The Crime and the Silence by Anna Bikont Read Free Book Online

hostile attitude not only toward the Camp for a Greater Poland but toward the nationalist movement as a whole. The state was bothered not only by nationalists’ attitude toward their Jewish fellow citizens but also by the opposition party’s sharp criticism of every move by the government, every resolution of parliament. The reports prove incontrovertibly that the Polish state felt responsible for its Jewish citizens, that it tried to protect them, and that it arrested and sentenced members of the attack squads. The reports emphasize that the Jews tried to show their loyalty to the Polish state.
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    One can gain a sense of the depth and scope of anti-Semitism in the region from reading the local press, especially the Łomża diocese weekly Å»ycie i Praca (Life and Work), which was aimed at farmers. Its editor in chief was Father Antoni Roszkowski. When the weekly was closed by the authorities in 1935, it reappeared almost immediately under the same church banner and with the same editor in chief, only under a new title: The Catholic Cause . The paper was printed by the diocesan press, under the bishop’s wing, which for the most part protected it from confiscation. Along with advice on battling weeds and vermin, an important theme was “unceasingly reminding our brothers of the Jewish menace.”
    Here are some front-page headlines: “Jews Take Liberties,” “Take Land from the Jews,” “Polish Youth Suffers for Jewish Wrongs,” “How Poland Became Jewified.” “The Polish people have matured and come to see that they have to break off relations with the Jews, not in a year or two, but now,” we read in an editorial titled “Let’s Break with the Jews.” “No people would suffer what we have suffered from the Jews for many years. Jews have grabbed control of our trades and crafts. The horrible specter of a Jewish Poland hovers before our eyes. We do not wish to repay evil with evil, our response must be worthy of a Christian and cultured people. We will break off relations with the Jews. Jews are not suitable friends for young Poles, friendly relations with Jews do not befit a Christian and must be broken off. We should sound the alarm. The Jews are obstructing the Poles’ path to greatness. Reason and conscience demand that we cease to consort with Jews.”
    The Germans are held up as an example. They have found “a good way to deal with the excess of Jews.” “The National Socialist plan to throw the Jews out of Germany would truly be a heavy blow to Jewry,” runs a commentary on the Nazi program. A text called “A Warning to Jews” reads: “The Jews have it too easy in Poland if they dare to criticize Poles.” They write: “Such a massive Jewish population no country can stomach or sustain.” “No delaying,” urges an editorial, arguing that there should be no Jews in Poland.
    Jews are told to be reasonable: “Poland is the way it is, but it’s for us to put things in order, and I’d like Jews to get that into their heads!” “Jews should make every effort not to pester our people needlessly. It will be good when Jews understand that it is for their own benefit to curb their appetite for Polish land, for buildings, business, and work in our cities.” But no great faith is put in Jews’ reasonableness or curbing of appetites, and more in action by local Poles. The appeal goes out: “When a little child goes out for a bun or a candy, a pencil or a notebook, or the head of the household goes to buy goods, the path should lead only to a Polish shop. Poles buy from Poles!” They paint the vision of a “Jewish Poland” where “Yids squeezed out of trade” buy up land and “the Polish people, immemorial custodians of that land, are condemned to a life of misery and wandering among strangers,” for “every Jewish farm is a thorn in the