Polish anti-Semitism and Jew hatred still going strong

Germany has largely repented from not only the Holocaust and its Nazi past but also from millennia of hatred for Jews. Not that all is perfect; still 20% of all Germans is seriously anti-Semitic and the newest draft for national policy again harps about Jewish settlements West of the Jordan. But as soon as they would understand that that comes from anti-Jewish bias, they would change it.

The RC Church also has completely reshaped its relationship with the Chosen People. More than its complicity with the Holocaust (and preparing the ground for it), the rebirth of the Jewish State made that they had to reexamine their theology of having replaced the Jews. Also here not all is kosher yet. So will they acknowledge that Jews do not need to accept Jesus but they will not try to send home Jews who converted to Christianity.

Austria has done not too much repentance.

And Poland or the Netherlands have not done any soul searching about its relationship to the Jews. They can’t get enough of their own victimhood in WW II and deny their complicity with the Holocaust.

However, Hitler did not invent Jew hatred nor did he import it into the Low Countries or Poland. It was alive and kicking there for centuries.

In the Middle Ages, the Low Countries exterminated any Jewish soul on its territory twice – only to readmit them when they needed money from the Spanish Jews for its soldiers in its 80-year War of Independence against (o irony) Spain – but only under a system of Apartheid that lasted until Napoleon conquered it.

Before WW II, the Dutch closed its border to Jews fleeing Nazi Germany. In WW II, the Dutch government in exile refused to speak out against the Nazi anti-Jewish laws and against the deportations since the Dutch railroads were important for its economy! After the War, the Socialist Dutch government refuse to help the returning Jews seeing them as the super-rich (nebech).

In Poland, Poles murdered Jews before, during and after WW II. It’s true that Slaves were in the Nazi ideology also Untermenschen, but that doesn’t mean that all Slaves were fighting the Nazis against Jew hatred. I never heard of fellow Untermenschen Sinti or Roma (Gypsies) killing Jews; that Poles were anti-Semites everyone seems to know – except the Poles. No doubt this was helped by the great number of RC Catholics among the Poles. The present Polish government denies.

When the great Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach went to Poland to give concerts, Jews asked him: How can you? He answered: Someone needs to bring there the light. He tells of a story before the Second World War, when (again) Poles wanted to hold a pogrom against the Jews. The greatest rabbi around went to the leader of the group set to murder the Jews and asked why. “You stole all our money. We have nothing to eat.” The rabbi answered: “They lied to you. We also have no money and nothing to eat.” The pogrom was called off.

Hatred is a funny thing. At funerals for terrorists we hear the shouts of revenge and hatred. At funerals of their Jewish victims, loved ones cry and speak of hope and love. Crying about a loss is not so simple. It’s easier to be angry and hate.

For Jews, hatred is an emotion hard to imagine. There is a minority of Arab hating Jews in Israel, but most of them come from the USA where they learned racism in a post-slavery society. One of the most painful experiences of Jewish youth is the discovery that they are hated. For what – they can’t wrap their brains around it.

The most amusing aspect is all the Jew hatred now pouring out of Polish mouths and keyboards accusing Jews of hating them. They deny Jew hatred by ventilating it! And how about the idea that not Polish but Jewish passivity caused the Holocaust?! You don’t have to be Freud to understand from where such warped ideas stem.

Poles cannot imagine being in our shoes that we don’t hate them. They should buy a mirror and start cleaning up their defense of a sordid past and ask themselves how they should change so that they become safe allies to Jews. Germans have done it. Poles have no excuse.

The discussion about the death camps being Polish or not is a straw man’s argument. The real issue is rather: when will Poland accept its responsibility to renounce its bloody anti-Jewish past and present?

About the Author

MM is a prolific and creative writer and thinker, previously a daily blog contributor to the TOI. He often makes his readers laugh, mad, or assume he's nuts—close to perfect blogging. He's proud that his analytical short comments are removed both from left-wing and right-wing news sites. None of his content is generated by the new bore on the block, AI. * As a frontier thinker, he sees things many don't yet. He's half a prophet. Half. Let's not exaggerate. Or not at all because he doesn't claim G^d talks to him. He gives him good ideas—that's all. MM doesn't believe that people observe and think in a vacuum. He, therefore, wanted a broad bio that readers interested can track a bit what (lack of) backgrounds, experiences, and educations contribute to his visions. * This year, he will prioritize getting his unpublished books published rather than just blog posts. Next year, he hopes to focus on activism against human extinction. To find less-recent posts on a subject XXX among his over 2000 archived ones, go to the right-top corner of a Times of Israel page, click on the search icon and search "zuiden, XXX". One can find a second, wilder blog, to which one may subscribe too, here: https://mmvanzuiden.wordpress.com/ or by clicking on the globe icon next to his picture on top. * Like most of his readers, he believes in being friendly, respectful, and loyal. However, if you think those are his absolute top priorities, you might end up disappointed. His first loyalty is to the truth. He will try to stay within the limits of democratic and Jewish law, but he won't lie to support opinions or people when don't deserve that. (Yet, we all make honest mistakes, which is just fine and does not justify losing support.) He admits that he sometimes exaggerates to make a point, which could have him come across as nasty, while in actuality, he's quite a lovely person to interact with. He holds - how Dutch - that a strong opinion doesn't imply intolerance of other views. * Sometimes he's misunderstood because his wide and diverse field of vision seldomly fits any specialist's box. But that's exactly what some love about him. He has written a lot about Psychology (including Sexuality and Abuse), Medicine (including physical immortality), Science (including basic statistics), Politics (Israel, the US, and the Netherlands, Activism - more than leftwing or rightwing, he hopes to highlight reality), Oppression and Liberation (intersectionally, for young people, the elderly, non-Whites, women, workers, Jews, LGBTQIA+, foreigners and anyone else who's dehumanized or exploited), Integrity, Philosophy, Jews (Judaism, Zionism, Holocaust and Jewish Liberation), the Climate Crisis, Ecology and Veganism, Affairs from the news, or the Torah Portion of the Week, or new insights that suddenly befell him. * Chronologically, his most influential teachers are his parents, Nico (natan) van Zuiden and Betty (beisye) Nieweg, Wim Kan, Mozart, Harvey Jackins, Marshal Rosenberg, Reb Shlomo Carlebach, and, lehavdil bein chayim lechayim, Rabbi Dr. Natan Lopes Cardozo, Rav Zev Leff, and Rav Meir Lubin. This short list doesn't mean to disrespect others who taught him a lot or a little. One of his rabbis calls him Mr. Innovation [Ish haChidushim]. Yet, his originalities seem to root deeply in traditional Judaism, though they may grow in unexpected directions. In fact, he claims he's modernizing nothing. Rather, mainly basing himself on the basic Hebrew Torah text, he tries to rediscover classical Jewish thought almost lost in thousands of years of stifling Gentile domination and Jewish assimilation. (He pleads for a close reading of the Torah instead of going by rough assumptions of what it would probably mean and before fleeing to Commentaries.) This, in all aspects of life, but prominently in the areas of Free Will, Activism, Homosexuality for men, and Redemption. * He hopes that his words will inspire and inform, and disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed. He aims to bring a fresh perspective rather than harp on the obvious and familiar. When he can, he loves to write encyclopedic overviews. He doesn't expect his readers to agree. Rather, original minds should be disputed. In short, his main political positions are among others: anti-Trumpism, for Zionism, Intersectionality, non-violence, anti those who abuse democratic liberties, anti the fake ME peace process, for original-Orthodoxy, pro-Science, pro-Free Will, anti-blaming-the-victim, and for down-to-earth, classical optimism, and happiness. Read his blog on how he attempts to bridge any tensions between those ideas or fields. * He is a fetal survivor of the pharmaceutical industry (https://diethylstilbestrol.co.uk/studies/des-and-psychological-health/), born in 1953 to his parents who were Dutch-Jewish Holocaust survivors who met in the largest concentration camp in the Netherlands, Westerbork. He grew up a humble listener. It took him decades to become a speaker too, and decades more to admit to being a genius. But his humility was his to keep. And so was his honesty. Bullies and con artists almost instantaneously envy and hate him. He hopes to bring new things and not just preach to the choir. * He holds a BA in medicine (University of Amsterdam) – is half a doctor. He practices Re-evaluation Co-counseling since 1977, is not an official teacher anymore, and became a friendly, powerful therapist. He became a social activist, became religious, made Aliyah, and raised three wonderful kids. Previously, for decades, he was known to the Jerusalem Post readers as a frequent letter writer. For a couple of years, he was active in hasbara to the Dutch-speaking public. He wrote an unpublished tome about Jewish Free Will. He's a strict vegan since 2008. He's an Orthodox Jew but not a rabbi. * His writing has been made possible by an allowance for second-generation Holocaust survivors from the Netherlands. It has been his dream since he was 38 to try to make a difference by teaching through writing. He had three times 9-out-of-10 for Dutch at his high school finals but is spending his days communicating in English and Hebrew - how ironic. G-d must have a fine sense of humor. In case you wonder - yes, he is a bit dyslectic. If you're a native English speaker and wonder why you should read from people whose English is only their second language, consider the advantage of having an original peek outside of your cultural bubble. * To send any personal reaction to him, scroll to the top of the blog post and click Contact Me. * His newest books you may find here: https://www.amazon.com/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_27%3AMoshe-Mordechai%2FMaurits+van+Zuiden&s=relevancerank&text=Moshe-Mordechai%2FMaurits+van+Zuiden&ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1