July 4th, American Independence day when we think about the resolve of American patriots, give thanks for their foresight and courage. We review what they went through and the tools that made victories possible.
And both of those things, Washington and guns were lacking in Poland on July 4th 1946. Poland has been in the news a lot as of late. For those that don’t know it, July 4th was the anniversary of the 72nd anniversary of the Kielce pogrom. No, no, the Kielce pogrom occurred after WWII had ended. Kielce
Kielce was occupied on 4 September 1939 by the German army. Approximately 24,000 Jews lived in the town, a third of all its inhabitants.
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On 31 March 1941 the Kielce Ghetto was established. Jews from the surrounding villages were forced to move into the ghetto.
The ghetto liquidation took place from 20 – 24 August 1942
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In March 1943, during a selection in the Kielce camp, the SS killed all Jewish doctors and their families, and in May 1943 a group of children. After the May selection the Germans established several work camps.
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After the war around 150 Jews left their hidings and returned to Kielce. They found a place in their former parish hall, waiting for a possibility to emigrate to Palestine.
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In June 1946 they were accused of having committed a ritual murder on a missing Polish boy. On 1 July 1946 a furious crowd gathered round the building and on 4 July 1946 they killed 42 Jews. (At least, most likely more. ~S)
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Until today historians discuss who provoked this anti-Jewish riot. Many inhabitants participated in the pogrom and around 100 people were arrested by the communist police; among them people who did not participate in the crime but being known as anti-communists.
Still today some people suspect that the pogrom was provoked by communists for eliminating opponents of the new regime in Poland.
Because Communism is a G-dless “religion” for one thing. Because they were coming back to reclaim their property for another.
If only they had some warning that their “neighbors” were going to “suddenly turn on them” they certainly would have been better prepared to defend themselves after all they had just been through. If only law enforcement had know ahead of time, they could have been prepared to defend the Jews like the brave British Constables (pppffffttt) did in 1929 Hevron massacrei. From the Jewish Virtual Library
The Jews had no adequate means for self-defense since the police had confiscated the few pistols among them just one day previously. In this pogrom, the largest attack on Jews following the Nazi era, 60–70 Jews were murdered, including children and pregnant women, and around 100 were injured
And this is all just in Kielce! I recently read a book called Defy The Darkness by Joe Rosenblum. Joe lived in Poland prior to WWII, he went through several concentration camps and survived as well as saving others. And he will very well tell you what it was like living in Poland before, during and after nazi occupation. He will also tell you what it was like living in more than one concentration camp, and how he managed to survive. He also survived surgery by the infamous Dr. Mengele, who actually did operate on Joe, despite him being a Jew, to save his life. As to the German people not knowing what was going on? Pffftt, he told what it was like being on one of those death camp marches when they were being marched through German towns. It’s also interesting that Mengele didn’t believe any of the bad stuff said about the Jews. He thought they were brilliant people who had done nothing wrong to the Germans.
But why were so many Polish Jews sitting ducks? Well, at one time Poland had the greatest tolerance and acceptance of Jews. History of the Jews in Poland
The history of the Jews in Poland dates back over 1,000 years. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Jewish community in the world. Poland was a principal center of Jewish culture, thanks to a long period of statutory religious tolerance and social autonomy. This ended with the Partitions of Poland which began in 1772, in particular, with the discrimination and persecution of Jews in the Russian Empire.
Another reason is some refused to see reality, they refused to accept it, even as they were on their way to the death camps. This is another article well worth reading, it’s not long either.
On one occasion, my grandfather told me, his unit of partisan fighters blew up a railroad bridge and waited in ambush. When the train eventually approached and was forced to stop in order to avoid plummeting into the canyon depths, the partisans charged aboard and killed all of the Nazi troops who were manning the cars. Afterwards, the partisans opened a passenger car from which they had heard the sound of people talking excitedly and crying. Inside was a group of Jews dressed in their finest clothes and grasping suitcases filled with their possessions as if they were on their way to a long vacation. The Jews on board were shocked and apprehensive about the strange-looking people from the woods who had attacked their train and killed all of the Nazi soldiers, initially refusing to believe that their liberators were Jewish themselves.
Yes, no doubt the Polish people had the highest regard for the Jews living among themselves.
House in Kielce, Poland, found to be made of Jewish gravestones. To be quite honest, it wasn’t a house, it was a cowshed. Suspect the nazis did not build many cowsheds while they were there.
An article from the Daniel Pipes web site (article not written by Mr. Pipes, but rather by a contributor) Poland had a terrible long history of anti-Semitism before the World War II and is still. He ends his column by saying
Finally, not all Poles are bad….
No doubt, but in the radio show Phantom Nation the host points out,
Many Poles lost their lives trying to help the Jews. Yad Vashem has honored almost 7 thousand Christians, but out of a country of 35 million in 1939, that’s not that many people . Of the 3 million Polish Jews that lost their lives, 200 thousand were murdered by at least as many Polish Christians, not nazis. The Polish nation has a history of violence against the Jews. Bibi can’t see the serious anti-Jews acts, he thinks with a nice statement they will love us. For Poles, WWII was about the nazi aggression to Poles, they have not room for what the Poles did to the Jews. The host points out Bibi’s exceedingly weak response to Poland’s new laws.
It’s really a good program, you can listen to the whole show.
Other sources also chide Bibi for his very weak response. Which of course if why I truly feel Moshe Feiglin would be a far better leader. Controversy Over Israel-Poland Joint Statement
A couple of items you may or not know, Poland wanted to ship all the Jews to….Madagascar, and the Evian Conference on Jewish refugees preceded and enabled giving validity to the 1942 Wannsee Protocol. France, betraying Jews since looooong before Sarah Halimi was murdered.
Joe Rosenblum also looked very Aryan, that’s how he managed to work on a farm, survive and help support his family.
And today?
Poland’s official anti-Semitism, basically, you’re forbidden to suggest Poland had anything to do with the slaughter of Jews. Do so and you get a fine and jail time.
Not surprisingly, many Israelis and holocaust survivors objected to this. The law was put on a freeze.
And then, there is the decision on how to “commemorate” the Kielce pogrom.
Historian Prof. Jan Grabowski, author of the book Hunt for the Jews, sparked public outcry in Poland when he determined that more than 200,000 Jews in Poland were murdered directly or indirectly by locals and that most citizens of the occupied state stood idly by, even when they understood what was taking place…..
Nowhere in the program is there mention of Polish assistance, complicity, or even acquiescence in the atrocities committed against the Jews in Kielce. Indeed, from the program it is difficult to guess who, if anybody, murdered Jews in Kielce, as it appears the entire Polish population was busy assisting them.
So basically, academia decided rather than look at what really happened, they would just celebrate the minority event of some of the righteous helping Jews and ignore how many Jews were killed by their fellow Poles. As you can tell, academia planned the event. Let’s ignore the tragedy of what happened to the Jews and just talk about the few that may have tried to help.
It would be easier to accept that Poland is no longer this way if they weren’t trying to force people to stop discussing and learning history, because those who ignore it, or cover it up? Are doomed to repeat it.
iThe third speaker was Uri Arnon of Bar-Ilan University who spoke about the British perspective. Arnon displayed many documents from both British and Israeli archives to prove that the British mandatory authorities were complicit in allowing the massacre to happen. One document alluded to British police officers changing their stories to match a pre-concocted alibi as to how they failed to protect the Jewish community. Arnon also detailed the mistreatment of the survivors following the massacre who were forcibly deported to Jerusalem and denied access to return. From Conference & Memorial for 1929 Hebron Massacre This whole article is well worth reading.
