Poles outraged at NYT misrepresentation of the truth about Holocaust

KoLiber Poland websites ^ | Jan 31, 2005 | Joanna Najfeld, Spokesman, The KoLiber Association

[Joanna Najfeld]

The Polish KoLiber Association's Letter to the Editor of the NYT re. Mr. Craig Smith's Jan 27 article "World Leaders Gather for Auschwitz Ceremony"

To the Editor:

Dear Sir,

I am writing on behalf of myself and the organization I represent to express our utmost outrage as members of the Polish nation, at the depiction of Polish-Jewish relations by Mr. Craig Smith in his article, "World Leaders Gather for Auschwitz Ceremony," published in your January 27th, 2005 edition.

We feel deeply offended by the harmful and untrue ideas expressed in the following statement: "for Russia it is a commemoration of its often-overlooked role as liberator, while for Poland and other Central European countries it is both part of a gradual recognition of their complicity in the killing and an opportunity to draw closer to Europe."

Please, be informed that Poland is not recognizing its complicity in the killing, as there was no such complicity on the part of our Nation. The author's statement to the contrary belies either his objectivity and/or basic knowledge of the facts of world's history.

(continued below...)

[Joanna Najfeld]

We also fear that such depiction of Polish - Jewish relations as the author seems to imply, can only prove harmful to the so far positive image of Jews in the Polish nation, which is an issue of great concern especially to those within our organization who are proud to be of Jewish origin.

To refresh the author's memory, it was the Germans who invaded Poland in 1939 and shortly after built concentration camps to slaughter people of many nations, mainly Jews and Poles. Polish authorities never collaborated with the Nazi occupants.

On the contrary, Poles constitute the majority of those awarded the honorary title "Righteous Among the Nations" by the Yad Vashem Institute, a title awarded for heroic conduct in saving the lives of Jews during the times of the Nazi genocide. To deny the heroic role of Poles as the nation who saved most Jews, often at the expense of their own lives, is at best evidence of ignorance of basic historical facts.

As to the "Russia's often-overlooked role as liberator", we advise you to reflect over the reasons for this state of affairs. Wartime acts of genocide were committed by both Germans and Russians, who invaded Poland in September 1939 and shortly after started slaughtering thousands of Polish troops in Katyn. In the meantime, they built their own concentration camps at Kolyma and in Siberia, some of which lasted for much longer than the German ones and were witness to just as much pain and suffering.

Moreover, the victims of Communism vastly outnumber the victims of Nazism, which is not to excuse the latter in any way, but rather to point out that it is only natural that Soviets were considered more of a new occupying force, than liberators of the Nazi concentration camps in Poland. After all, following the Soviet "liberation" of Poland, we have been subject to nearly half a century of brutal Communist rule - dark times in the history of Poland not easily forgotten.

For all the reasons mentioned and also for the sake of the credibility and good name of your world-wide respected newspaper, we urge you to issue an apology and a correction of those false, harmful and ultimately offensive words of Mr. Smith, written, hopefully, out of lack of knowledge rather than on purpose.

Yours faithfully,

Joanna Ewa Najfeld Spokesman, The KoLiber Association, Poland najfeldATkoliber.net www.KoLiber.net

on behalf of: Pawe³ Podsiedlik Chairman, The KoLiber Association, Poland www.KoLiber.org

A copy of this letter is available at our websites:

http://www.koliber.net/index/index.php?action=show&object=article&id=2993 http://koliber.org/informacje.php?co=2&id=1168

[montag813]

I notice the NYT ignored their OWN complicity in Stalin's murder of millions of his own citizens.

[Joanna Najfeld]

Exactly.

[Restorer]

It is true that many individual Poles behaved heroically in saving Jews.

It is equally true that many individual Poles jumped at the chance to avenge themselves on those they had hated for a very long time.

No Polish government participated in the slaughter, as to varying degrees the Dutch, Belgian, French, Italian, etc. governments did. Unfortunately, this may have been only because the Germans would allow nothing resembling a government, even a puppet government, among the "subhuman" Poles.

[Mister Baredog]

The author's statement to the contrary belies either his objectivity and/or basic knowledge of the facts of world's history.

He probably used the NY Times as a source, LOL, their archives are no better than their daily fishwrap.

[Owl558]

Gee, gotta' pity those poor Russians. Those horrible, ungrateful Poles don't feel grateful that the Russians liberated them from the Germans and then proceeded to turn the entire Polish nation into a prison camp.

[/Sarcasm off]

[lizol]

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[YOUGOTIT]

The left wing people who live in the free United States supported the Communist Stalin, and even Hitler before Hitler invaded the USSR, so it would be only natural that they would blame Poland and not their God Stalin. Read history the left went on strike to keep war supplies from being sent to the UK up until Germany invaded the USSR. After that they supported sending supplies to the USSR and to the UK.

[AmericanChef]

Oh, Bravo! The NYT exposes their ineptitude on a daily basis, and as a friend of the U.S., Poland is no friend of the NYT.

[speedy]

I notice the NYT ignored their OWN complicity in Stalin's murder of millions of his own citizens.

I was just reading Malcolm Muggeridge's account of Walter Duranty, the Pulitzer Prize-winning fraud from the Times who was their bureau chief in Moscow in the 1930s. Muggeridge was there at the same time, and he said that not only was Duranty obviously covering up Stalinist atrocities, his editors back in New York were completely aware that he was. Of the many slavishly-devoted Liberals of the day who parroted the Soviet line, Duranty was considered the most extreme example of blatant propagandist among his fellow reporters. The Times has a long history of unapologetic boosterism for totalitarian regimes, so it is no wonder that it puts out a story extolling the role of the Soviets as "liberators." There is no one in Poland who considers the Soviets liberators, and in fact the impression I get is that they hate the Russians far more than they do the Germans. The Times is a despicable piece of garbage.

[AntiBurr]

There was, I believe a government in exile in England. For certain there were Polish troops and at least one Polish squadron in the Battle of Britain July-Sept 1940

[lizol]

I'd agree with you more or less on your first, second and third sentence.

But not on the fourth one. Actually - Hitler didn't want to have a puppet Polish government. But I don't think it had anything to do with "subhumanity" of Poles. At the same time there were puppet governments in Slovakia and Bulgaria. In Ukraine Germans created SS Division "Galizien - Halychyna". There were also ethnic Russian troops suporting Germans (like Vlasov's troops, RONA). All of them were Slavs - like Poles
Do you really think, that Hitler considered Poles as more "subhuman" than Slovaks, Bulgarians, Ukrainians or Russians? I don't think so.
In my opinion the reason was, that Poles were the next in a turn - after Jews - to be exterminated. It was necessary to clean a "Lebensraum" for the German "Herrenfolk".
So - there was no reason to complicate things with creating any "government", if there was not supposed to exist any form of Polish state, even dominated by Germans.

The only legal Polish government during WW2 was the one in exile in London. It's military forces fought in Africa, Italy, Western Europe and in Poland (the Home Army).

In Poland - during entire time of German occupation - also structures of undergroung civilian government were active. Among them there were underground courts too. Any form of collaboration with Gemrans was considered by those courts as a treason. Courts gave verdicts, that were executed by special units of the Home Army and traitors were being killed.

Of course there were Poles, who were hostile towards Jews - killing them, denouncing or delivering to Germans. They were called "shmaltzovniks".
But such a behaviour was also considered as a treason by the underground authorities and many of "shmaltzovniks" were sentenced to death and shot.

And this would describe - more or less - the attitude of Polish authorities during WW@ towards collaboration with Germans in killing Jews.

Anyone, who says, that Poles (in general, and particularly) collaborated with Germans in killing Jews and were co-responsible for the Holocaust is eihter a complete ignorant, or just lying villain.

[Verginius Rufus]

Polish troops also took part in the invasion of Normandy in 1944. John Keegan mentions their contribution in his book Fields of Battle.

[PhilDragoo]

The New York Times ought to give credit where credit is due: namely, its Walter Duranty won a Pulitzer for covering up Stalin's murder of ten million.

A Holocaust and a half--and the Old Gray Whore of record was up to its neck in blood.

And of course it would be the tiniest of footnotes that Stalin and Hitler inked a friendship treaty, which, followed by Barbarossa, caused whiplash on the NYT editorial staff.

[Malesherbes]

The New York Times is simply despicable. Its editors and reporters today are no better than Walter Duranty was in Stalin's day. Fortunately, every issue of the New York Times is like a suicide note.

[SJackson]

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[Quinotto]

As always, the NYT is publishing crap without doing the proper research. You take Romania for example, which during WWII managed to save all its Jewish population due to a great leader they had at the time, General Antonescu. Unfortunately, some of them were harassed and killed by a gang of Nazi symphatizers, an organization which was dismantled and its members imprisoned and executed by the same General Antonescu. More unfortunate, Transylvania, the NW part of Romania, was under Hungarian control and a lot of Jews from that part of the country became victims. But I do remember my grandfather who used to tell us stories how they'd go to the borders with vehicles and medical help to receive the Jewish Exodus from places like Poland and oddly enough, on the street where I grew up, there was a family who's elders were Jewish from Poland, refugees from WWII, who made a new home in Romania and never returned.

[DTA]

>>>>>Fortunately, every issue of the New York Times is like a suicide note<<<<<

Unfortunatelly, NYT fishwrap is not alone. In all other MSM Auschwitz is regularly called POLISH CONCENTRATION CAMP or POLISH EXTERMINATION CAMP.

This is blattant case of Nazi revisionism - Auschwitz is GERMAN NAZI EXTERMINATION CAMP IN OCCUPIED POLAND.

I suggest that Polish organisations (e.g. Polish American Congress, Polish Army Veterans Association, Polish Home Army, Polish Legion of American Veterans, U.S.A.) create joint fund, hire top gun lawyer's firm and SUE EACH AND EVERY media outlet calling Auschwitz "polish concentration camp".

Don't fool ourselves, the majority of American population can not show Poland on the map, let alone knowing the history of WWII and who is responsible for THE HOLOCAUST.

It is also important to remember that 10,000 Nazis have settled in U.S. after the war. Many of them never faced justice for the crimes committed in Europe.

They are EAGER to tar Poles in order to finally escape justice.

The proceeds from the damages should be used for public education of what happened in WWII Poland.

Nazis are slowly regsaing in peace what they have lost in war.

[Grzegorz 246]

http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Polish%20contribution%20to%20World%20War%20II

http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/List%20of%20Polish%20divisions%20in%20WWII

[Grzegorz 246]

You are right, but this is also our fault - we don't promote our history.