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Displaying 1 - 17 of 34 reviews
February 24, 2011
This is not a beautifully written book . It more of an academic work, a hugely important one, that should be read by as wide an audience as possible. Readers should struggle through its painstaking prose to take on board its importance and its attempt to understand how most human beings will behave, given the right circumstances - in this particular case, under Nazi occupation and its immediate aftermath.
Fear by Jan Gross focuses tightly on the phenomenon of anti-Semitism in Poland after the Second World War. One cannot help but wonder how this phenomenon has evolved today in a nation that has not yet faced up to its own part in the murder of its Jewish population and in certain areas continues today to deny its own complicity in those murders.
This book is not an attack on Poland or its people, as many have claimed, but an attempt to understand why anti-Semitism was not extinguished – but rather increased - in Poland in the aftermath of the death camps and the brutal murder of three million Polish Jews on Polish soil and before the eyes of their ethic Polish neighbors.
During and after the nearly unthinkable pogrom of Kielce, the main event in this book, Holocaust survivor Jews were accused of killing Christian children to make matzo. Boy scouts, policemen, soldiers, mothers and fathers took part in the bloodshed and murder that occurred here. In fact, no one ever saw a Christian child murdered for their blood. If Hitler himself had cited this medieval rubbish during the Nuremberg rally he would have been ridiculed. Yet in Kielce, indeed throughout Poland, it was accepted by rational individuals. Did they really believe they were protecting Christian children by murdering their Jewish neighbors? Jews were also blamed for the Communism that oppressed Poland in the aftermath of WWII, even though proportionally few Jews held positions of authority. Communism was generally enforced by Polish thugs and Gross interesting points out that those who most compliant were those who had also collaborated with the Nazis. This fact was ignored in 1946 during the pogrom in Kielce and the murders throughout the rest of Poland, just as it is probably generally ignored today.
Gross works his argument methodically toward the main point and revelation of the book – that Polish atrocities in the aftermath of the death camps have at their root Polish complicity and Polish guilt.
The Roman, Tacitus, wrote: "It is human nature to hate the man whom you have injured." Jews were murdered, threatened and brutalised in Poland after Auchwitz, Treblinka, Sobibor and other hellish places not because they were a genuine threat but because of what the Poles had done to the Jews. The Nazi murdered their neighbors and most Poles did nothing, they stole and plundered their property, enriching themselves in the most opportunistic fashion. The Jews who returned from the flames of the Holocaust reminded Poles of their own sins.
I wonder how much this is at the root of modern Polish anti-Semitism. A woman I met a few years ago in Warsaw said to me: "If you ask me, all of Poland needs therapy." Somehow, after reading this book, I have the strongest sense that Poland, as a nation, cannot move forward to find its rightful place in Europe and the world until it faces up to its own past and is then able to move forward. Gross's work is but the first step.
Fear by Jan Gross focuses tightly on the phenomenon of anti-Semitism in Poland after the Second World War. One cannot help but wonder how this phenomenon has evolved today in a nation that has not yet faced up to its own part in the murder of its Jewish population and in certain areas continues today to deny its own complicity in those murders.
This book is not an attack on Poland or its people, as many have claimed, but an attempt to understand why anti-Semitism was not extinguished – but rather increased - in Poland in the aftermath of the death camps and the brutal murder of three million Polish Jews on Polish soil and before the eyes of their ethic Polish neighbors.
During and after the nearly unthinkable pogrom of Kielce, the main event in this book, Holocaust survivor Jews were accused of killing Christian children to make matzo. Boy scouts, policemen, soldiers, mothers and fathers took part in the bloodshed and murder that occurred here. In fact, no one ever saw a Christian child murdered for their blood. If Hitler himself had cited this medieval rubbish during the Nuremberg rally he would have been ridiculed. Yet in Kielce, indeed throughout Poland, it was accepted by rational individuals. Did they really believe they were protecting Christian children by murdering their Jewish neighbors? Jews were also blamed for the Communism that oppressed Poland in the aftermath of WWII, even though proportionally few Jews held positions of authority. Communism was generally enforced by Polish thugs and Gross interesting points out that those who most compliant were those who had also collaborated with the Nazis. This fact was ignored in 1946 during the pogrom in Kielce and the murders throughout the rest of Poland, just as it is probably generally ignored today.
Gross works his argument methodically toward the main point and revelation of the book – that Polish atrocities in the aftermath of the death camps have at their root Polish complicity and Polish guilt.
The Roman, Tacitus, wrote: "It is human nature to hate the man whom you have injured." Jews were murdered, threatened and brutalised in Poland after Auchwitz, Treblinka, Sobibor and other hellish places not because they were a genuine threat but because of what the Poles had done to the Jews. The Nazi murdered their neighbors and most Poles did nothing, they stole and plundered their property, enriching themselves in the most opportunistic fashion. The Jews who returned from the flames of the Holocaust reminded Poles of their own sins.
I wonder how much this is at the root of modern Polish anti-Semitism. A woman I met a few years ago in Warsaw said to me: "If you ask me, all of Poland needs therapy." Somehow, after reading this book, I have the strongest sense that Poland, as a nation, cannot move forward to find its rightful place in Europe and the world until it faces up to its own past and is then able to move forward. Gross's work is but the first step.
July 12, 2012
An astounding and painful read; one long argument that leads to an utterly convincing and unforgettable conclusion. Although this is specifically about atrocities committed by the Polish people,there is no doubt that the darkest corners of human nature are not limited to one nationality or period of history. This scrupulously researched book should be read by a wider audience. I plan on reading "Neighbors" and a few of the books referenced in the notes. The footnotes may put off some readers but they can be skipped during the first read to keep the argument moving.
June 4, 2009
Thsi book is very scary. Few people realized how bad it was for the Jews in Poland right after the war. This book made me ask more questions about the depth of antisemitic sentiments in Polish society. Deperssing, but fascinating.
March 29, 2023
Dense academic text with lots of repetition. The writing really bugged me, but wow, is the content important. It really opened my eyes. This was a very disturbing read that I'm going to continue wrestling with for a long time.
October 23, 2020
"Ludzie ludziom zgotowali ten los"
Książka, która odkrywa przerażające fakty na temat historii, którą każdy Polak uważa że zna
Książka, która odkrywa przerażające fakty na temat historii, którą każdy Polak uważa że zna
January 22, 2023
Disclaimer: this book is more historiography than history.
***
Wow I never thought I was going to finish this book. It is DENSE to read. Just a pure historiographical density of information and examples and quotations from various actors and oh so many various involved actors.
I mean, JEEZ, sometimes it really felt like I read a page an hour though. (It didn’t help that I looked up a Polish letter combos —> sounds conversion chart and tried to say all the names and words out loud to see how they were pronounced.)
Anyway though, it’s clear that this author is simply doing a full due diligence as he is controversially writing AGAINST common cultural historical mythology and rhetoric. As far as presenting an argument to an at least semi-academic audience, this book was thorough and poignant. And it is certain a great example of historical debunking, so if I ever hear any of the debunked arguments in public or in conversation, I will certainly know right where to direct people.
***
Wow I never thought I was going to finish this book. It is DENSE to read. Just a pure historiographical density of information and examples and quotations from various actors and oh so many various involved actors.
I mean, JEEZ, sometimes it really felt like I read a page an hour though. (It didn’t help that I looked up a Polish letter combos —> sounds conversion chart and tried to say all the names and words out loud to see how they were pronounced.)
Anyway though, it’s clear that this author is simply doing a full due diligence as he is controversially writing AGAINST common cultural historical mythology and rhetoric. As far as presenting an argument to an at least semi-academic audience, this book was thorough and poignant. And it is certain a great example of historical debunking, so if I ever hear any of the debunked arguments in public or in conversation, I will certainly know right where to direct people.
September 19, 2023
This is a good book that explores all plausible motivations behind the persistence of anti-semitism in Poland after World War II.
I finished it and felt like I learned something.
Comments about the style of the author are kind of all over the place, so I’d recommend readers to pick a chapter at random, read a couple of pages, and see if they like it.
I finished it and felt like I learned something.
Comments about the style of the author are kind of all over the place, so I’d recommend readers to pick a chapter at random, read a couple of pages, and see if they like it.
October 13, 2018
Very scholarly. Lots of repetition, but it is a story that needs to be told.
Want to read
March 11, 2024There is a movie called Ida that my wife and I just watched, I think on Amazon Prime.
It really ties in well with this book.
It is a Polish movie from 1962 that got some international awards. It is in Polish, we watched it with English subtitles. A Polish nun who grew up in an orphanage goes in search of her real parents with her dead Mom's sister. Turns out the nun is Jewish.
The family dwelling was confiscated by gentiles who murdered her/their family. Really well done, even though Poland was Communist in 1962.
It really ties in well with this book.
It is a Polish movie from 1962 that got some international awards. It is in Polish, we watched it with English subtitles. A Polish nun who grew up in an orphanage goes in search of her real parents with her dead Mom's sister. Turns out the nun is Jewish.
The family dwelling was confiscated by gentiles who murdered her/their family. Really well done, even though Poland was Communist in 1962.
April 22, 2021
9/10
Jedna z najstraszniejszych książek, jakie przeczytałem...
Jedna z najstraszniejszych książek, jakie przeczytałem...
May 24, 2023
another for the 'depressing books' shelf
July 22, 2025
A hard, but very important read.
Read
December 8, 2013A good academic analysis by Professor Gross himself of Polish origins of the Polish peoples antisemitism and its facilitation in its butchery by the Germans during WWII. Something to learn as the Jewish people were residents in Poland for over a 1000 years! How can Fear be used as a political weapon of control of a population, that is the premise of this very depth analysis. Modern uses of these truths are very evident today in the aftermath of 9/11 and the economic 9/11 of 2008. The "Boogeyman" behind every bush lays in wait, "Yes I will give up some freedoms to be more safe". One has to fear that the advancement of technology i.e. NSA etc makes this book very important if one desires to understand what is happening to the world we all live in.
February 19, 2010
Przeczytałam tą książkę długo po gorącej dyskusji wokół niej, która odbyła się z dwa lata temu. Jest to głównie przedstawianie relacji świadków, głównych bohaterów wydarzeń, dokumentów urzędowych przeplatanie formami interpretacji. Nie zachwyciła mnie mimo całej swojej otoczki. Książka Wokół strachu. Dyskusja o książce Jana T. Grossa tego samego autora jest dużo lepsza i zawiera jedynie cytaty z artykułów, dokumentów i relacji bez żadnych komentarzy.
July 25, 2011
Overall, this is an interesting book about a little-known aspect of 20th-century history. The history in the book is excellent, and I would definitely recommend it for that reason. Be advised, though, that many of Gross's concluding attempts to theorize the continuation of anti-Semitism after the Holocaust in Poland do not fit well with what we know of human psychology. His overall theory that Poles victimized Jews because they had gained resources and status from the Jews' misfortune is strong, though. I give this a four out of five stars.
February 29, 2012
I had to stop reading about half-way through the book, as I didn't think it was particularly well written. Gross seems so determined to cast Poles collectively as evil anti-Semites that he takes several unconnected events and tries to create an organized anti-Jewish program out of them. Perhaps he connects them later in the book and I should give it a second chance, but I'm not particularly inclined to do so.
April 17, 2007
i was reading this book when there was huge discussion about it in Poland, honestly i like it but to my knowledge Gross sometimes do not meet with historical facts. any way i think i gave me an overivew of historical events which took part in Poland after second WW
Displaying 1 - 17 of 34 reviews