Hamburg’s newspaper “Der Spiegel” have posted last week an article about Holocaust, blaming European countries, including Poland, for collaboration and helping Germans to exterminate Jews. Furthermore, the newspaper claims that the number of Jews killed in the concentration camps would be much smaller without the help of non-German actors.
Poland has responded with a harsh critique of the article, pointing out that without Germans there would be no Holocaust at all. The newspaper then answered in a somehow mocking tone, accusing Polish president of being too afraid to admit to these historical facts and trying to play the victim on the European arena.
These quarrels between the Polish government and German newspaper, and the internal tensions between Polish newspapers (Dziennik and Rzeczpospolita criticquing Spiegel and Wyborcza critiquing Dziennik and Rzeczpospolita) had caused a great debate in the Polish public sphere.
Are we afraid of historical facts then, I ask? It does not take a historian to know that there were people everywhere in Europe who were strong Anti-Semites, and did what they could to help Nazis kill Jews. Anti-semitism is as old as Judaism itself, therefore denying these facts would simply be unwise. Yet, there is a difference between admitting that some Polish people were Anti-Semites, and between claiming that majority of Polish citizens actively took part in the Holocaust.
Der Spiegel mentions the experiment of Milgram, which showed how obedience makes people evil. The experiment shown that in the presence of an authority and without the possibility to discuss and reflect upon one’s actions, individuals are likely to do evil things, partly because they enjoy pleasing the authority, feel that they are a part of something significant, but most importantly because they do not find themselves guilty of their actions. The authority in their view takes the responsibilty on himself. Somehow, they feel as if they are the knife of the butcher: at the end of the day it’s the butcher who is charged with the death of an animal, not the knife. The newspaper seems to justify German’s and others’ actions saying that they were simply obeying the orders of Nazis.
Well, the truth is, that the journalists did not do their research properly. If they did, they would have traced a similar experiment to the one of Milgrams, the experiment of Gamson et el, which researches the question of rebellion. Gamson found out that wherever the group is involved, because people are able to communicate with each other, discuss and reflect upon their actions, they are more willing to rebel towards authority. Der Spiegel’s use of Milgram experiment to justify Anti-Semitic actions of groups of non-German nationals is therefore mistaken. In Poland there were many people who did not obey German orders and hid Jews in their homes, risking their own lives. If one wants to seem smart then it would be much more appropriate to use Gamson’s experiment to show how with the help of non-German nationals some Jews actually survived the Holocaust, than with the use of Milgram’s experiment try to prove why some people were Anti-Semites.
Finally, calling Poland ‘hysteric over history’ and afraid of facing historical truth is simply ridiculous. We are being acused of over reacting to the expressions such as “Polish extermination camps” and over reacting to the articles like the one in Spiegel. I find such accusations pathetic. Poland has a right to protect its history. Because one of the most horrific events in the history of humanity happened on our land, we have every right to make sure that the truth stays the truth, and reject such accusations. Der Spiegel can call it however it wants – yes, we may be over reacting, but the bottom line is – soon there will be no witnesses of the horrors of Holocaust, as most of people who survived it are now very old. Who then will be able to tell us the true story? The newspaper articles and hisotrical books. And since newspaper articles, apparently, as the example of Der Spiegel have shown, tend to attract much more attention that credible historical books, we need to be over reacting. Articles are written by journalists, who do not always check sources, who do not always provide perfectly correct information. If the history will be build on the basis of such articles, our children and grandchildren may believe that the Holocaust was the invention of the whole of Europe, and we are all guily of the murders in concentration camps. In a way we are, because we did little to prevent it, but this is a different type of responsibility than the German one. The distinction between the two should be made clear.
The issue of Poland having problems to admit that some of its citizens were Anti-Semites is a different story. Important to sort out, but having nothing to do with making sure that nobody revisions the history. We are no perfect nation, but we did not take an active part in Holocaust, and neither did other nations of Europe. It was the invention and the project of Nazis, majority of which were Germans. Making Holocaust an European project therefore, is a dangerous historical revisionism, which should be taken care of.
For those who know Polish and want to read the article for themselves:
http://wyborcza.pl/1,97849,6640582,Ciemny_kontynent___niemieccy_zbrodniarze_i_ich_pomocnicy.html?as=5&ias=8&startsz=x
Wybiórcza ma dziwną tendencje do atakowania Dziennika i Rzepy i co jest straszne w tym akurat przypadku przyznaje w pewnym stopniu rację Der Spiegel. Mówiąc więcej, Alina Cela historyk z ŻYH(Żydowski Instytut Historyczny) twierdzi, że Der Spiegel miał w zasadzie rację(http://www.rp.pl/artykul/2,310528_Polacy_jako_narod__nie_zdali_egzaminu_.html, gdyby myśleć tak jak ona to można by powiedzieć, że przecież gdyby Polacy się nie zgodzili to Hitler nie zbudował by w Polsce obozów koncentracyjnych, przecież mogliśmy powiedzieć nie… Jedna wielka bzdura, a w dzisiejszych czasach bardzo niebezpieczna. W Niemczech coraz częściej pojawia się rewizjonizm. Coraz więcej młodych Niemców uważa, że Żydzi byli sami sobie winni, Polacy podobnie. Politycy z landów wschodnich bardzo często reprezentują opcję nieznacznie tylko lżejszą i mniej straszną od tej, którą w 1933 reprezentowała NSDAP i o dziwo znajdują poparcie nie tylko ludzi ale także… rządu(poprzez dotacje finansowe). W cale bym się nie zdziwił gdyby za +10 lat okazało się, że to jednak my(Polacy) odpowiadamy za IIWŚ, Holocaust i wszystko co złe się wydarzyło w Europie od 1933 roku.
a to nie my zbudowalismy te obozy? o kurcze, to cos mi sie musialo pomylic :]
A wiesz, że możesz mieć racje w końcu część budynków Auschwitz I przed 1939 była barakami Wojska Polskiego…