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Sir, I was very saddened by the article “Two waves of immigration, Poles apart ” by Giles Coren (July 26). The issue of Polish-Jewish relations has been unfairly and deeply falsified in his emotional text. During the Second World War Poland was the target of the Nazi Germany’s aggression, and the Poles themselves were treated as the race of sub-humans. Any sort of assistance given to Jews was punished by death. Such assistance required heroism, as it was not only one’s own life that was put at stake, but also the lives of one’s family. Still, it is the Poles that make up the most of those awarded Israel’s Righteous Among the Nations honour.
I will not make detailed references to the remaining aggressive remarks on Poland, unsupported by any basic historic or geographic knowledge. What I find most important is that the general public, as result of similar publications, should not lose an understanding of what the Holocaust was and who the perpetrators were. In short, Nazi Germany decided to wipe out the whole nation. This was unprecedented in human history. Poland’s role in the tragedy of the Holocaust consists in the fact that the extermination of the Jewish people happened to take place on Polish territory. The author seems to have forgotten that Poles were not responsible for devising and perpetrating this hideous crime.
Polish and Jewish people share many chapters in their histories, for good and for worse. It is not my intention to try to erase the anti-Semitic acts of the past. For more than ten years, the Polish Embassy in London has been hosting scientific conferences of the Institute for Polish-Jewish Studies, during which various aspects of Polish-Jewish co-existence on Polish territory are examined in detail from the scientific point of view. The Institute for National Remembrance in Warsaw publishes successive reports on the subject. Polish political leaders have many times addressed their apologies to the Jewish community.
Poles who are currently arriving in the UK contribute through their hard and dedicated work to the development and prosperity of this country and surely do not deserve the contempt meted out to them by Mr Coren.
Barbara Tuge-Erecinska
The Ambassador of the Republic of Poland to the United Kingdom
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Total ignorance. Nobody wants to conceal the anti-Semitic incidents from my nation's past,but for God's sake,we cannot tolerate putting us in the same "war sack" with Hitler! History repeats itself. Some years ago some journalist called the Nazi camps "Polish camps",just because of their location...
Anna, Warsaw, Poland
I am amazed at the comments on Mr Coren. My countrymen seem totally ignorant about the fact the raison d'etre of the war was a Nazi racial act of conquest against Slavs and Jews. Hence 6m (3m Jews) Poles and 27m Russians/Ukrainians etc.died. In Warsaw 200,000 died fighting (same as UK for WW2!!)
Duncan , Sidcup, UK
Poland will be exposed to such outrageous defamation attacks like this from Mr Coren. This happens because of an obvious weakness and lack of resistance from the current government. Tusk is only weakening Poland, he is a pro-german and pro-russian teddy bear. I fell pity for you Madame. Really
rewident, Warsaw, Poland
Even the title 'Polands role in the Holocaust ' is a pure insult.
Similar to 'Killing Brits and British Crown's role in it'.
Eric, NY, USA
The war and its horrors have been over for 63 years. Very few of the participants and victims are still alive. Isn't it time that their descendants stopped looking for apologies and compensation, and got on with their lives? The Normans wronged some of my ancestors. Where should I go for redress?
Peter Cressall, La Lucila, Argentina
What about jewish role in the comunist terror?
During war many Jews in eastern Poland ocupied by Soviets took part in persecution of polish people : near 1 million Poles were deported to camps and thousands were arrested - in some cases denouncated by Jews! After war Jews killed 3500-6000 Poles.
Ewa, Plock,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Righteous_among_the_Nations Guess who has the first place.
Piotr, Paris,
Polish antisemitism ?
About 400 000 Poles helped Jews during holocaust IN SPITE OF DEATH PENALTY ! Germans killed Poles for every kind of help: for giving a piece of bread or glass of water, making false papers, hiding Jews
Polish organisation Żegota helped 50 000 Jews, but they don't apreciate it
Ewa Białach , Płock,
yes, as a Pole I can say there is too much antisemitism and racism in Poland. Sadly it is true and I don't think Polish government is doing enough to fight it. BUT that does not justify talking rubbish about Poles' participation in Holocaust. So many lies and mistakes simply offend memory of victims
michal, maastricht, holland
I have never experienced a society so permiated with racial hatred and prejudice as Poland. As the ambassador shows, the Polish have yet to deal with this.
Sadly this bigotry has been transplanted to UK through blatant displays of anti-black and anti-homosexual words & deeds amongst migrant Poles.
Pete, Crawley, Britain
No brief response possible but there is a problem, when talking of this horribly complex past, in the habitual use by Poles of Pole and Jew rather than Polish Jew and Polish Catholic. Most Jews in Poland in the 1920s and 1930s identified as Polish and Poles.
Renoir, London, UK
Utter drivel. I have just returned from Poland having been abused and spat at when visiting Auschwitz. Poland is one of the most antisemitic countries on Earth outside of the Muslim world. The UK is catching up fast though. Well done Mr Coren for writing about an unpalatable truth
Jay, London,
Yes, as a Jew with roots in Poland and who has visited there three times I can say that the Coren article is at the least distorted and simplistic regarding Poland. Also it's wrong to equate Poland and Lithuania in these matters. They are two significantly different cases.
T. Bartman, Holden,
Thank you, Ambassador, for your sensible letter. Historic knowledge and common sense are essential to avoid grave misunderstandings between the nations, fuelled by the likes of Mr. Coren.
Jacek, Cumbria, UK