Man sues to stop book's circulation

The Times (new jersey online) ^ | Saturday, May 25, 2002 | LINDA STEIN

[malarski]

TRENTON - A New York man filed a lawsuit in Superior Court seeking to block distribution of a book published by the Princeton University Press and is asking for $9 million in damages.

The book, "Neighbors: The Destruction of the Jewish Community in Jedwabne, Poland," was written by historian and New York University professor Jan Tomasz Gross.

[malarski]

George F. Will, who based his shameful anti-Polish article (Newsweek, July 9, 2001) on Gross' fictional fairy tales, should be sued also. Too bad that another one of the slanderous gang, namely Jerzy Kosinski author of "The Painted Bird" already committed suicide, as he could also be sued by his own literary agent, who finally found out what kind of liar he was.

I will be interesting how the trial goes. I am sure, that the hard working, law abiding, Polish-Americans will finally get the bastards.

[malarski]

bumpski

[jlogajan]

A New York man filed a lawsuit in Superior Court seeking to block distribution of a book

Sorry, wrong country for stopping books being published. He must think he is still back in Soviet occupied Poland.

[Revolting cat!]

I wish him luck, though he'll probably lose in the end. But there have been similar suits and precedents in this country and you can bet the responses here of the professional haters who never fail to show up would be diametrically opposite if this were a suit attempting to stop the publication of a book alleging that Holocaust was a fraud or that the African Negroes deserved slavery, or something similar.

[malarski]

I will be interesting how the trial goes.
Damn typos: It will be ...

[drjimmy]

I will be interesting how the trial goes. I am sure, that the hard working, law abiding, Polish-Americans will finally get the bastards.
Seems to me like they already got a bunch of the "bastards" back in 1941. The only hard work this guy is doing is filing a lawsuit without a leg to stand on.

[Phillip Augustus]

I cannot comment as to whether the book is largely truthful or libelous; I simply am not particularly familiar with Polish history (though at some point I would like to become so). And my counter-response to libelous material is truthful material, not censorship or lawsuits. But, having said that, your closing statement was dead on the money. In PC America, the Poles (European Christians that they are) are fair game, and double standards abound.

[A. Pole]

Seems to me like they already got a bunch of the "bastards" back in 1941. The only hard work this guy is doing is filing a lawsuit without a leg to stand on.

You presume too much. Gross is a crook who makes money on prejudices of people like you.

[Malesherbes]

The book is a fabrication. Gross' two principal "witnesses" were a blind man and another who was a prisoner in Siberia at the time.

[Cato the Censor]

The real skinny is the barn was really a commercial sauna run by a Finnish farmer,Netti Nennennen. No one was cremated and most of the patrons were obese Polish farmers who used the suana to lose weight.

[Revolting cat!]

Yeah, thanks for articulating what I only articulated to myself right after hitting the post button on the previous post: certain ethnic groups in America can be attacked, libeled with impunity. You'd think by now if you had landed from Mars that those polaks, ukies, litvaks and all them other honkies were behind the Holocaust, not the esteemed nation of Goethe and Beethoven. You know things stink where you notice a full consent between the political wings on something other than the sun rises in the East. The Left and the Right and the Center sing in full unison on this one!

It's a silly suit to be sure, he'll lose or have it dismissed right off the bat (might have a better chance in England, if I understand correctly how things work there,) but they're fighting back anyway they can, and in this country it is through the crazy court system.

[Reeses]

Man sues to stop book's circulation

That's a very good way to boost circulation. Is he really in on the take?

[drjimmy]

Hey, malarski is the one presuming that this lawsuit will be the final solution to getting rid of the bastards.

[S.O.S121.500]

"The book caused him to lose his "trust in the American institutions" that let the book be published, the suit said. Reached by phone, Maksymowicz declined to discuss his lawsuit."

Perhaps Maksymowicz has forgotten where he is and the existance of the First Amendment.

Could he not stop reading and discard the book? Reminds me of a Joke.......

[Askel5]

I simply am not particularly familiar with Polish history (though at some point I would like to become so).

A pity the several hundred posts on this subject, this author, this book and this particular chapter in history have been erased.

Thanks for the flag.

[steve-b]

Maksymowicz said "to his horror and dismay (he) found page after page"

So why did he keep reading? This guy sounds like someone who instists on listening to an entire Clowntoon speech and then complaining about how his intelligence was repeatedly insulted.

[Askel5]

He must think he is still back in Soviet occupied Poland.

I wouldn't wonder that many -- like Commiesout, who marveled and and railed at the commienazis -- begin to have flashbacks these days.

[Askel5]

So why did he keep reading?

You're not serious, are you?

How effective or informed would a person be these days if they did not read closely that which offended them deeply?

[John Locke]

Also worth pointing out the Gross never bothered to visit the site of the alleged massacre and never interviewed a single gentile inhabitant of the town.

But no, the answer is not to suppress the book. The better tactic is to let it be published, publicised, showered with praise by all the usual fellow travelers, and then let the honest and decent scholars drive a stake through its heart.

The example of Bellesiles is an object lesson here - publication of his book has done immeasurably more damage to the gun grabbers' cause than suppression would have.

[Intolerant in NJ]

...an un-American notion of collective responsibility ......what's this guy been smokin'? - doesn't he know all whites owned slaves, all heteros murder gays, all men rape women, and on and on and on?.....