Jedwabne's terrible secrets were at last laid bare in Neighbors, an explosive account of the massacre by Princeton University historian Jan T. Gross. That 2001 book shattered carefully held myths, promulgated by Communist leaders, that Poles were only victims of World War II, not perpetrators. (Poles -- who unlike many European countries never officially collaborated with the Nazis -- lost close to 6 million citizens to the Nazis, or about 17 percent of the population. Just over half of those were Jewish.) Now, 12 years later, comes Aftermath -- premiering stateside Nov. 1....
"....a book is nothing compared to the power of a feature film," says Jablonski, who was instantly gripped by the power and efficiency of Pasikowski's storytelling. His first step was to bring the project to the Polish Film Institute, an office founded in 2005 and dedicated to nurturing films that celebrate Polish culture. The fund found the taboo project "anti-Polish," Jablonski says, not because the claims made in it were deemed untrue, but because it chose to overlook acts of Polish heroism and compassion shown toward Jews during the war. In other words, Aftermath was not a Polish Schindler's List. Jablonski adds that PFI also objected to the image of the present-day village, inhabited by anti-Jewish thugs and locals who conspired to keep the truth literally buried. "They said this wasn't the truth about Poland, but unfortunately, I didn't agree," Jablonski says. "I know these kind of villages; I know these kind of people."
Related threads:
A Jewish renaissance in Poland
Polish Catholic publisher defends Holocaust book
Poles Confront the Dark Side [lifting the silence around anti-semitism in Poland]
Gross’s book is about as credible as Bill Ayer’s Dreams from my Father.
BEEP!
Not surprisingly those elements within the Church that demonstrated the greatest sympathy for Jews were among the most eloquent voices calling for contrition.
Not so sure what the alleged shocker is. Anyone familiar with the Vichy government, or even the Sound of Music is well aware that there Nazi collaborators in Catholic nations. Kudos to the movie for pointing out (where the movie does not) that the Nazis also killed 7 million Catholics. This was not just because of their ethnicity... but because of their religious or at least presumed ideological beliefs.
Isn't it great to be truly American, my brothers?
A lot of WWII documentaries have pointed out that the Nazis had plenty of local support for killing or rounding up Jews in all but a few countries. IIRC, every country East of Germany had a long history of periodically killing Jews.
I guess calling it a "secret" is an attempt to pump up interest among the uneducated or something because there's been a lot written about pogroms all over Europe and various Church officials trying to stop them.
The only thing unique about Germany was how universal antisemitism was and how long there had been widespread support for ridding Germany of all Jews.
“The Hollywood Reporter”
LOL ! A good source for these mickey mouse stories.