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To: lizol

Bear in mind that there was no Poland at this time. There was a government in exile in London, which reported the killing of Jews to disbelieving Western allies. Poland itself had disappeared as a country with its own government, and was part of the “General Government,” a purposefully vague and bureaucratic term.

There were individual Poles who might have collaborated with the invaders. There were many who risked their own lives to help Jews. At one time during the occupation, it meant death to be caught even giving food to a Jew. A family sheltering a Jew (as many did) was laying their own lives on the line.

It is probably true that there was anti-semitic prejudice in Poland, but the Poles never dreamed up the Holocaust on their own. It is an historical fact that Poland had the largest Jewish population in Europe (about 20% of the population) as a result of tolerance by a Polish king, who had sheltered Jews during the Middle Ages, when many were driven out of the Rhine Valley and elsewhere.

I think that it is grossly unfair to point the finger at Poland, when one considers the whole historical picture.

In fact, it is unjust to judge whole countries in this way. There were good people, and bad people. It is true that many French were anti-semitic at the time, but also true that ordinary French peasants of strong Christian belief helped smuggle many Jews into Switzerland and safety. Disproportionate in this effort were the minority French Protestants, who perhaps recalled their own days of severe persecution.


32 posted on 05/20/2009 2:15:55 PM PDT by docbnj
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To: docbnj
Bear in mind that there was no Poland at this time. There was a government in exile in London, which reported the killing of Jews to disbelieving Western allies.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Karski#World_War_II_resistance
39 posted on 05/20/2009 2:19:49 PM PDT by lizol
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