Poland and the Nazi death camps

It was very strange to read a couple of days ago, that Poland wants to make it illegal to refer to the Nazi concentration camps in Poland as Polish camps. Obviously, the leaders of Poland do not want their country to be connected to the horrors of what the Nazis did in their country during WW2 occupation. The problem with such a law is that it controls what can be said or discussed. In terms of simplicity, when referring to the Nazi extermination camps in different European countries, it would be useful to say the Polish camps as opposed to the Latvian camps etc. So, we would have to say the camps in Poland, but we could not say the Polish camps! How ridiculous. I suspect the Polish are sick of being blamed for the bad things that occurred there, but what is required is better education, I would think. 

The danger with this new Polish law is it could then be extended to not being allowed to talk about the fact that some Polish were supporters of the Nazis. It may have been Germans running the camps, or as was more often the case Austrians (I will get to that later), and many Polish were in the camps too, and died there along with Jewish people and lots of other groups. But there would have been at least some Polish who supported the Nazi genocide against Jews and other groups. When visiting wikipedia on the history of Polish Jews, what you do discover though is that Poland was the centre of Jewish people in Europe, that for hundreds of years Poland had been more tolerant than any other country, that there were more Jews in Poland than any other country, and that the Polish were the least collaborative with Nazis of any country in Europe. About 3 million Polish Jews were murdered. Most historical mistreatment in Poland came about over the centuries due to occupations by Russia & Prussia- Germany that all had much more anti-semitism.

Just as not all Germans were Nazis, not all Poles were Nazi supporters but also not all were friendly with Jewish people either. The story of anti-semitism is a long & complex one. It certainly did not begin in the 20th century with the rise of Hitler. For centuries, Jewish people had lived in all European countries. The move out of Jerusalem began during the Roman occupation about 70AD when Jews were expelled & forced to seek out other locations. Many countries had waves of antisemitism. There was the convert or die period in Spain during the inquisition. At that time many Jews went to Morocco as did Muslims, and some Jews went to other countries in Europe and joined existing Jewish communities, depending on opportunities, economically as well as acceptance.

Many people know about the pogroms of Russia and other Eastern European countries. From these escapes to countries like Britain & the United States, many Jewish people today owe their origins. The hatred against Jews had been fuelled by a religious and cultural divide. I have often equated this with the ‘which came first: the chicken or the egg’ syndrome. Did Jewish people separate and keep distance from Christians because they were not welcome or did they prefer to keep in their own group? The problem with isolation which is a key part of building anti-semitism, is that rumours flourish. There were regular tales of Jews being connected to Satanic worship, eating babies, poisoning wells. And this was in a time of great fear & superstition. When groups have distance from each other, stories can be invented, and once established, rumours recirculate regardless of evidence or lack. The middle ages also famed for its burning of ‘witches’ was a time when the church ruled supreme and where being a Christian was not a choice. It was a requirement. So, having people of other faiths living in your territory was generally tolerated at best, rather than valued. Hundreds of years worked to build mistrust, and with attacks against Jewish people happening in various locations over centuries, many Jewish communities would have felt safer keeping their distance. But the problem with this, is that rumours circulate & build further.

And then there is that money thing. This is the most significant issue in my opinion to the rise and existence of anti-semitism. I remember hearing anti-semitic ‘jokes’ as a child living in New Zealand in the 1970s, and as far as I knew there was no one Jewish at my school or living in my town. The first ‘joke’ was how to get 20 Jews into a tiny car… Throw in a 1 cent piece'. 'How to get them out of the car, throw in a pork bone'. In fact, that was my first way of learning that Jews supposedly had some connection with money and were greedy or miserly and that they did not like pork. I remember having some realisation soon after hearing these ‘jokes’ that they were unkind to a group of people who I did not even know. I had already learnt about the holocaust though. Around the age of 11, I had seen the series ‘A World at War’, and I remember thinking, despite how disgusting that event was, people were still insulting Jews. How wrong, but also interesting that people would continue to insult a group even after they had gone through something so bad!

So, Jewish people and money is a key issue towards the creation of anti-semitism and its maintenance. Let’s take this stuff apart and give it a good explore. Over the years I have had several Jewish friends who had family names with the words gold or silver. That’s a pretty nice thing to have in your name and it was connected to the work that some Jewish people did. In the middle ages, the Christians in Europe were forbidden to manage various aspects of money, wealth or lending, but Jews were allowed to, and over time Jews came to be seen as a group connected to money & wealth. Not all Jews had money but that was where the stereotype came from. Through this same period, Jewish people with some having financial skills and access to money, were beneficial to the royalty and other elites of various countries. And when countries suffered from famines or the elites took so much that poor people were on the edge, the Jews were an easy group to blame. In addition, with various pogroms occurring, many Jews realised that having money could buy them security or escape from a place of trouble. It is an irony that Jews were attacked by the Nazis over this money thing and labelling of being rich. And the people who escaped from the Nazis were more than likely the ones who were rich because money gives you connections, options and ways to buy your way out of a bad situation.

Last year I googled wealth and ethnicity, because on the internet, I still read people saying how bad Jewish people are because they are all greedy, steal people’s money and are all rich. I have often been in such discussions, where people are convinced that this is a fact, with no evidence. For some it is just a kind of truth that is a fact and does not need questioning. Is it true? NO!

Most Jews are not rich, but in terms of ethnicity, if you are Jewish you are twice as likely to be wealthy than if you are European. So, I think I read that something like 2% of Jewish people are wealthy compared to 1% of Europeans. So, with that information, next time you hear a similar conversation, you can reply 2% are wealthy & 98% are not! That’s a lot of Jewish people who are not rich! But as they say, mud sticks. Once you have a rumour floating around and an uneducated population, you can ramp up prejudice so easily. Of course, there might be some who keep their money hidden or secret but I would imagine the difference between Jews & lots of other ethnic groups is education. Education has always been valued in Jewish culture and as a way to improve your situation. Similarities exist on that with many Chinese & Indian. And from education, comes opportunities for better jobs. I would say that a lot of Jewish people are middle class with professional careers because of this focus on education. Of course, in 1930s Poland, many a Jewish person lived in a village called a shtetl and such populations would have been employed in the total variety of professions from teacher to rubbish collector.

When Hitler gained power in 1933 he received 44% of the vote. Factional differences between Communists and Democratic Socialists in Germany caused a great fragmentation of alternative leadership. Those two parties made up 30% of the vote. So, Hitler was elected by 44% of the people. And had the whole craziness of 1933-1945 been known in 1933, Hitler’s vote would have been much less, I am guessing. But history is an interesting thing. We look back and think, if only I had known. But these times were fraught with challenges where people were desperate for solutions and blaming Jews was a clear path when dealing with financial challenge. An old belief.

When I stayed in Berlin in 1999 for 4 months, I remember having some great conversations with my roommate. She told me how Germans would go to Amsterdam for the weekend and get their tyres slashed because their car had German number plates and people regarded them as Nazis. This has so often been the case. As soon as someone discovers a person is German, they make jokes or ask them if they are a Nazi. But this is the simplistic education that most have about such topics as WW2. Part of what causes that problem is that people get taught that the allied countries of France, US, Britain etc were teamed up with Russia fighting Germany for control. And while the groups in control in Germany were definitely engaged in a war of nationalistic occupation & domination, understanding what was occurring within the country is so important. Were all Germans Nazis? About 30% were Communists & Democratic Socialists, so at least 30% were progressive. After the defeat of WW1 and the Great Depression that brought Germany to it’s knees, considerable numbers were looking at a socialist-communist revolution. Others were examining reforms within capitalism towards some nationalisation and policies to protect the working class. And yet we have this perception of all Germans being Nazis. Mud sticks. Or maybe a better definition is lack of education combined with rumours creates many flawed beliefs that continue until questioned and examined. And even then…

Just to finish off the topic of Germany and political beliefs of 1933, the first people to be sent to concentration camps were not Jewish people per se. It was the leaders of the alternative political parties. The forces that could oppose Hitler’s game of total control. Trade unionists too and anyone who might challenge his authority. Hitler & his henchmen knew a thing or two about control, and I guess you could say, that is where German culture began to play its part. German culture can be very tribal & conformist and organised which can be beneficial or dangerous, depending on the objective. Those first people were tortured and destroyed enough, so that when those leaders were released back into the community, they were no longer a threat to Nazi leadership. And they showed others, that challenging this new leadership would be a very dangerous idea.

At this point, it is worth mentioning Austria. Despite the fact that most Germans who carried out the horrors are long gone or that the majority of Germans never sought the demonic henchmen to rule their country, their actions since WW2 have been honourable in many ways. Having been very aware of the Holocaust since childhood, and having lots of Jewish friends and my involvement in Human rights, visiting Berlin for me was a chance to see the history of that dark time. There is the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp north of Berlin which is important to visit. And all over Berlin are memorials. Since 1999, a huge memorial maze has been constructed that is a block in size. The Germans have made sure that the nation never forgets the danger of fascism and what occurred. But what about Austria? Why would we mention Austria? Because as we know Hitler was not German but Austrian. And what is not so known is that 40% of the people who worked in the death camps were not German but Austrian. It’s like since WW2, the Austrians were playing on the Monopoly board & got the ‘get out of jail free’ card. Where is their accountability and acknowledgement? As far as I can tell, they still keep it in the dark. That would be good to see change. Just as the country of Japan has yet to acknowledge its war crimes and build some memorials to those who suffered when their dictators ruled, the same is needed from Austria.

But we always need to be clear that we are not talking about a whole nation. There were many Germans who were part of a resistance. Because the war of Germany was against other nations, Germany tends to get treated as one cohesive thing. But what is so important to realise is that every country is a combination of differing people and ideas. Germany was no different to any other country. But the story of Germany and many other nations that have fallen under dictatorship, is that once dictators gain power, then it is a tricky path to resolve. And for many people, fear takes hold. If I speak up, I could get tortured or killed, and my family & friends too. Better to keep quiet. Maybe this will get better if I just try not to notice. And of course, many did not know how bad it was because the violence was often carried out where few could see. And when you are scared or hateful, for differing reasons, you do not want to know. I prefer to think of the nazi period in Germany as not just a war with other nations, but also an internal war within Germany. It was a war against the other. Various sections of the German population: trade unionists, communist & socialist, Jewish, gay, artists, progressive, pacifists, disabled, gypsy, Christian leaders, Jehovah’s Witness, the list goes on… all German, but different.

Just as Germany often gets labelled as the fascist nation of WW2, when in fact a better description might be the country ruled by fascists, so we appreciate the system of dictatorship, it is worth appreciating that degrees of fascism were in many nations at that time. Just as Russia had become a socialist system, there were many nations like Germany and Britain that had many leaning towards socialism too. So, many in Austria leaned to fascism and welcomed home their son as Hitler occupied Austria for Germany. Fascism was big in Britain too. It was a time of differing ideas vying for power.

And anti-semitism was fuelled all over the world in the early 1930s. Think it was just the Germans? Think again! Ever read about the ship full of Jewish people which left Germany in 1938 in search of a new country? It had to return to Europe because no country wanted them. So, anti-semitism was in full throttle at the time. To be fair, maybe many did not know how bad it was in Germany, or how bad it was to become. But at the time economies were in freefall all over the world since the 1929 Wall Street crash. Countries were not sympathetic to helping foreigners especially Jews. Once again Jews were being blamed for the economic woes. How true was that reputation? Hard to figure out. Certainly, a good chunk of bankers and speculators would have been Jewish, but probably the biggest issue is that a stereotype of Jews already existed, so the whole economic disaster, played into the debacle.

Eastern European countries since WW2 were under the Russian totalitarian system for over 50 years and while freedoms were curtailed, a socialist cultural belief was encouraged as well. So, it was dangerous to question the rulers, and the talks about capitalism and its damage, also often continued the idea that Jews were capitalists and connected with the wealthy elites. These regimes were also negative toward any religion. What is noticeable is that most western Europeans have more education about the holocaust and recognition that mistreatment of Jewish people was bad. The stories of Eastern Europe are far cloudier, plus there has been a culture of not questioning what you have been taught. Or old beliefs continuing to go unquestioned. Within Eastern Europe, challenged economies had people under stress, and such people are often ripe for filling with ideas of blaming others or vilifying minorities. Russia and other nations near it, continue to have incidents of extreme racism & homophobia.

Israel has criticised the law that Poland is talking about. Understandable given that it is the nation of Jewish people. After WW2 as the grip of quango socialism (read totalitarianism) spread through Eastern Europe, Poland was the one place where surviving Jews were most easily able to escape from to Israel.

Not that Israel being critical, has much merit or impression upon other nations of the world. Despite Jewish communities having contributed greatly to the advancement of progressive ideas & movements, Israel has moved in a different direction since WW2. After the holocaust a powerful mindset spread through many Jewish communities that the rest of the world had done so little to help Jews & many Jews moved towards being strong & tough. A kind of ‘us or them’ attitude seems to typify Israel & the Israelis. The lack of willingness to resolve anything with Palestinians has given Israel a questionable rating on almost everything. Anti-semitism is still alive & well, but the strong connection between Jewish communities the world over & thuggish brutal Israel, creates a path where anti Zionism & anti-semitism easily cross over (please read my blog on Israel-Palestine for more about Israel http://progressiveglobalcommunication.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-debacle-of-israel-and-palestine.html )

My final point on this topic would be that because of this connection between money & anti-semitism, and that it has existed for such a long time as a belief of many, I suspect that as long as there are big gaps in the world’s population between rich & poor, haves & have nots, moving the world beyond these limited ideas of blaming Jews is always going to be difficult. Resolving wealth inequality, at least in its extreme form through democratic socialism or something similar, is going to be necessary. That’s what I think anyway.

I dedicate this blog to the memory of Kitty Fischer & Fred Klein, two good friends who both survived Auschwitz & shared much with me about those terrible times.

This blog is written in Sosua. In 1938 when Jews were being turned away from most nations, the dictator here in Dominican Republic allowed 6000 German Jews to settle here. Only about 800 made it out before the Europe doors closed. Dictator Trujillo's goal was to whiten the Dominican race! From one dictator to another! Sosua became a small Jewish German Austrian village in the Caribbean and dairy farming took off in this region of the country.