Prominent Poland politician honors victims of synagogue burning

Times of Israel ^ | 28 June 2016 | JTA

[Cronos]

Leader of largest political party stresses German responsibility for Holocaust at Bialystok memorial

The leader of the largest political party in Poland took part in ceremonies commemorating the burning of a synagogue in Bialystok during the Holocaust.

In his speech at the Great Synagogue of Bialystok on Monday, Jaroslaw Kaczynski stressed German responsibility for the Holocaust, the dangers of anti-Semitism, and the need for cooperation with Israel.

"The Holocaust was the fault of the German state and the German people who supported Adolf Hitler,” said Kaczynski during the ceremony. “German elite were unable to get into any real opposition.”

On June 27, 1941, German troops marched into Bialystok murdering some 2,500 Jews. About one thousand Jews were burned alive in the city’s synagogue.

Kaczynski, who is a leader of the Law and Justice Party, stressed that the representatives of the other nations of Europe, including Poles, also committed crimes during the war, but it would not have been possible without the aggression of Germany. He also stressed that in Europe today there is a new anti-Semitism directed against Israel.

"WWe have to keep talking about what leads to anti-Semitism in any form, including the present day, hidden under the term anti-Zionism,” he said.

[Rockingham]

To a remarkable degree, Poles today mark the Holocaust in ways large and small and are strong supporters of Israel. I have read of Israelis searching for the remains of Jewish villages and cemeteries in rural Poland astonished to receive a kind welcome and to find such sites maintained and memorialized by the local populace.

[Cronos]

well, the sheer number of Jews in the PLC meant that everyone had a Jewish neighbor, friend etc.

[Rockingham]

Quite true. Coming from what is now the rural, southeastern corner of rural Poland, my father’s parents were at ease with Jews when they came to America more than a century ago. There was not a trace of antisemitism in my robust Catholic upbringing, and cheering Israel against the Arabs was a common feature of family political discussions.