Comments on: Polish majority thinks “Jews still talk too much about what happened to them in the Holocaust”

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 22:49:45 +0000

This probably isnt what you wan to hear but me and my school are collecting buttons in remembrance of the jews that died and it would me a lot to me if you would donate. If you need info or want to donate please call (314)-401-9728

By: mikecg

mikecg — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 20:38:40 +0000

I spent a few days in Poland a couple of years ago “touring” the “sites”. I first arrived in Warsaw on christmas eve. It was so eerie to be standing at the ghetto wall, and seeing christmas trees and cheerful christmas decorations inside the apartments adjacent to it. Our group got stares from inside the apartments and one person even yelled at us to leave.

That whole country just feels like one huge graveyard. My experiences there were surreal. But unfortunately, it’s actually as real as it gets.

By: Gill

Gill — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 16:05:35 +0000

I got into a heated discussion with a Polish dude last summer. He claimed Jews act way too affected by the Holocaust and deny that it affected anyone else.

While I explained that Jews were the overwhelming majority affected by the Holocaust, I don’t pretend (and I don’t think others do) that no other groups were also affected. Take for instance the Gypsies, and I have two good friends of Eastern European Romani origin, one of whom has family that were sent to the gas chambers.

The Shoah was an atrocity against humanity, and this nagging idea from some groups that we Jews use it gain sympathy, or that we’re a bunch of whiners who need to “get over it” is appalling.

The first time visiting the Kotel, all I did was cry for EVERYONE and not just the Jews, but EVERYONE that was lost in the Holocaust. And while my Jewish ancestors were wiped out, and what was left were a bunch of Ashkenazim masquerading around the New World as Christians to escape further persecution in post-war Canada, somehow I managed to still end up in Israel honoring their memory.

Anyway, I think I may have inspired some feelings of remorse in him for spewing anti-Holocaust sentiment in my presence, because he came up to me later and apologized!!!

By: addison

addison — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 04:49:33 +0000

Based on anecdote, I wouldn’t be surprised by this percentage. I had a Polish girlfriend–that is, born and raised in Poland–and amongst her many unpalatable personality traits was the snide ant-Jewish comment from time to time.

E.g., “Well, only wealthy old Jewish people shop there.” “That’s expensive [...], only Jewish people…” “That’s an expensive-looking house [...], probably owned by some Jewish…”

Yeah, I disliked her tremendously.