Golden Harvest: Events at the Periphery of the Holocaust

by Jan Tomasz Gross, rena Grudzinska Gross, Irena Grudzińska-Gross (Contributor)

It seems at first commonplace: a group photograph of peasants at harvest time, after hard work well done, resting contentedly with their tools behind the fruits of their labor. But when one finally notices the "crops" scattered in front of the group, what seemed innocent on first view become horrific skulls and bones. Where are we? Who are the people in the photograph, and what are they doing?

The starting point of Jan Tomasz and Irena Grudzinska Gross's Golden Harvest, this haunting photograph in fact depicts a group of peasants--"diggers"--atop a mountain of ashes at Treblinka, where some 800,000 Jews were gassed and cremated. The diggers are searching for gold and precious stones that Nazi executioners may have overlooked. The story captured in this grainy black-and-white photograph symbolizes the vast, continent-wide plunder of Jewish wealth that went hand-in-hand with the Holocaust.



The seizure of Jewish assets during World War II occasionally generates widespread attention when Swiss banks are challenged to produce lists of dormant accounts, or national museums are forced to return stolen paintings. But the theft of Europe's Jewish population was not limited to conquering armies, leading banks, or museums. It was perpetrated also by local people, such as those pictured in the photograph. Lyrical and often heartbreaking, A Golden Harvest takes readers across Europe as it exposes the economic ravaging of an entire society. Beginning with a simple group shot, the authors have written a moving book that evokes the depth and range, as well as the intimacy, of the Final Solution.

Genres: History, Holocaust, Nonfiction, Poland, World War II, Polish Literature, Judaica

152 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2011

Reviews

[Dolceluna ♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Ma che carina la foto con cui si apre questo libro!”, verrebbe da pensare. E’ una fotografia in bianco e nero che mostra un gruppo di contadini e contadine, i quali si riposano dopo una giornata di lavoro, gli arnesi in mano, il raccolto ai loro piedi, degli alberi sullo sfondo.
Insomma, una scena familiare, di qualche decennio fa.
E invece, se ci soffermiamo qualche attimo in più, ci rendiamo conto che di carino non c’è proprio niente. Ai piedi dei contadini infatti, non c’è il raccolto, ci sono dei teschi. Dei teschi umani.
L’inquietante fotografia, pubblicata in un quotidiano polacco nel 2008, risale ai tempi della seconda guerra mondiale, e i “contadini” raffigurati non sono dei semplici contadini, bensì degli “scavatori” che posano sulla collina formata dalle ceneri di oltre ottocentomila ebrei gassati e cremati a Treblinka, probabilmente dopo aver scavato, tra i resti umani riportati alla luce in primo piano, alla ricerca di oro e preziosi sfuggiti ai nazisti.
Altro che foto carina. Una foto che ci racconta un orrore abominevole, incredibile, senza fondo.
E, a partire da questa foto, Jan Tomasz Gross, ci riporta una serie di testimonianze raccapriccianti, volte tutte a sostenere e a sottolineare la tesi fondante del libro: non solo i tedeschi sono i colpevoli del genocidio ebraico della seconda guerra mondiale, ma anche i cittadini dei territori occupati, in particolare i polacchi, che si sono macchiati di crimini vergognosi pur di trarre vantaggio, economico e materiale, dalla deportazione dell’uccisione degli ebrei. Episodi che ci raccontano di inganni, violenze, furti, uccisioni gratuite con dettagli talvolta agghiaccianti e ripugnanti. E, orrore dopo orrore, ci si rende sempre più conto di come un momento buio come la seconda guerra mondiale, abbia tirato fuori il peggio di sé, in termini anche di perversione e malvagità, in tutte, veramente tutte le categorie sociali di uomini senza distinzione di religione e nazionalità. Concordo con l’amica di Goodreads la quale, nella sua recensione, ha scritto che più andava avanti a leggere, più si chiedeva perché continuare, l’orrore provato era troppo. Ed è vero. Anch’io, da sempre curiosa e sensibile all’argomento, ho provato una pena immensa, quasi una sensazione di disgusto. Eppure è tutto vero. E queste testimonianze restano preziose.

[Chequers · Rating 4 out of 5]

" "E se ci si domandasse cosa hanno in comune un banchiere svizzero e un contadino polacco – oltre a essere entrambi uomini e possedere un’anima immortale – la risposta, solo leggermente esagerata, potrebbe essere: un dente d’oro strappato dalla mascella di un ebreo ucciso."
Arrivata a meta' di questo libro, volevo abbandonarlo: tale era l'orrore che provavo leggendolo, che mi chiedevo perche' continuare.
Io ho letto molto libri sull'Olocausto, ho visitato Auschwitz, Birkenau, Mauthausen, ho visto stanze pieni di capelli e paralumi di pelle umana tatuata: ma mai ho provato tanta pena e tanto disgusto.
Questo saggio, partendo da una foto pubblicata su un giornale polacco pochi anni fa (http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-...) , ci spiega in maniera molto "asettica" che non erano solo i nazisti ad uccidere gli ebrei ed a spogliarli di tutti i loro beni, ma praticamente tutti le popolazioni dei paesi occupati erano ben contenti di aiutarli, anzi di piu', ricattando gli ebrei sfuggiti alle retate per poi consegnarli ai tedeschi quando non avevano piu' nulla da consegnare.
Non solo, ma la foto mostra un gruppo di contadini che posa tranquillamente dopo aver scavato in mezzo ai resti degli ebrei uccisi a Treblinka, sperando di trovare qualche gioiello sfuggito alle perquisizioni naziste.
Io di solito cerco di essere molto empatica quando leggo un saggio di storia, cerco di pensare come una persona del tempo e del posto, cerco di immergermi nel libro che sto leggendo, ma stavolta proprio non ci riesco a comprendere le ragioni dei polacchi dei villaggi vicino a Treblinka (e non solo) che uccidevano solo per il gusto di uccidere, no no proprio no. L'orrore, l'orrore puro.

[Maurizio Manco · Rating 4 out of 5]

«Il nostro problema morale riguardo alla Shoah», scrisse Yehuda Bauer, «non sta nel fatto che gli autori erano disumani, ma nel fatto che erano umani, proprio come noi». E' per questo che la fotografia dei contadini di Treblinka - anche loro, sicuramente normali, laboriosi, pii e adorni di tutta un'armonia di virtù - oltre al disgusto desta in noi sgomento, perché non siamo fino in fondo certi di non avere davanti una foto del nostro album di famiglia." (pp. 115, 116)

https://goo.gl/0S4jdY

[Katarzyna · Rating 5 out of 5]

[P]atrzałem na zagładę Żydów w Polsce z dwóch różnych punktów widzenia, między którymi była przepastna antynomia: jako chrześcijanin i jako Polak. Jako chrześcijanin nie mogłem nie współczuć mym bliźnim [...]. Jako Polak patrzyłem na te wypadki inaczej. Hołdując ideolo- gii Dmowskiego, uważałem Żydów za wewnętrznego za- borcę, i to zawsze wrogo do kraju diaspory nastawionego. Toteż nie mogłem nie żywić uczucia zadowolenia, że się tego okupanta pozbawiamy, i to rękami nie własnymi, ale drugiego, zewnętrznego zaborcy [...]. Nie mogłem ukryć uczucia zadowolenia, gdy przejeżdżałem przez odżydzone nasze miasteczka i gdy widziałem, że ohydne, niechluj- ne żydowskie rudery z nieodłączną kozą przestały szpecić nasz krajobraz. Zapytany przez Thurma [urzędnika niemieckiego, z którym akurat nasz autor był w podróży] „Se- hen die Polen die Befreiung vom den Juden als ein Segnen an?” – czy Polacy postrzegają uwolnienie od Żydów jako błogosławieństwo? – odpowiedziałem „Gewiss” – jasne – będąc przeświadczony, iż jestem wyrazicielem opinii przygniatającej większości mych rodaków"
J. Górski, Na przełomie dziejów, dz. cyt., s. 288–291.

[Antonella · Rating 5 out of 5]

((In fact 4 stars, but I want to balance several 1 star ratings from Poland))

A deeply upsetting book, a deeply needed book. Especially now that Poland is trying to rewrite history with a law making it illegal to assert that either “the Polish state or the Polish nation” participated in the Holocaust (see Poland is rewriting history – and the consequence is the rise of anti-Semitism.).

The book title comes the phenomenon of peasants who dug up the mass graves of Jews killed in the Holocaust looking for golden tooth fillings and precious stones.
In fact there are many cases when the local Polish population murdered Jews for their money and possessions, and some pogroms took place even _after_ the war (Kielce, July 1946, over 40 dead).
The Catholic church never protested.

Now that anti-Semitism and right-wing populism are on the rise all over Europe, a clear picture of what happened back then can encourage to resist hate speech and populist rhetoric.

[Liam Ostermann · Rating 5 out of 5]

"In January 2008 Gazeta Wyborcza, Poland’s leading daily, published a photograph showing Polish peasants and militia men posing behind a neatly arranged pile of skulls and bones, in the middle of what appeared to be a large, sandy field. The picture was taken soon after the end of the Second World War. The location was the site of the Treblinka death camp, where approximately 800,000 Jews had been murdered between July 1942 and August 1943. Their bodies had initially been buried in huge pits excavated by mechanical diggers. Later, the decomposing remains were exhumed and burned. The bones and the ash mound on which the people sit in the photo were actually relics of a vast crematorium..." From the beginning of David Cesarani's review in the UK Literary Review in 2012 (as it is behind a paywall I am not providing a link).

Quoting those words doesn't really amplify what is already available on GR but I don't think the images the words conjure up can never be forgotten - it is not a question of condemning the Poles, never mind singling them out, because is there anywhere in Europe who can really hod there heads up (I am aware of what happened in Denmark and while saluting it I am afraid it simply shatters so many of the excuses others try to hide behind)? I claim no moral exception having come from a neutral unoccupied country because I have no security of belief that my compatriots would have behaved decently. It is not even a question singling out the Jews, though they must be, but remembering the barbarity towards so many. How easily the survivors, and I could have simply said 'we', returned to normality and forgot is frightening.

Never forget is to simple, never stop learning that is the key - and this one of many books that will help ensure that.

[Bridgette · Rating 5 out of 5]

It all started with a seemingly innocuous picture: a group of peasants gathered around after what was probably a long day of harvesting. But looking closer, the items in front of these group of people aren't food from the fields--they're the ashes and bones of Jews murdered in the Nazi death camp at Treblinka. The people behind the carefully laid out bones, are called "gleaners" or "diggers" and they spend their days digging up the mass graves at the site where 800,000 Jews were murdered during the Shoah.

This slim novel is essential reading for those studying the Shoah. It is concerned with events on the periphery of the Shoah, those events less known yet just as tragic and heinous as the crimes with which most people are familiar. It starts with a photograph, but the authors focus on the plunder of Jewish wealth and material possessions and how the individual human beings were reduced to commodities, to "living corpses" by much of the Polish population during the war to shine a light on a little known aspect of the Shoah.

[Joanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recenzja później

[Michał · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the light of the recent campaign by the Polish government to control the narrative around the Holocaust, this book feels even more important.

An eye-opening account of the lows the humanity will sink to when cruelty towards a certain group of people becomes socially accepted.

Gross presents the often neglected and erased parts of Polish history - the uncomfortable truths about the economic benefits of Holocaust for Polish peasants and the rampant anti-semitism which found its terrifying outlet when the Nazis gave us the green light.

We need to own up to those stories and we need to acknowledge that when there's light (Righteous Among the Nations) there's also dark ( ratting out your Jewish neighbour to get their furniture).

[Mandy Perret]

The heinous crimes to Jews by Nazis has been document enter but this shows the greed of the countrymen who charged Jews large about a to live, who would meet them at train stations and take all their money for a glass of water after being stuck in a cattle car for days. For graves that were destroyed in hopes of getting gold teeth. For the mass graves that were not protected until the 60s for locals to forage. This book angered and upset me, as well, as taught me another side of the Holocaust. Well written. It highlights one picture that at first looks innocent but I truth shows utter disrespect, greed, hate, and the hideousness of racism.

[Potato McB · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The catastrophe of European Jewry came about because genocide, which in time became the cornerstone of Nazi occupation policies, was given a kind of consent, manifested in a variety of ways, by many societies, in countries that had been conquered.

As Saul Friedlander has put it, 'Not one social group, not one religious community, not one scholarly institution or professional association in Germany and throughout Europe declared its solidarity with the Jews (some of the Christian churches declared that converted Jews were part of the flock, up to a point); to the contrary, many social constituencies, many power groups were directly involved in the expropriation of the Jews and eager, be it out of greed, for their wholesale disappearance. Thus Nazi and related anti-Jewish policies could unfold to their most extreme levels without the interference of any major countervailing interests.'

And so the plunder of Jewish property became a common European experience. From the river Dnieper to the Channel, from Paris to Corfu, no social stratum could resist the temptation. And if one were to ask what a Swiss banker and a Polish peasant had in common (besides that each has an immortal soul), the answer, with only a little bit of exaggeration, could be a golden tooth ripped from the jaw of a Jewish corpse."


^^This excerpt basically gives you a good idea of what the book is about. Prepare to be absolutely disgusted by accounts of human behavior! Not that I wasn't already disgusted by what ordinary people are capable of before reading this, but now I'm disgusted AND disappointed. I understand greed and materialism-- I'm a capitalist, for gods' sake, but I haven't abandoned my morals yet, and it seems almost every (non-Jewish) person mentioned in here left theirs somewhere and never came back for them! Ah, but propaganda is so strong and most people will fall for it! URRRRRRGHHHH!

If you are very big on exact figures and statistical evidence, you will probably struggle reading this, as much of the examples are anecdotes, quotes from oral testimonies and trials, etc. But really, asking for exact statistical figures when it comes to the Reich (and its periphery) is a tall order and will make you miss out on an interesting read for no good reason, imo. You can always read other books after this if you want more evidence!

[Massimo Monteverdi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Una fotografia, un contesto, una coppia di storici. Non serve altro per ricostruire un aspetto dell’Olocausto trascurato o forse sottovalutato. Sotto la lente dell’osservatore professionista c’è il ruolo dei civili polacchi nell’affiancare l’invasore nazista nel perpetrare ogni possibile efferatezza contro la popolazione ebrea. Molto è stato scritto sui volenterosi tedeschi che furono complici diretti o indiretti (con la loro sola indifferenza silenziosa) del regime hitleriano nel compimento della soluzione finale. Un peso storico con il quale un’intera nazione ha fatto progressivamente i conti, anche pubblicamente (e fatte salve le inevitabili frange nostalgiche contro le quali però le istituzioni fanno costantemente quadrato respingendone qualsiasi istanza). Partendo invece dall’immagine di un gruppo di predatori e sciacalli di oggetti preziosi tra resti umani che si ritraggono soddisfatti con le ossa e i teschi di coloro che perirono a Treblinka, gli autori imbastiscono una cospicua lezione sull’orrore dell’uomo comune che, senza attendere ordini da chissà quale autorità, concretizza i propri pregiudizi ed egoismi accanendosi contro innocenti concittadini. La furia antisemita è più sconcertante qui, ovviamente. Da un giorno all’altro, il disprezzo che covava sotto traccia può trasformarsi in giustizialismo, senza conseguenze, senza freni e senza remore. Poiché non risulta che di tutti questi orrori, qui documentati, la nazione polacca abbia mai fatto pubblica ammenda, solo libri come questo ne possono conservare la tremenda memoria. E lasciare nel lettore il dubbio che la natura umana avrebbe agito allo stesso modo in ogni altro luogo del mondo.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Our moral problem with the Holocaust is not that the perpetrators were inhuman but that they were human, just like ourselves,” Yehuda Bauer.

Jan Gross vividly paints the picture of what can only be referred to as “the unknowable” side of the Shoah. Starting with nothing more than a post war photo of peasants, militia, and police, behind a pile of Jewish bones and skulls in Treblinka. We quickly learn of the cleaners/gleaners, that hauntingly go throw the camps to defile the many victims of the Shoah in a never ending search of gold and wealth.

Gross then skillfully interweaves this photo, with multiple accounts of similar “transactions” throughout Poland, including the blatant blackmailing of Polish, and more broadly, European Jewry by their so-called neighbors and friends. The truly intense conclusion and realization, is the accounts we are fortunate to have cannot possibly be all the accounts in existence. And we cannot truly know the extent of this exploitation, and further, eventual defilement of human graves.

Gross hauntingly ends his work by reminding us the true horror is not that this happened, but that this was done by humans like us and the horror could very easily repeat itself. One needs not look much further than the current political climate, and othering of minorities, and the LGBT+ community, to see we have clearly forgotten what humanity and goodness means. We must never forget the lessons the past taught us, unless we too shall bear them in future complicity with those who seek evil for the sake of evil itself.

[Dmytro Shyian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Еще одна важная книга нашего времени, так и не переведенная на украинский язык, что довольно симптоматично. Ведь факты активного участия поляков в событиях Холокоста составляют только первый, хотя от этого не менее важный её слой.
При внимательном прочтении становится ясным, что грабежи, убийства и повсеместная выдача евреев оккупационным властям происходили по всей Европе, при значительной, если не подавляющей поддержке местного населения. Поэтому не случайно в отзывах на книгу Яна Томаша Гросса приводится и статья Алексея Тулбуре о «забытом» Холокосте в Бессарабии. Проблема избирательной памяти о событиях Второй мировой войны присуща сегодня всем восточноевропейским странам, включая Польшу, Украину и Молдову. Желание выглядеть одной из жертв немецкой/советской агрессии, что справедливо, перевешивает признание неприятной правды, что жертвы агрессии могли быть одновременно и палачами для своих еврейских сограждан. Тем не менее, на текущем этапе развития и польскому, и украинскому обществу удобнее жить в собственных национальных мифах. Такая инфантильная стратегия оттягивает, но не снимает с повестки дня вопрос о национальном покаянии. Без принятия истории собственного народа во всем её прекрасном и ужасном разнообразии, никаких качественных изменений в обществе не случится. По меткому высказыванию Казимежа Выка, взятого в качестве эпиграфа к книге: «Золотой зуб, вырванный у трупа, всегда будет кровоточить…».

[Patricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unlike “Neighbors,” which I read a few days before this book and found absolutely riveting and unputdownable, “Golden Harvest” meanders from chapter to chapter. I think an organization requested that the author write a piece about the picture, but there is only so much he could determine so instead he examined other topics relating to Operation Reinhard, some well worn and already well known. Again unlike “Neighbors,” which read at times like a true crime thriller, this book read more like a slapped together academic article. I really was disappointed after just finishing “Neighbors,” and there is no comparison between the two books.

Finally, I wish I could read and understand Polish in order to understand what Polish reviewers of the book said about it on this app. There appears to be no doubt that Polish farmers pillaged these horrific Nazi killing grounds, just as there also is no doubt that Polish villagers murdered their Jewish “neighbors” as described in the author’s book of that name.

[Brumaire Bodbyl-Mast · Rating 5 out of 5]

Assigned for class- throughout this work, Jan and Irena Gross focus in a particular photo of Polish peasants and police at an unknown date near the outskirts of Treblinka. Brief and brutal, the authors discuss the nature of profitable collaboration by the Poles, amongst other Europeans, during the Shoah and Second World War. The work starts by focusing on the photo, but quickly expands its focus beyond it, using other primary accounts of collaboration and profiteering by Poles and Gentiles. The title comes from the presumed nature of the photograph- polish ‘diggers’ scavenging the ashes and sands near Treblinka, in search of golden teeth, jewelry or other valuables. The purpose of this work is to demonstrate the systemic nature of polish indifference- from the peasantry, clergy, nobility and even post-war Soviet officials. The work was banned in Poland by a rightist party in the 2010’s, showing the pervasiveness of the righteous narrative of resistance many Poles and Europeans still hold dear.

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wstrząsająca książka. Bardzo szybko się czyta, mimo drastyczności tematu. Autor za punkt wyjścia obiera zdjęcie zrobione przy wykopanych trupach Żydów na cmentarzysku obozu w Treblince tuż po wojnie. Na zdjęciu identyfikuje osoby, które zajmowały się szukaniem złota w ziemi, aresztowane przez milicjantów. Snując rozważania na temat postaci z rzeczonego zdjęcia opisuje co działo się na obrzeżach Holocaustu, czyli na punktu styku Żydów z ich sąsiadami, Polakami, Ukraińcami i Litwinami. Powiem krótko - to nie jest dobry obraz, ale warto się z nim zapoznać. Jeśli ktoś żyje złudzeniami szlachetnej pomocy przez polskie społeczeństwo Żydom podczas IIWŚ, to ta książka go brutalnie sprowadzi na ziemię.

[Rosso Rubino · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mi viene difficile fare un commento su questo libro. Temo di essere retorica.
Mi è piaciuto? Si e l'ho odiato molto. Odiato per come è stata detta la verità, in modo "crudo" senza girarci intorno.
Mi sono soffermata a riflettere diverse volte durante la lettura, per provare a dare una giustificazione su diversi comportamenti.
Gli ebrei, che male hanno fatto per ricevere un trattamento simile, un pò da tutti. Tedeschi, polacchi, greci, il Vaticano. Questi atteggiamenti sono, in parte da giustificare? Tante domande a cui c'è solo una risposta. VERGOGNA. È stata un'ottima lettura.

[Scott Guy · Rating 2 out of 5]

this just did not hit for me at all even though I was sooooo excited to read it. I partially think that’s because of the way it was advertised to me - I expected (and was told that) it to be a book about cases of corpse-robbing etc, but more than anything it was less of a companion to Neighbours and provided summary information about the Holocaust and anti-Semitic attitudes in general rather than provide a new outlook.

I found the last few chapters about the church interesting and would have read an entire book on that tbh. Also found the writing style to be pretty misguided.

[Aleksei Uljassov · Rating 5 out of 5]

По всей видимости я вообще не знаю и плохо предствляю, что такое Холокост. Эта книга описывает очень ясно, что это и как происходилою Должен признать, большая часть книги мне показала о чём я даже не мог начать подозревать. Страшно это всё, страшно как люди быстро поменялись в мнении и с какой лёгкостью приняли новые реалии. Страшно представить, что такое может повториться с лёгкостью...

[Edyta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Książka opisuje stosunki polsko-żydowskie w okresie drugiej wojny światowej. Ukazuje Polaków w bardzo niekorzystnym świetle, przedstawiając ich od strony chcących dorobić się za wszelką cenę kosztem Żydów. Lektura bardzo bolesna i skłaniająca do refleksji.

[L.L. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nie jest tak mocna jak "Miasta śmierci" Mirosława Tryczyka (ale nie wiem czy cokolwiek może być bardziej mocne) i faktycznie wielu nowych informacji tutaj nie ma, ale temat jest uważam ważny.

(czytana/słuchana: 17-18.05.2021)
4-/5

[Shakato · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book takes you to the periphery of the Holocaust to see the perpetrator, cooperator, bystander, and the victim. after finished this book you'll look at the Holocaust differently; it didn't only happen in the concentration and dead camps. A MUST READ for people studying Holocaust.

[Ala · Rating 4 out of 5]

humankind is truly disgusting, their greed has no limits

a very difficult, but needed read

[Edward Janes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brutal indictment. The Germans enacted atrocities from a position of ideology. The Poles from a position of greed.

[E · Rating 5 out of 5]

Damning. Today Poland struggles to grapple with its past in the Holocaust and the postwar years. The government actively wants to diminish and even wipe Gross’ findings from their narrative of Polish history, making this book all the more worthwhile to read today.

[Chava · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a Holocaust book, so I wouldn't say I enjoyed it, or even that I liked it, but it had a lot of impact and presented the facts well.

The information in the book centers around a picture taken after World War II of a group posed in a field. At first glance, it would seem to be people who has just finished doing some kind of planting or harvesting. But on closer inspection, there are skulls and bones in the foreground. These Polish villagers are scavenging Treblinka looking for gold and other things of values in the ashes and covered pits of the concentration camp (and finding the remains of those who were murdered there).

Gross discusses the prevalence of these "harvesters" in and near Treblinka, Sobibor, and Belzec. He goes on to talk about the pain and betrayal felt by Jews whose neighbors were "worse than the Germans." This photograph does not capture a unique or one-time occurrence -- " plunder as well as murder was a collective enterprise."

In 2018 an Amendment to the Act on the Institute of National Remembrance was signed into law by Polish President Andrzej Duda. It criminalized false public statements that ascribe to the Polish nation collective responsibility in Holocaust-related crimes, crimes against peace, crimes against humanity, or war crimes, or which "grossly reduce the responsibility of the actual perpetrators". (Wikipedia). But the Polish were actual perpetrators. "'We'll have to put up a monument to Hitler for having gotten rid of the Jews' was overheard in private conversations all over Poland." The book includes many accounts of people beaten and tortured in order to find out where they were hiding their gold, being paying exorbitantly to be hidden and get food, and then being betrayed, and Poles murdering the Jews in their villages in order to raid their houses for furniture and clothes.

Gross also documents the silence of the Catholic Church in Poland during World War II.

A thin volume packed with survivor and "official" testimony, it is a worthwhile read.

[Eva Staněk]

Přečteno jako doplněk k filmu Ida.
Svědectví, úvahy a fakta založená na zkoumání jedné fotografie pořízené po skončení druhé světové války v místě bývalého KT v Treblince.

"V jádru tohoto poznávacího procesu leží už dříve nabyté znalosti o světě s dovětkem, že individuální situace jsou zasazeny do širšího proudu událostí, a ty jsou určitým způsobem utříděny. Životní zkušenost napovídá, že to, co se děje má (obvykle) nějaký význam a že život ve společnosti, o němž je řeč, není sekvencí zcela na sobě nezávislých a náhodných událostí - jako série šťastných čísel tahaných postupně z klobouku. Mezi tím, co se událo dřív, a tím, k čemu došlo o něco později, existuje určitá spojitost. Takže kromě individální události, která je východiskem historických úvah, mohly dodatečně nastat v časovém úseku, jenž nás zajímá, pouze některé věci, a jiné spíše nikoliv.
Tváří v tvář jednotlivým faktům si vždy můžeme položit otázku: A co z toho plyne? Konkrétní událost je pouhý začátek, která stojí u zrodu úsilí směřujícího k obecnému vědění. /.../ Zlomek vteřiny, jedna fotografie, jeden důkaz v sobě skrývají mimořádnou demaskující sílu, která v mžiku dovede svrhnout dříve stanovenou verzi událostí: je to stejný princip, při němž jediný pokus, jeden protipříklad v přírodních vědách nás donutí ustoupit od dosud uznávané teorie či induktivním přístupem doloženého trvrzení."
(s. 29)

[Anna · Rating 1 out of 5]

Temat bardzo pożądany i bardzo kontrowersyjny, ale styl książki w ogóle do niego nie pasuje. Przeleciałam przez książkę, ale nie byłam w stanie "zawiesić oka" na niczym. Ponad dwieście stron, a ja po prostu przewracałam je w poszukiwaniu jakiegoś interesującego fragmentu.

[Mark Weinberger]

Extremely disturbing, but numb to the subject since I know all too well about man's brazen depravity toward his fellow human beings.