Learning from the past ~ lessons for today - Holocaust Education ...

Holocaust Memorial Day 2009
Young people from Poland
Poland and Ireland are located 2,000 miles apart, on
opposite edges of Europe. Now, at the beginning of the
twenty-first century, Europe is united and many Poles have
settled here in Ireland. However, in 1939–1945 our
countries were very much more distant. When Poland was
being torn apart by war, Ireland remained neutral and
there was little exchange of information.
The Second World War and the Nazi Holocaust are often
acknowledged as the most horrifying events that ever
happened to humanity. However, Polish people’s knowledge
of the war and their attitudes to it differ very much from
those of the Irish. Even though the young Polish people living
in Ireland today are the third or the fourth generation since
the war, the knowledge of it has been imprinted in their
minds. The memory of the destruction and the genocide is
built into their sense of national identity. They say: We
remember a war that destroyed Poland on many levels. Entire
cities, towns and villages were levelled. Two million Poles were
murdered by the Nazis. The genocide of the European Jews
took place to a large extent in camps located on Polish soil.
Before the war, Jews comprised ten per cent of the Polish
population. They contributed hugely to society. Poems by Tuwim
or Brzechwa were known to every child. Families of Christian and
Jewish cultures had lived side by side for centuries.
As part of the effort to eliminate the Jewish population in
Poland, the Nazis made and enforced a law saying that all
household members would be punished by death if a Jew
was found concealed in their home or on their property.
Nonetheless, many risked their lives.
Mariusz Dzięglewski is a sociology lecturer who has lived
in Dublin for three years. He comes from Lublin, close to
where the Majdanek concentration camp was located. He
recollects: I visited it first when I was fourteen on a school
excursion. I came back afterwards many times. I think that
Polish people grow up in the shadow of this history and only
recently have discussed what really happened. Mariusz
remembers hearing stories about Lublin from before the
war, about Polish and Jewish children playing together and
children being sent to the Jewish shops because goods
were cheaper there. Lublin was a very multicultural city
then. It cannot be said that the Jews were integrated into the
local community but they coexisted.
The passage of time reveals more stories that seem to
challenge the black-and-white image from our childhood of
who was to blame. Books such as Jan Tomasz Gross’s
Neighbours (2000) tell stories of Polish people during the
war and shortly afterwards taking part in pogroms with the
Germans or on their own initiative. It is difficult to come to
terms with these facts.
Anna Paś, who has been in Dublin for three years, says:
When I read those books I was shocked and I felt ashamed of
what happened. The new facts make the picture very
confusing. I cannot say now which behaviour dominated
among the Polish, what our role was in the Holocaust. Is it
just more comfortable not to question it?
Martyna Klonica studies and works in Ireland. The
neighbours of her great-grandparents succeeded in hiding
a Jewish girl for six years in the attic during the war. People
in the town knew where some Jews were hidden. My
grandfather knew as well, but he often said that he would
prefer not to because when the Germans were coming to the
house they gave an ultimatum: ‘Give me one address where
Jews are hidden. Otherwise, I will kill somebody from your
family.’ He had no choice. But he never told about that little
Jewish girl next door. She survived and after the war she was
adopted.’
Bartłomiej Brużewicz, a liberal participant in the Polish
Forum in Ireland, who is equally interested in the issue,
comments: Certainly Gross’s books give us cause for
reflection on the role of Poles in the Holocaust.
Unfortunately there are very few historic sources that
unequivocally reveal what happened. However, Polish
people were helping Jews even though one could be shot on
the street for just talking to a Jew. In fact, Polish citizens
have the highest number of Righteous in the world. More
than 6,000 Poles out of approximately 24,000 people
worldwide have been recognised as the Righteous Among
the Nations. The award is granted by the state of Israel to
honour non-Jews who protected Jews during the
Holocaust, at the risk of their own lives.
Time moves on, memory fades and the people who
witnessed the events of the Second World War are passing
away. For the young Polish people in Ireland it is important
to know the truth, to deal with issues of guilt, blame and
forgiveness and to educate about it in the proper way.
Forgetting about it means losing our national identity and a
nation without an identity loses its life.
Compiled by Emilia Marchelewska
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