LET THE PREYING BEGIN!

The door is opening to reveal the goal at which all the earlier vilification has been leading. Remember the word "Jedwabne." If you have not heard it already, you will be hearing it until you want to scream. Jedwabne is a town in Poland where it is now being claimed that Poles, not Germans, viciously murdered Jews during World War II.

A book by Prof. Jan Tomasz Gross called "Neighbors: The Story of the Annihilation of a Jewish Town" ["Sadiedzi: Historia zagady zydowskiego miasteczka"] makes its English language debut on April 1, 2001. Published in Polish last year, it has already caused a small furor there, but turning American opinion against Poland is the big prize and the leaders of Jewish organizations are gearing up for a major explosion of anti-Polish fervor. The "New York Times" plans to print major segments in serial form, preparing the public for a prolonged session of Poland-bashing.

Why put Poland in such a difficult position? Prof. Norman G. Finkelstein, himself a Jew, makes it clear in his book "The Holocaust Industry: Reflections on the Exploitation of Jewish Suffering." As the courageous Finkelstein explains, those interested in making hay on the bones of the Holocaust have drained all they can from the Germans, Swiss and Austrians. The billions that he reveals have been misappropriated for political causes, often withheld from those who actually suffered, are whitewashing the real wartime culprits. And so, the next target is the nation in Eastern Central Europe that is advancing the fastest and becoming financially ready for picking. You guessed it, Poland is next in line for a monetary raping.

It is a little more difficult for the Holocaust Industry, however, to place the leeches on the skin of Poland. After all, even after decades of purposefully using terms such as "Polish death camps" and "Polish Nazis," even after two generations have been taught that "Poles drink anti-Semitism with their mothers milk," even after fifty years of claiming that "the Poles were worse than the Nazis," not all the world is convinced. Particularly important, the Poles resisted the calumnies and some Polish Americans, such as President Edward J. Moskal, President of the Polish National Alliance and Polish American Congress, valiantly defended the truth and accepted the epithets hurled at them. The lies were repeated to them so often that most American Jews accepted them, but, on the other hand, most other Americans were only confused.

Now then, in order to "break the bank," is the time to stick the knife deeply into the back of your neighbor and, once and for all, convince Americans so completely that Poles were the real villains of WWII and thereby force Poland, which still deeply needs the moral and financial support of the United States, to pay the extortion or face international approbation.

It's simple. Forget centuries of Polish-Jewish mutual history, forget that Poland was once the European haven of Jewry, forget that thousands of Poles sacrificed their lives to save their Jewish neighbors, forget that Polish priests and nuns harbored Jewish children from the German terror. Remember but one thing: "Remember Jedwabne."

The topper on all this is that, even though the so-called proof is spotty at worst, based on questionable testimony at best, a cowardly Polish government is admitting to anything placed against it, apparently hoping that its breast-beating will assuage Jewish demands and calm international nerves. Prime Minister Buzek is hanging his head in shame and Foreign Minister Bartoszewski is hitting his head against a Polish wailing wall, while the underlings are drying tears of conscience from their reddened eyes.

Leading the pack of weak-kneed Poles is Prof. Leon Kieres, President of Poland's quasi-governmental Institute of National Remembrance, who admits to anything and everything, having an instinctive notion that all Poles are barbarians anyway. He is aided and abetted by the Polish Embassy in Washington, D.C., which issued a press release stating that Kieres told a New York rabbi "that the Jews of Jedwabne were murdered by Poles." It is hard to determine what sort of guilty plea Kieres entered at that private meeting, but Kieres admitted in public only that "there were Jews who had died at the hands of Poles," leaving at least somewhat open the important questions of how many, under what circumstances, and whether there was duress. Emulating the processes of former Nazi and Communist regimes, he announced the institution of an investigation at the same time as he assigned the guilt. Why bother with the investigation; it is obvious, in the world of Kieres and his compatriots, financially stressed Poland should save the money devoted to finding facts and simply commit national suicide. Fall penitently in the face of extortion; roll out the barrels of money and win salvation!

An investigation of sorts, we suppose will be conducted, but it will always be one of those exercises in futility, satisfying almost no one except the benefactors of the resultant pay-off. Far-right rabbis have declared that the bodies of the Jedwabne victims cannot be exhumed, as anyplace where Jews are murdered becomes sacred ground, a claim that familiar to anyone who ever heard of Auschwitz and an insult to moderate Jewish theology. Some have contended that the witnesses from Gross' book, most of whom could not have been near the scene, present questionable testimony. The story that herds 1,600 persons into a barn for burning is difficult to accept by those who know the minute size of such Polish structures. The role of the occupying Germans, whether total, partial or inflammatory, has been described in ways that present widely differing perspectives. Moreover, the clear bias of author Gross is itself a matter worthy of discussion.

All of the foregoing is not to suggest that no single Pole was involved in the terrible atrocities alleged at Jedwabne. We simply do not know, in the absence of an honest investigation and properly conducted research, what happened at that unhappy place or who was guilty of any criminal acts. Surely, any Pole who may have played a part in the atrocity should be held accountable, but, together with the Polish nation, should be considered innocent until proven guilty.

It appears unlikely, however, that there will be a full investigation or anything resembling an honest judgment. The investigation has been perverted, a trial will not be held and the judgment has been already rendered. Poland will be moved from the book of victims to the list of villains, all with the willing participation of Poland's glorious leaders. Let the preying begin!

Original

T. Ron Jasinski-Herbert, Polonia Today, 0000-00-00

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