Poland may sue author of book on treatment of Jews
The author of a book accusing Poles of conducting a campaign against the Jews after the Holocaust could face charges of slandering the Polish nation, prosecutors said on Friday.
Posted: Saturday, January 12, 2008, 13:13 (GMT)
The author of a book accusing Poles of conducting a campaign against the Jews after the Holocaust could face charges of slandering the Polish nation, prosecutors said on Friday.
Jan Gross has already accused Poles of actively assisting the Nazis in persecuting Jews in World War Two. In his latest book, "Fear", he writes that anti-semitism remained prevalent in the years immediately after the Holocaust.
The book was released in Polish on Friday.
A spokesman for the Polish prosecutors' office in the southern city of Krakow said it would decide within days whether to press charges against Gross. If convicted, he could face up to three years in jail.
"The investigation was opened after numerous press publications on this matter," the spokeswoman said. "After the analysis, we will decide whether to proceed with legal action."
Gross was not immediately available for comment.
In an interview with daily Rzeczpospolita published on Friday, Gross rejected charges that his book was directed against Poland.
"I am convinced anti-semitism was one of the main poisons that were injected into the Polish identity," he was quoted as saying, and he blamed nationalist and Catholic circles.
"Will these people be finally able to say mea culpa? We'll see."
In "Fear" Gross writes that Poles often beat and killed Jews after the war, culminating in a pogrom in the southern city of Kielce, where the disappearance of an eight-year-old boy sparked a bloody reprisal against the Jewish community there.
Some Polish historians blame the pogrom on communist security forces, who they say encouraged the killing of some 40 people.
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Added: Monday, January 14, 2008, 23:30 (GMT)
My father was born in Warsaw and came to America in the late 20's (thank G-d). He and other family told me endless accounts of Jew-hatred in Poland.
Of course Polish anti-Semitism was virulent after the holocaust. It still is.
Jews who managed to escape the Nazis and tried to join the Polish partisans were very often killed by these "heroes".
I had a girlfriend in the late 70's in California. Decided to end the relationship because her parents and brothers made no effort to hide their Jew hatred.
And now this article informs us that Poles are anti free speech as well.
If this goes to trial, the Polish government may find that they've shot themselves in the foot. Witnesses to Polish anti-Semitism will no doubt sprout from everywhere to flood the court with their testimony.
writ, usa
Added: Monday, January 14, 2008, 14:14 (GMT)
This threat of action by Poland is part of a larger trend that has been going on for some time now -- the trend toward having a single, government-approved version of "history," disagreement with which can lead to fines, jail, or worse. With the efforts of the communists, the Islamists, and the globalists, freedom of speech is on the run just about everywhere around the planet.
Greg Raven, Apple Valley, CA
