Je zou bijna hopen dat deze historicus inderdaad wordt aangeklaagd, en de beerput van Pools antisemitisme verder opengaat. Polen zal, net als Duitsland, in het reine moeten komen met een zeer duister verleden, maar moet daar in tegenstelling tot Duitsland nog aan beginnen.
Ratna
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Historian threatens to reveal Polish atrocities against Jews if tried for slander
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/944917.html
By Adi Schwartz, Haaretz Correspondent
Last update - 22:29 15/01/2008
Historian threatens to reveal Polish atrocities against Jews if tried for slander
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/944917.html
By Adi Schwartz, Haaretz Correspondent
Last update - 22:29 15/01/2008
A U.S. historian has threatened to publicly reveal alleged Polish atrocities against Jews in the aftermath of World War II, if the Polish State Prosecution tries him for "insulting the nation."
The Polish State Prosecution said last week that it would consider pressing charges against historian Jan Tomasz Gross for "insulting the nation" in his book "Fear: Anti-Semitism in Poland after Auschwitz."
In his book, Gross covers the Kielce pogrom and other instances of post-war violence perpetrated by Poles against Jews. A Polish translation of the book came out last week sparking the current row.
"If they will take me to court, I will bring witnesses, Jews and Poles, to say exactly what happened [in Poland] after the war," Gross said Monday by phone. "It will be a big scandal."
Gross said that the Polish prosecution was prompted by articles published in the media accusing him of tarnishing the country's reputation.
According to a Polish law passed two years ago, anyone found guilty of accusing the Polish nation of cooperating with Nazi or Communist war crimes can be imprisoned for a maximum of three years in jail. The legality of the law is currently being debated in the country's high court and is expected to be rescinded, Gross said.
"I expect that the prosecutor general will give up the prosecution," Gross said. "I am confident nothing will come out of this. But if they do, there will be a big scandal. The book is not a slander; it is a description of a period. There are people in Poland who are already willing to deal with this subject, and there are people who don't. There is a debate now, and I hope it continues. Only that it will be a substantial debate".
The Kielce pogrom occurred July 4, 1946, when a mob including policemen in uniform attacked a group of Jewish refugees taking shelter in a building in the center of town. Some 27 Jews of the 200 that had been in the building were killed. The incident began when a child who had gone missing told police that he was kidnapped by Jews.
Gross, 61, is a Polish-Born U.S. citizen who has taught at Yale, NYU and Princeton. His books have dealt primarily with anti-Semitic incidents during and after World War II. In one of his best known books, "Neighbors: The Destruction of the Jewish Community in Jedwabne, Poland," Gross argues that the Jewish population of the village was massacred by its Polish neighbors, and not by the Germans as previously believed.
The Polish State Prosecution said last week that it would consider pressing charges against historian Jan Tomasz Gross for "insulting the nation" in his book "Fear: Anti-Semitism in Poland after Auschwitz."
In his book, Gross covers the Kielce pogrom and other instances of post-war violence perpetrated by Poles against Jews. A Polish translation of the book came out last week sparking the current row.
"If they will take me to court, I will bring witnesses, Jews and Poles, to say exactly what happened [in Poland] after the war," Gross said Monday by phone. "It will be a big scandal."
Gross said that the Polish prosecution was prompted by articles published in the media accusing him of tarnishing the country's reputation.
According to a Polish law passed two years ago, anyone found guilty of accusing the Polish nation of cooperating with Nazi or Communist war crimes can be imprisoned for a maximum of three years in jail. The legality of the law is currently being debated in the country's high court and is expected to be rescinded, Gross said.
"I expect that the prosecutor general will give up the prosecution," Gross said. "I am confident nothing will come out of this. But if they do, there will be a big scandal. The book is not a slander; it is a description of a period. There are people in Poland who are already willing to deal with this subject, and there are people who don't. There is a debate now, and I hope it continues. Only that it will be a substantial debate".
The Kielce pogrom occurred July 4, 1946, when a mob including policemen in uniform attacked a group of Jewish refugees taking shelter in a building in the center of town. Some 27 Jews of the 200 that had been in the building were killed. The incident began when a child who had gone missing told police that he was kidnapped by Jews.
Gross, 61, is a Polish-Born U.S. citizen who has taught at Yale, NYU and Princeton. His books have dealt primarily with anti-Semitic incidents during and after World War II. In one of his best known books, "Neighbors: The Destruction of the Jewish Community in Jedwabne, Poland," Gross argues that the Jewish population of the village was massacred by its Polish neighbors, and not by the Germans as previously believed.
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