".

  I have serious difficulties with following your logic.  You write
that stating a fact which is true beyond any doubt is a distortion
of history.  What is the 'true' history then ?  The one which is
convenient to you and the one you believe in ?  You seem to obscure
the whole matter by either avoiding the main issue or by escaping
to subjects which are not entirely connected with it.  I do not
see what the problem of Polish anti-semitism has to do with the
very simple fact that death camps were designed, built and ran
by Nazis.  You seem to imply that because of their anti-semitism
Polish people do not have the right to have their history written
truthfully.

  Since you desperately avoid main issue I have doubts whether you
intentions are clean.  Even if the problem of Polish anti-semitism
is so important to you you should not be blinded by it.

  At the and of your letter you seem to speak for ALL the Jews.
Since I do not see why for any Jew admitting simple fact should
pose such a problem I suggest you to speak for yourself.

                                     P.Penczek
Newsgroups: soc.culture.jewish