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Fear: Anti-Semitism in Poland After Auschwitz
An astonishing and heartbreaking study of the Polish Holocaust survivors who returned home only to face continued violence and anti-Semitism at the hands of their neighbors “[Fear] culminates in so keen a shock that even a student of the Jewish tragedy during World War II cannot fail to feel it.”—Elie Wiesel FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL JEWISH BOOK AWARD • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE WASHINGTON POST BOOK WORLD Poland suffered an exceedingly brutal Nazi occupation during the Second World War, in which 90 percent of the country’s three and a half million Jews perished. Yet despite this unprecedented calamity, Jewish Holocaust survivors returning to their hometowns in Poland after the war were further subjected to terror and bloodshed. The deadliest peacetime pogrom in twentieth-century Europe took place in the Polish town of Kielce on July 4, 1946. In Fear, Jan T. Gross addresses a vexing How was this possible? At the center of his investigation is a detailed reconstruction of the Kielce pogrom and how ordinary Poles responded to the spectacle of Jews being murdered by their fellow citizens. Anti-Semitism, Gross argues, became a common currency between the Communist regime and a society in which many were complicit in the Nazi campaign of plunder and murder—and for whom the Jewish survivors were a standing reproach. For more than half a century, the fate of Jewish Holocaust survivors in Poland was cloaked in guilt and shame. Writing with passion, brilliance, and fierce clarity, Jan T. Gross brings to light a truth that must never be ignored. Praise for Fear “That a civilized nation could have descended so low . . . such behavior must be documented, remembered, discussed. This Gross does, intelligently and exhaustively.”—The New York Times Book Review “Gripping . . . an especially powerful and, yes, painful reading experience . . . illuminating and searing.”—Los Angeles Times Book Review “Gross tells a devastating story. . . . One can only hope that this important book will make a difference.”—Boston Sunday Globe “A masterful work that sheds necessary light on a tragic and often-ignored aspect of postwar history.”—Booklist (starred review) “Astonishing . . . Gross supplies impeccable documentation.”—Baltimore Sun “Compelling . . . Gross builds a meticulous case.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
479 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 27, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 30 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.
September 17, 2015
Many reviewers have found Gross' writing unattractive, but I have to disagree. I thought he did a marvellous job, writing in a balanced way about instances of inexplicable horror after WWII had ended. Again and again he points out that Poland had suffered greatly during the war, was let down by the Allied forces and sold into a Soviet rule that its population opposed but had no chance to escape. Gross never lets the reader forget about those circumstances, and you get the impression that the author is just as surprised at the horrors suffered by Polish Jews at the hands of their Polish neighbours as the reader is. When he does take a stand and voices an outright condemnation, then, it really hurts.
Gross is an intelligent commentator, and his conclusions are very well presented. He holds back a bit, in my opinion, when it comes to the psychological aspects. What it boils down to is an inescapable human meanness that makes people who have been hurt take their aggressions out on those who have suffered even more. Post-war pogroms and violent anti-Semitism, as presented here, are the results of greed, hatred, and a convenient world view that dehumanises those you have an opportunity to hurt. After finishing this book, I'm inclined to adopt a world view in which people are nothing more than animals that have words, oh so many words, to justify their animalistic behaviour.
Gross is an intelligent commentator, and his conclusions are very well presented. He holds back a bit, in my opinion, when it comes to the psychological aspects. What it boils down to is an inescapable human meanness that makes people who have been hurt take their aggressions out on those who have suffered even more. Post-war pogroms and violent anti-Semitism, as presented here, are the results of greed, hatred, and a convenient world view that dehumanises those you have an opportunity to hurt. After finishing this book, I'm inclined to adopt a world view in which people are nothing more than animals that have words, oh so many words, to justify their animalistic behaviour.
December 20, 2009
During WWII, ninety percent of Poland’s Jewish population disappeared – exterminated by the Nazis, primarily in their infamous death camps. This is the story about what happened to the surviving ten percent (approximately 200,000 – 300,000) when they returned to their native Poland after the war ended. They were greeted by a wide range of anti-Jewish practices: they were threatened, they were prevented from reclaiming their property, and, in one particularly violent episode – the pogrom in Kielce (July 1946) – many were killed, some with deliberate cruelty. “Whether at work or in a government office, in the street, on a train, or in a classroom, Polish Jews encountered hostility.” Most of these surviving Jews, gripped with terror, took the hint and fled to Palestine or to the west.
Courageous Poles, who had saved Jewish children, were also persecuted. They became social outcasts in their own communities. They were called “Jew lovers.” Most hid their identities to protect themselves and their families.
But this story of the returning Jews doesn’t begin until Chapter 2. In Chapter 1, called “Poland Abandoned,” Gross recounts the heartbreaking story of how Poland was torn apart by the war and then essentially abandoned, first by the Russians, when the Polish underground rose up to fight the Germans, and then again by the US and Great Britain when Stalin refused to honor his wartime pledge to hold free and unfettered elections in Poland as soon as possible following the end of hostilities. Chapter 1 alone made this book worth reading!
When the surviving Jews returned to their hometowns in Poland after the war ended, leading Polish intellectuals were shocked and scandalized by the recurring postwar manifestations of popular anti-Semitism. They saw it, not as an economic issue, not as a political issue, but as a moral failure, which touched some core of the collective being. Of course, Poland was firmly in the grip of Stalinism at this time, and Stalin’s rising anti-Semitic attitude clouds the issue. Nevertheless, Gross presents convincing evidence of widespread discrimination against the returning Jews.
The central event of "Fear" is the pogrom in Kielce. It’s a frightening story. On July 1, 1946, an eight-year-old boy disappeared from his home. It turned out that he had gone to visit a friend in a town from which his family had recently moved. When he returned, he made up a story saying that he had been kidnapped by Jews and kept in the basement of a building at 7 Planty Street, where approximately 180 Jews lived. The building, it was discovered later, had no basement. On July 4, 1946, a crowd gathered at 7 Planty Street. Police and soldiers arrived, but instead of saving the Jews, they participated in the action against the Jews. (The authorities were concerned that the public not accuse them of safeguarding the Jews.) Forty-two Jewish men, women and children were killed – shot, stabbed, or beaten to death. Another 30 were killed on the railroad. Eighty others were wounded.
These were not isolated actions of deviants or socially marginal individuals. As many as a quarter of the adult population of Kielce was actively involved in the assault on the Jews that day. Gross says that “What stands out on the gruesome occasion is the widely shared sense in Polish society that getting rid of the Jews, by killing them if necessary, was permissible.”
The question that Gross attempts to answer in the remainder of the book is: How was such virulent anti-Semitism possible after the Holocaust in Poland, of all places. In attempting to explain anti-Semitism in Poland after the war, Gross rejects, with well supported arguments, two common explanations: Jews were not killing Christian children for their blood, nor were Jews responsible for bringing Communism to Poland. (The chapter on this latter point is longer than necessary, in my opinion.) Gross also rejects, as an explanation, the historical roots of Polish anti-Semitism and the argument that Nazi policies simply rubbed off onto the Poles. Instead, his explanation is [Polish:] society’s opportunistic wartime behavior. “Jews were perceived as a threat to the material status quo, security, and peaceful conscience of their Christian fellow citizens after the war because they had been plundered and because what remained of Jewish property, as well as Jews’ social roles, had been assumed by Polish neighbors in tacit and often directly opportunistic complicity with Nazi-instigated institutional mass murder.” He also suggests an explanation from experimental psychology: people have a propensity to hate those whom they have injured. Many Poles could not bear the Jewish presence after the war because it called forth their own feelings of guilt and shame. A "New York Times" commentator, David Margolik, who reviewed the book, disagrees. Instead, he believes that “the Germans emboldened many Poles to act upon what they had always felt.”
Gross’s concluding chapter is quite compelling, but still not completely satisfying (and I think Gross would agree). What happened to Poland before, during, and after WWII is such a complex mixture of political, social, psychological, and religious factors, that a complete explanation of anti-Semitism in Poland after Auschwitz may be too difficult a task to achieve. Indeed, one of the most accomplished historians of twentieth-century Poland, Dariusz Stola, says: “For me one of the greatest mysteries of our twentieth-century history is Polish attitudes toward the Jews after the Holocaust.” Nevertheless, Gross raises very serious and interesting questions about human action in stressful circumstances. I enjoyed the book and I recommend it.
Courageous Poles, who had saved Jewish children, were also persecuted. They became social outcasts in their own communities. They were called “Jew lovers.” Most hid their identities to protect themselves and their families.
But this story of the returning Jews doesn’t begin until Chapter 2. In Chapter 1, called “Poland Abandoned,” Gross recounts the heartbreaking story of how Poland was torn apart by the war and then essentially abandoned, first by the Russians, when the Polish underground rose up to fight the Germans, and then again by the US and Great Britain when Stalin refused to honor his wartime pledge to hold free and unfettered elections in Poland as soon as possible following the end of hostilities. Chapter 1 alone made this book worth reading!
When the surviving Jews returned to their hometowns in Poland after the war ended, leading Polish intellectuals were shocked and scandalized by the recurring postwar manifestations of popular anti-Semitism. They saw it, not as an economic issue, not as a political issue, but as a moral failure, which touched some core of the collective being. Of course, Poland was firmly in the grip of Stalinism at this time, and Stalin’s rising anti-Semitic attitude clouds the issue. Nevertheless, Gross presents convincing evidence of widespread discrimination against the returning Jews.
The central event of "Fear" is the pogrom in Kielce. It’s a frightening story. On July 1, 1946, an eight-year-old boy disappeared from his home. It turned out that he had gone to visit a friend in a town from which his family had recently moved. When he returned, he made up a story saying that he had been kidnapped by Jews and kept in the basement of a building at 7 Planty Street, where approximately 180 Jews lived. The building, it was discovered later, had no basement. On July 4, 1946, a crowd gathered at 7 Planty Street. Police and soldiers arrived, but instead of saving the Jews, they participated in the action against the Jews. (The authorities were concerned that the public not accuse them of safeguarding the Jews.) Forty-two Jewish men, women and children were killed – shot, stabbed, or beaten to death. Another 30 were killed on the railroad. Eighty others were wounded.
These were not isolated actions of deviants or socially marginal individuals. As many as a quarter of the adult population of Kielce was actively involved in the assault on the Jews that day. Gross says that “What stands out on the gruesome occasion is the widely shared sense in Polish society that getting rid of the Jews, by killing them if necessary, was permissible.”
The question that Gross attempts to answer in the remainder of the book is: How was such virulent anti-Semitism possible after the Holocaust in Poland, of all places. In attempting to explain anti-Semitism in Poland after the war, Gross rejects, with well supported arguments, two common explanations: Jews were not killing Christian children for their blood, nor were Jews responsible for bringing Communism to Poland. (The chapter on this latter point is longer than necessary, in my opinion.) Gross also rejects, as an explanation, the historical roots of Polish anti-Semitism and the argument that Nazi policies simply rubbed off onto the Poles. Instead, his explanation is [Polish:] society’s opportunistic wartime behavior. “Jews were perceived as a threat to the material status quo, security, and peaceful conscience of their Christian fellow citizens after the war because they had been plundered and because what remained of Jewish property, as well as Jews’ social roles, had been assumed by Polish neighbors in tacit and often directly opportunistic complicity with Nazi-instigated institutional mass murder.” He also suggests an explanation from experimental psychology: people have a propensity to hate those whom they have injured. Many Poles could not bear the Jewish presence after the war because it called forth their own feelings of guilt and shame. A "New York Times" commentator, David Margolik, who reviewed the book, disagrees. Instead, he believes that “the Germans emboldened many Poles to act upon what they had always felt.”
Gross’s concluding chapter is quite compelling, but still not completely satisfying (and I think Gross would agree). What happened to Poland before, during, and after WWII is such a complex mixture of political, social, psychological, and religious factors, that a complete explanation of anti-Semitism in Poland after Auschwitz may be too difficult a task to achieve. Indeed, one of the most accomplished historians of twentieth-century Poland, Dariusz Stola, says: “For me one of the greatest mysteries of our twentieth-century history is Polish attitudes toward the Jews after the Holocaust.” Nevertheless, Gross raises very serious and interesting questions about human action in stressful circumstances. I enjoyed the book and I recommend it.
February 21, 2022
Książkę Jana T. Grossa kojarzę jako jedną z najbardziej kontrowersyjnych pozycji wydanych na naszym rynku. Kiedy “Strach” się ukazał byłam dzieckiem, a jednak i do mnie dotarły głosy oburzenia ogromnej liczby historyków, recenzentów czy zwyczajnych Kowalskich, że jakim prawem można tak skandaliczny paszkwil napisać i jeszcze go wydać! „Strach” podzielił na dwa obozy nie tylko czytelników, ale w ogóle Polaków. Dla przeciwników Gross stał się persona non grata numer jeden, natomiast druga grupa, wprawdzie nie bez goryczy i bólu, ale pogodziła się z tezami stawianymi przez Grossa i nie podważała ich wiarygodności. Zresztą nie ma tu co i jak podważać, bowiem autor doskonale udokumentował masowe akty morderstw popełniane na Żydach przez Polaków. “Strach” to pozycja w najwyższym stopniu rzetelna, napisana z naukowym podejściem, bazująca na sporej liczbie źródeł i co najważniejsze świadectw - zarówno obserwatorów, jak i cudem ocalałych niedoszłych ofiar. Jak można kwestionować prawdziwość twierdzeń Grossa stykając się z tak mocnymi dowodami? Historyk wywołał ogromną burzę swoją książką, bo jako pierwszy odważył się tak głośno mówić o tym, że w czasie i zaraz po wojnie nie wszyscy Polacy byli tacy święci, jak dotychczas było to w historii naszego kraju przedstawiane. Osobiście, od zawsze denerwowało mnie i nie mogłam zaakceptować tego naszego tradycyjnego polskiego wychowania i edukacji w paradygmacie martyrologicznym. Dlatego też uważam, że książka Grossa powinna być pozycją obowiązkową dla każdego Polaka. Nie mówię, żeby od razu czytać całość, bo jednak jest to książka typowo naukowa i napisana takim językiem przez co dla niektórych będzie zbyt trudna do przejścia od deski do deski. Jednak poszczególne fragmenty powinny znaleźć się w kanonie lektur szkolnych. Albo przekazujemy kompleksową wiedzę historyczną, zgodną z prawdą i faktami, nie omijając i nie przemilczając niewygodnych treści albo od razu możemy sobie darować jej nauczanie. Takie jest moje zdanie. Ale muszę też nadmienić, że nigdy nie potrafiłam pojąć zasadności takiego kuriozum jak odpowiedzialność plemienna czy w tym przypadku trafniejszym określeniem byłoby narodowa. Za swoje czyny odpowiedzialne są pojedyncze jednostki, ewentualnie grupy - bo czasem nie ma wyboru i trzeba dołączyć do większości by uniknąć ostracyzmu. Ale, że ja osobiście mam się wstydzić czy przepraszać za czyny, które kilkadziesiąt lat wcześniej wyrządziły kompletnie mi nieznane i niespokrewnione ze mną osoby? Bezzasadne i irracjonalne.
Osobiście jestem wdzięczna Grossowi, że „Strach” napisał i uważam, że takie „trudne” dla naszego narodu książki są bardzo potrzebne. Karygodne jest dla mnie zamiatanie pod dywan niewygodnych i niekorzystnych faktów z historii. Owszem, to jest książka piorunująco ciężka i bolesna. Ogrom okrucieństwa i bestialstwa jakiego Żydzi doświadczyli od, nierzadko swoich znajomych czy sąsiadów, Polaków jest niewyobrażalny. Jednocześnie jest to książka przedstawiająca fakty, których znajomość wśród naszego narodu powinna być obowiązkowa.
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Osobiście jestem wdzięczna Grossowi, że „Strach” napisał i uważam, że takie „trudne” dla naszego narodu książki są bardzo potrzebne. Karygodne jest dla mnie zamiatanie pod dywan niewygodnych i niekorzystnych faktów z historii. Owszem, to jest książka piorunująco ciężka i bolesna. Ogrom okrucieństwa i bestialstwa jakiego Żydzi doświadczyli od, nierzadko swoich znajomych czy sąsiadów, Polaków jest niewyobrażalny. Jednocześnie jest to książka przedstawiająca fakty, których znajomość wśród naszego narodu powinna być obowiązkowa.
July 30, 2019
This book angers Poles because it punctures the bubble of innocent victimhood in which Poles wrap themselves as "the Christ of Nations," a metaphor exploded when the would-be martyr is himself exposed as a torturer and robber of Hebrews.
Those who one-star this book and write long-winded disparaging diatribes and apologia are, I "fear," the very types who would have engaged in the pogroms discussed had they been alive at the time (and possibly were.) The arguments against this book put forth by Poles are quite analogous to Dixie revisionists who convolutedly insist the civil war "wasn't about" slavery or race.
This kind of denial makes one sadly reflect that the God of the Old Testament was indeed looking on Poland in 1946, and had a sense of humor: forty years of Communist, atheist imprisonment is a relatively light sentence for mass murder unrepentant.
Bitter irony, too, in that so many young Jews looked to Palestine for deliverance from a Polish homeland that had never been a home, where displacement and dispossession were created anew; and continue to do unto others as was done to them.
Those who one-star this book and write long-winded disparaging diatribes and apologia are, I "fear," the very types who would have engaged in the pogroms discussed had they been alive at the time (and possibly were.) The arguments against this book put forth by Poles are quite analogous to Dixie revisionists who convolutedly insist the civil war "wasn't about" slavery or race.
This kind of denial makes one sadly reflect that the God of the Old Testament was indeed looking on Poland in 1946, and had a sense of humor: forty years of Communist, atheist imprisonment is a relatively light sentence for mass murder unrepentant.
Bitter irony, too, in that so many young Jews looked to Palestine for deliverance from a Polish homeland that had never been a home, where displacement and dispossession were created anew; and continue to do unto others as was done to them.
May 29, 2018
This is a long and difficult read, and at times, mentally draining. One simply cannot fathom the following two things-that pogroms and anti-Semitic attacks occurred literally when the true monstrous extent of the Nazis' actions was still being revealed to the world and that non-Jewish Poles who had hidden Jews during the war had to keep secret their heroic actions for fear of violence against them. And to think the appalling actions the Polish government has taken recently to further remove itself from being labeled as complicit with the Nazis even though many Poles were in the annihilation of Polish Jews.
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.
November 21, 2018
Wow! I like to think of myself as well read and not easily shocked, yet this was a terrifying read describing the moral breakdown of an entire country. This is a must read for people interested in the Holocaust.
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.
May 7, 2013
"One of the paramount underlying reasons of conflict between Poles and Jews after the war had to do with the illicit transfer of material property from Jewish ownership during the war." (39)
"The conceptual and emotional fog veiling this story lifts somewhat only after we recognize that Jewish survivors were an unbearable sore spot because they had been victimized by their Polish neighbors -- for centuries, but especially during the Nazi occupation." (164)
"[T]he local population enthusiastically welcomed and collaborated with the German 'liberators'; and it participated in mass killings of Jews." (185)
"'What do you want with these special Jewish pains? I feel as close to the wretched victims of the rubber plantations in Putumayo and the blacks of Africa. ... I have no special corner in my heart for the ghetto: I am at home in the entire world, where there are clouds and birds and human tears.'" (Rosa Luxemburg to Mathilde Wurm, 195)
"Eastern European Communists wanted to authenticate themselves as the only organizational embodiment of true national interest in the societies where they were politically active. To reach this goal they did not shy away from playing on xenophobia and ethnic prejudice." (239)
"Living Jews embodied the massive failure of character and reason on the part of their Polish neighbors and constituted by mere presence both a reminder and a threat that they might need to account for themselves." (248)
"The conceptual and emotional fog veiling this story lifts somewhat only after we recognize that Jewish survivors were an unbearable sore spot because they had been victimized by their Polish neighbors -- for centuries, but especially during the Nazi occupation." (164)
"[T]he local population enthusiastically welcomed and collaborated with the German 'liberators'; and it participated in mass killings of Jews." (185)
"'What do you want with these special Jewish pains? I feel as close to the wretched victims of the rubber plantations in Putumayo and the blacks of Africa. ... I have no special corner in my heart for the ghetto: I am at home in the entire world, where there are clouds and birds and human tears.'" (Rosa Luxemburg to Mathilde Wurm, 195)
"Eastern European Communists wanted to authenticate themselves as the only organizational embodiment of true national interest in the societies where they were politically active. To reach this goal they did not shy away from playing on xenophobia and ethnic prejudice." (239)
"Living Jews embodied the massive failure of character and reason on the part of their Polish neighbors and constituted by mere presence both a reminder and a threat that they might need to account for themselves." (248)
September 28, 2019
A fundamental reading. Especially when we still live in times in which the Prime Minister of Poland can say that abtisemitism in Poland is a product of something said by an Israeli minister about the antisemitism in Poland!!
February 21, 2021
Difficult read about the post Holocaust relations between Poles and Jews. Antisemitism without Jews after a 1000 year history of living together is a particularly Polish phenomenon. This book goes to significant lengths to explain this phenomenon. Well written and meticulously researched.
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.
April 29, 2025
Gdyby nie to, że przeczytałem na podobne tematy już kilka innych książek, na pewno uznałbym tą za ciekawą. Ale ponieważ przeczytałem... to już ani na mnie nie robi takiego wrażenia ani też nie jest ona chyba aż tak "emocjonalnie" napisana, jak np. "Miasta śmierci", choć temat nie jest ten sam ("Miasta śmierci" są o pogromach w czasie okupacji), to jednak jakoś to się przecież wiąże, stąd moje wrażenie że czytam po raz kolejny właściwie to samo. Dla mnie książka nie była też szczególnie kontrowersyjna, chyba że w sposób inny niż by się mogło wydawać...
- ale z drugiej trony skąd ludzie mają to wiedzieć, jeśli w ogóle się nie interesują tematem... Eee.. wróć, nie, to jednak nie na miejscu nie mieć takiej świadomości.
Wyżej napisałem, że ta książka nie jest tak "emocjonalnie napisana", ale są jednak pewnie mocne fragmenty. Np.:
- to jest trochę nawet w taki ponury sposób śmieszne - kobieta musiała zrobić cyrk, żeby ludzie się uspokoili... Ale z drugiej strony może tego właśnie potrzebowali (tego cyrku), może uwierzyli, bo chcieli uwierzyć...
Na koniec jeszcze dwa cytaty:
- dobre! Nie znałem.
Podsumowując: jeśli to dla kogoś nowy temat (zupełnie nowy), to przeczytać warto.
(czytana/słuchana: 15-17.04.2025)
4/5 [7/10]
"Kiedy w 1993 roku ogólnopolskiej próbce tysiąca osób zadano pytanie: „Czy sądzi Pan(i), że w czasie wojny naród żydowski ucierpiał tyle samo co naród polski, bardziej czy też mniej?", to 6 procent* respondentów odpowiedziało, że naród polski ucierpiał bardziej, 33 procent było zdania, że oba narody ucierpiały tyle samo, 12 procent przyznało, że trudno jest im porównywać, a 3 procent, że trudno powiedzieć. Tak więc przeszło połowa polskiego społeczeństwa najwyraźniej nie wiedziała, że podczas niemieckiej okupacji w Polsce doszczętnie wymordowano Żydów. Wątpię, żeby stan wiedzy na ten temat istotnie się zmienił do dnia dzisiejszego(2)."
a przypis (2.) brzmi tak:
"Dziesięć lat później Krzemiński powtórzył badania i ich wyniki świadczyły o jeszcze większej ignorancji w społeczeństwie - w 2002 roku 10,2 procent respondentów uważało, że naród polski ucierpiał bardziej niż żydowski, 46,9 procent było zdania, że oba narody ucierpiały tak samo, 3,3 procentom trudno było porównywać, a 1,3 procenta trudno powiedzieć (Antysemityzm w Polsce i na Ukrainie. Raport z badań, red. Ireneusz Krzemiński, Scholar, Warszawa 2004, tab. 9, s. 120)."
(pdf. str. 13)
- ale z drugiej trony skąd ludzie mają to wiedzieć, jeśli w ogóle się nie interesują tematem... Eee.. wróć, nie, to jednak nie na miejscu nie mieć takiej świadomości.
Wyżej napisałem, że ta książka nie jest tak "emocjonalnie napisana", ale są jednak pewnie mocne fragmenty. Np.:
"'Ale i to nie pomagało. Ludność nasza wiedziała, że ukrywam dzieci żydowskie, i rozpoczęły się szykany i groźby ze wszystkich stron, żeby dzieci wydać gestapo, bo przecież to grozi spaleniem całej wsi, wymordowaniem itd. (…) postanowiłam, że dzieci nie wydam za żadną cenę.
Wpadła mi zbawienna myśl. Wsadziłam dzieci na wóz i powiedziałam wszystkim, że wywiozę je poza wieś, by je utopić. Przejechałam całą wieś i wszyscy widzieli i uwierzyli, i gdy nadeszła noc, przyjechałam z dziećmi z powrotem [...].'
Wszystko się dobrze kończy, dzieci przeżyły, Sapetowa mówi z czułością, że pojedzie z nimi choćby na koniec świata, bo je kocha ponad wszystko. A nam pozostaje w pamięci ponura świadomość, że podwadowicka wieś uspokoiła się i odetchnęła z ulgą dopiero wtedy, kiedy uznała, że jedna z jej mieszkanek zamordowała dwoje małych żydowskich dzieci."
(pdf.str. 44)
- to jest trochę nawet w taki ponury sposób śmieszne - kobieta musiała zrobić cyrk, żeby ludzie się uspokoili... Ale z drugiej strony może tego właśnie potrzebowali (tego cyrku), może uwierzyli, bo chcieli uwierzyć...
Na koniec jeszcze dwa cytaty:
"Moja odpowiedź na te pytania czerpie z intuicji, którą już Tacyt podawał jako starożytną mądrość, a mianowicie że „w naturze człowieka leży nienawiść do tych, którym się wyrządziło krzywdę"."
(pdf.str. 299)
- dobre! Nie znałem.
"Ale wszyscy widzą to samo - przejęcie własności i ról społecznych trzyipółmilionowej ludności żydowskiej przez Polaków - i mają świadomość, że to jest ważne i trwałe doświadczenie okupacji. A jak bardzo trwale, niechaj nam uświadomi panika, jaką wywołał niechcący w 2001 roku burmistrz Jedwabnego Stanisław Godlewski, mówiąc komuś na odczepnego, że Żydzi wymyślili instrument pozwalający na odległość znajdować kamienie cmentarne w fundamentach i podmurówkach chłopskich obejść. Tak się tym ludzie w miasteczku przerazili, iż musiał czym prędzej ogłosić, że tylko żartował.
Ale przecież burmistrz Godlewski miał rację. Taki instrument istnieje. Ma go w swoim inwentarzu każdy z mieszkańców Jedwabnego. W naszym obszarze kulturowym wymyślili go Żydzi. Nazywa się s u m i e n ie ."
(pdf. str. 312)
Podsumowując: jeśli to dla kogoś nowy temat (zupełnie nowy), to przeczytać warto.
(czytana/słuchana: 15-17.04.2025)
4/5 [7/10]
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
February 10, 2024
Don't recommend
July 22, 2025
A hard, but very important read.
July 15, 2025
Incredible work by Professor Gross, every page underlined or with notes in the margin. Many new paths of study; and in the current political climate it is hard to miss this book as a warning to the world but especially to American voters.
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.
July 5, 2007
The absolute worst in human capacity for cruelty and violence. Very well written, very interesting, very disturbing.
Same basic side note as with "Neighbors": Jews living in Poland have recently told me that - while his facts are absolutely correct - they felt his books have given an overall inaccurate impression of Polish anti-Semitism and that the books have implied that this continues, at the same level, today. That is, they felt it's not as primitive and prevalent but that this book has somehow supported that thought. Just interesting to think about Polish Jews and their issues with it.
Same basic side note as with "Neighbors": Jews living in Poland have recently told me that - while his facts are absolutely correct - they felt his books have given an overall inaccurate impression of Polish anti-Semitism and that the books have implied that this continues, at the same level, today. That is, they felt it's not as primitive and prevalent but that this book has somehow supported that thought. Just interesting to think about Polish Jews and their issues with it.
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
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