By January 27, 2018 Read More →

July 1941 Pogroms in Poland

Treaty with PolandTREATY WITH POLAND SIGNED AT VERSAILLES IN 1919

Take the July 1941 rampage in the eastern town of Jedwabne, where Poles unprompted but against the backdrop of Nazi occupation, slaughtered hundreds of their Jewish neighbors. Jan Cross, the Polish-born US historian who documented this crime in his book Neighbours, published in 2001, came under attack from Polish nationalist who accused him of distorting evidence and denigrating Poles.

But in that year (2001), on the 60th anniversary of the murders, Aleksander Kwaniewski, Poland’s then President, took the brave step of making a formal apology for Jedwabne on behalf of the Polish nation. The museum exhibition tells the story of Jedwabne, setting it in the wider context of Polish Jewry’s extermination at Nazi hands.

‘In proportion to the killings elsewhere under Nazi occupation Jedwabne was minor. But the important thing is that it was Poles, not Germans, doing the killing,’ says Stola. ‘As a nation, we have finally developed a language to speak about difficult historical topics. This wasn’t possible under the communist system. Twenty years ago people were over-sensitive and would say, ‘You can’t criticize your own nation.’  Today people say, ‘Why not? It’s my job as a citizen.’  So it’s possible to speak about anti-Semitic prejudice today without being labeled anti-Polish.

Thanks to postwar border changes and population transfers, as well as the annihilation of the Jews, Poland under communism was, for the first time since the 14th century (e.g. without Jews)

Treaty of Paris

Article 10

Educational Committees appointed locally by the Jewish communities of Poland will, subject to the general control of the State, provide for the distribution of the proportional share of public funds allocated to Jewish schools in accordance with Article 9, and for the organization and management of these schools.

The provisions of Article 9 concerning the use of languages in schools shall apply to these schools.

Article 11

Jews shall not be compelled to perform any act which constitutes a violation of their Sabbath, nor shall they be placed under any disability by reason of their refusal to attend courts of law or to perform any legal business on their Sabbath. This provision however shall not exempt Jews from such obligations as shall be imposed upon all other Polish citizens for the necessary purposes of military service, national defense or the preservation of public order.

Poland declares her intention to refrain from ordering or permitting elections, whether general or local, to be held on a Saturday, nor will registration for electoral or other purposes be compelled to be performed on a Saturday.

Source: Financial Times October 25, 2014; Treaty with Poland. Treaty of Peace Between The United States of America The British Empire France, Italy, and Japan and Poland Signed at Versailles on June 28, 1919.

Posted in: AntiSemitism, Pogroms

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