Thank you for all your supportive comments and thank you-Robert Nowak for giving Mark Steyn an opportunity to publicly whip your ever so exquisitely sensitive Polish tuches in public, and coin a new national identity for schmucks like you.
Behold: Steyn eviscerates the Polish Assholian.
Thanks, Mark!
And just as a matter of geographical clarification, something that Mr. Nowak was so concerned about. My maternal grandfather came from Jedwabne, I have a copy of his naturalization papers on my desk. It says he was from Yetvawna, Lomsha, Poland.
Nationality: Pole. Nationality of parents: Pole.
My maternal grandmother from a small little town not far from there, a shtetl, near the eastern border of what is now called "Russia"-as a commenter pointed out-Belarus.
Both are just northwest of Bialystock.
Real estate changed changed rather frequently during those times, as I am sure Mr. Nowak is well aware.
They were once "Poles", or so they thought.
Now they are dead, and we can visit their graves respectfully here in Canada, and take comfort in the fact that they led long lives and had grandchildren.
But one generation away, there are no gravestones, only scorched earth, only ghosts hovering over the former synagogues, schools, farms and businesses. The souls cry out for remembrance, they propel the Jewish reverence for life. Our lives must be guided by love of life, so we toast and live l'chaim.
So I can say with complete security and satisfaction that I'm happy I have disturbed you, Mr. Nowak, those like you and your deep seated, default antisemtic undertones and your otherwise murder-excusing equillibrium.
11 comments:
I'm of Polish background, raised Catholic, with a surname that screams JEW. Your piece was beautiful. Anyone who has a problem with it clearly is too wrapped up in their own issues.
Thank you for sharing.
Powerful story, well told.
And - yes. Good on Mr. Steyn for standing up!
I grew up in 'Eastern Europe' and can give eye-witness: there are many places which 'used to be the Jewish part of town' and 'used to be Jewish schools - but are not any more. There simply aren't that many Jews around...
Shame on all those of us who want to hide from the reality of what happened!
"Assholian" is a decidedly Armenian surname... ;)
RG
Loved both the article, and your---and Steyn's--response to the Assholian!
/TalkinKamel
My dear closet conservative,
First of all thank you for a moving account of your family history.
I'd like to add a couple of tiny points to Mark's evisceration of Mr. Nowak.
I've taken the trouble of looking at the map. You know what? Poland does have a border with Russia. OK, it's not strictly speaking an Eastern border. It is a Northern border. But the funny thing is, Jedwabne's pretty close to that border. In fact, it's close to the Eastern extremity of the border.
Jedwabne is also close to another border. Poland's eastern border proper. It's with Belarus. Now, Belarus as a political entity is a fairly recent construction. But the name means "White Russia". If you recall the dear departed zars, they were zars of "all the Russias" of which Belarus is one. So however you choose to look at it, Poland's got an Eastern, Russian border and Jedwabne is near that border. Not that it's strictly relevant of itself, but only because Mr. Nowak chose to make it so...
All this is innocent fun and games. Now we come to the serious bit. Poland's dark history of anti-semitism. You'd have thought that in the years following the Second World War, the Poles would've been eager to establish some cred for anti-anti-semitism, wouldn't you?
After the war, in fact, some 400.000 jews were left in Poland. A lot of them got "displaced" out of there in the following years. In 1968, 10% of 40,000 were left. But even that was too much for the Poles. A government-led pogrom drove out nearly all those left. In a matter of days, they were rounded up, put on ferries and sailed to neighbouring countries. Mainly Denmark, Sweden and Germany.
In Denmark, they became a highly valued group of immigrants, not just in the Jewish community, but in society as a whole. Thank you, Poland, for all these fine new Danes. And for the many business opportunities those new Danes could take advantage of after 1989!
What puzzles me is that you chose to give us this huge advantage over you on a silver platter. No wonder your economy keeps crashing.
The lesson to be learned here is that like any other form of racism, anti-semitism in fact does hurt the perpetrator, not just the victim.
Mr. Nowak, I think Mark Steyn let you get off way too lightly.
Hi, CC,
Just a Jew-loving Gentile visiting from the steynonline.com site. I thought Mark Steyn wrote what was actually a quote from you in his recent NRO article. (oh, brother) Here's what I said to him that was really being said to YOU:
"... masterfully written ... . Your powerful final sentences were right -- left -- right hooks to the jaw. Knockout!
And, thank you, [Ms. CC], for sharing your moving family history. So you are one of the Chosen People (perhaps you feel, as Reb Tevye did, "God, couldn't you choose someone else for awhile?" -- quoted from memory only). You are a blessing.
Those murderers took his life, but your great-grandfather has a priceless legacy -- you. In your tireless, magnificent, stand for liberty, for Israel, for truth, he lives on. He would be so proud. And one day, he will tell you so; I am certain of it.
"May the Lord bless and protect you;
may the Lord's face radiate with joy
because of you;
may he be gracious to you,
show you his favor,
and give you his peace." Numbers 6:24-26
Yours,
Janice
Washington
Janice thank you for your beautiful comments.
I see a lot of people here are compassionate, enlightened and all-around better than those murderous polish bastards who have sucked anti-Semitism together with mother’s milk. Congratulations.
Ok, personally when I am reading about things like Jedwabne I want to use nearest time machine and shot the bastards who did it. However some opinions here make me furious. And wake up my obvious inner anti-Semite.
Polish dark history of anti-Semitism? As in we were murdering Jews since the beginning of polish state? Not counting Second World War and its neighborhood Poland was not worse and in some cases much better than countries around (besides that’s understandable but peculiar not only Jewish but western perception, forgetting all those centuries before the Holocaust)
Post war murders don’t have any excuses but events of 1968? Sorry, not a shred of compassion for them. One band of Communist finished off the other band. I won’t call them Jews because they had almost nothing in common with Jews. After the war Communist finished what Nazi has started. Those who left in Poland cut their ties with jewishness and became good, enlightened Party members, with all that nastiness that it implied. They were very surprised when some Communist crook had dig up their origins and used it in internal power struggle (they thought they were above that).
And Kjerulf, most of Poles would have gladly taken their place and be expelled from socialist paradise to Denmark. There they would have created many business opportunities for Danish people. BTW: Polish economy keeps crashing? In which alternate dimension?
To Jerzy:
"One band of Communist finished off the other band. I won’t call them Jews because they had almost nothing in common with Jews."
I yield to no one in deploring the pervasive Western tradition of not equating communist evil-doers with Nazi and other similar evil-doers.
However, let's please be precise here: the majority of Jews squeezed out of Poland in 1968 were not communists (technically, members of the Polish United Workers' Party) or even sympathizers. Also, there were many more communists but only Jews were expelled. Does this mean no anti-Semitism (incidentally, treated in the venerable old Nazi racial, not religious, way)?
I agree with you about the older days: the times of Sigismund I were good for Jews in Poland. The times got worse after, roughly, 1573 but the Cossacks and later the Russian Imperial government were more prominent in the persecution of Jews...
Assholian
Only a Steyn could cough up a clever quip like that. It has the merit to my ears of giving the presumed self rigtious a kick to the balls for their mindless PC purity.Conjoined as it is with the pluristic Ass. Well, the possibilities are
crunchy yes?
Than when you think the possibilities are over you realise the ending of this new word could imply a cult or group think. Mr. Nov, er I mean Nowak should be proud to be the first so labled by such a supernova word.
Seriously these people ought to remember they wernt born at the time of the atrocities & get on with life. Instead of trying to protect an evil era full of monstrious behavior. Including this one.
Just a thought. Those of us who support Israel ought to be agitating for a Kurdish Homeland. I figure it has the benifit of keeping the Turks, Iranians, Iraqis, & Syria to busy for Hamas?
Shalom, Closet Conservative.
I too am a Canadian and proud to be one.
There has been a noticeable rise in anti-Semitism in Canada, especially around large metropolitan areas and particularly on the University campuses in Canada.
I know Canada is proud to say that it is a more tolerant society than the rest of the world but there is a dangerous undercurrent flowing rising.
I think it is primarily due to the MSA-CAN, ISNA-CAN, CAIR-CAN, the Muslim Brotherhood, the Muslim Canadian Congress all spreading their lies about Israel and Judaism.
I write my MP every single day with updates from UN Watch, Global Muslim Brotherhood Daily, Jihad Watch, etc., etc. pointing out any new propaganda tricks that are attempts to undermine our Jewish Communities.
The sad part is, I see so many Rabbis and Christian Priests and Ministers joining this condemnation of Israel. It is very disturbing, when you're trying to create positive opinion for a tiny nation of devout people surrounded by Islamic Nazis, Hamas, Hezbollah, IHH, MB, Iran, Syria, Egypt, Jordan, and now Turkey, all wanting to be the first nation to be the leader in killing the most Israelis...Juden Raus!
I might note: the board game Juden Raus is making a comeback.
It is a very sad state of affairs when a White House Press Correspondent, whom I had every respect for before, suddenly and out of the blues comes out with such a vile and unbecoming statement for a representative of the government Press Corps.
I am glad she is gone but I am certain there are many more following in her footsteps.
These so-called Peace activists are condemning Israel as well.
They don't know what it is like to live in Israel and have rockets pouring over the border from Gaza and threatening your families.
I suggest that these peaceniks spend a month or two under threat of Qassams in Israeli settlements like Sderot or Tiberias, Erez or Neve Dekalim. Then perhaps they can appreciate the reasons for blockades, the underground tunnel walls, and the fence.
I am not Jewish, nor was my family, but I have considered becoming one. I am 100% behind Israel and the Jewish people and would give my life to protect a family from another Holocaust if, heaven forbid, it ever occurs.
But as someone has already pointed out…it could happen again. The cyclic nature of history ensures that the horrors of the past will return if new generations forget those horrors or are never privileged enough to learn of them in tyrannies such as we find in the Middle East.
I welcome any coments and if you would ever like to get in touch with a fellow supportive Canadian just let me know.
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