Michael Moszynski, whose father served in the Polish Army under British Command 1940-48 and whose family were murdered by the Germans, has written a letter to Christian Broughton, editor-in-chief of The Independent. He demands an apology from him regarding the slanderous accusation in Independent’s article written by Rivkah Brown suggesting that Poland was a “perpetrator of the Holocaust”.
You can read the whole letter bellow:
„Dear Christian
I have to inform you that your recent article stating in the headline and body text that Poland was a ‘perpetrator of the holocaust’ has caused huge upset in the Polish community in the UK and in Poland:
By way of background you might find the story of how the Polish General Anders (who captured Monte Cassino) saved so many Jewish lives of relevance.
As an Anglo Pole whose father served in the Polish Army under British Command 1940-48 and whose family were murdered by the Nazis (including at Auschwitz) I request a Right of Reply in the form of an op-ed to be given the same prominence as the original article:
I was astonished that a newspaper that self-declares to be “Independent” could publish an article by Rivkah Brown that claims Poland was a perpetrator of the Holocaust (22nd January “Poland is in denial about its role in the Holocaust – it was both victim and perpetrator”).
Her evidence for such a claim was an incident in Jedwabne where Poles murdered 300 Jews in a barn, a terrible event for which there is of course no defence. But to ascribe to that crime the equivalency of the holocaust – the State-sponsored genocide of 6 million Jews – is hurtful nonsense. Yes, there were antisemitic incidents in Poland, as there were in many countries, but none of it was organised by the State. Let us remember that only Poland suffered the death penalty for helping save the lives of Jews, resulting in the deaths of thousands of its people. Only Poland of all occupied nations did not surrender to Nazi Germany. Only Poland did not appoint a Quisling Government. As a result of its unwavering fight against tyranny, only Poland lost 20% of its population in the war.
The Holocaust was the result of state-perpetrated mass extermination, the likes of which the world has ever seen. The Polish State was at the forefront of informing the dis-believing Allies of the atrocities going on and organising help for the Jewish victims of all nationalities. Read what General Anders did to save so many Jews from not just the Germans but the Russians too. Individuals like my father saved the lives of Jews, in his case in June 1940 as he was organising the evacuation of the Polish Army from France to continue the fight from Britain, whilst simultaneously the Germans were murdering his relatives at Auschwitz as their Russian allies murdered his cousins in the NKVD jail in Lvov and later in the woods of Katyn. (See photos below.)
If Ms Brown wants to look for State “perpetrators” whose Police Forces eagerly rounded up Jews onto cattle trucks to Germany to meet their appalling fate, there are other European countries who we do not need to name. But Poland was not among them.
So yes, we Poles are rightly sensitive to being castigated as antisemitic as the Germans in WW2 and yes we object to the bad, lazy grammar of those who use the term “Polish Death Camps”. They were “German Death Camps”. Period.
Whilst we are ashamed of the actions of some of our nationals during such a terrible time and situation, we as a nation have so many thousands more to be proud of.
I believe that Ms Brown and the Independent owe us an apology for such a distorted, imbalanced headline and article. We look forward to receiving it”.
Author: Michael Moszynski, Executive Committee, Polish Heritage Society
The opinions expressed in this article are the authors’ own and may not reflect the views of the British Poles Portal.
From our side we would like to ask you to watch a short statement made by Edward Mosberg, recorded by Witness of War project.
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