Brave Poles save the ghetto? Some comments on Polish-Jewish relations and the Holocaust in the narrative of the United Right

Abstract

The martyrdom of the nation, including the crimes committed against the Polish population by Germans, Soviets or Ukrainians, occupies an important place in the historical policy promoted by the United Right camp. The actions of the authorities give the impression that they are trying to equate the fate of Jews and Poles during the war and, moreover, to erase from the collective memory the crimes committed against Jews by their Polish neighbours during the war. This is not a new procedure, also during the communist era shameful pages of Polish history were tried to be hidden. However, after 2015, the narrative promoted by the United Right on the attitudes of Poles towards the Holocaust goes further: not only are difficult matters kept silent, but attitudes testifying to the heroism and generosity of Poles in saving Jews are promoted in every way, in an attempt to convince public opinion at home and abroad that these attitudes were universal. To paraphrase a well-known poem by Czesław Miłosz and an essay by Jan Błoński, not - "Poor Poles look at the ghetto", but - "Brave Poles save the ghetto". The article is an attempt to comment on post-2015 historical politics in the context of Polish-Jewish relations during the German occupation on the basis of literature on the subject and media statements and reports.