4 ms·

You probably ment until the rise of Nazism and the indifference of the Western powers that be to what was going on in Germany.

• dvfjsdhgfv 8y ago
  No, unfortunately a bit earlier than that. The mid-war Poland was a country in a terrible state. Most of the population was destitute. Malnutrition was omnipresent. People were dying of typhus, especially in poorer areas (incidentally, it was thanks to a Pole Rudolf Weigl that a vaccine for typhus was finally discovered.) Imagine the Jews in all this: keeping aside, strongly refusing integration (with some notable exceptions), and, for historical reasons, keeping to a different set of jobs than the rest of this multi-cultural Polish society. The conflict was unavoidable. Right-wing nationalists were convinced that Poland would be better without Jews [0], and the Catholic Church was supporting this vision. That's why Ghetto benches [1] appeared, and the life of Jews in the last years before the war was much more difficult than earlier. However, many Western, and especially American scholars, don't have a deep understanding of these issues. They simplify it as "Poles hated Jews." It was not so. Probably the best example is Zosia Kossak-Szczucka, presented in the article "Anti-Semite who saved Jews" [2] As many others, she was critical of Jews in pre-war years. And as many others, she risked her life to save them. Most people discussing the issue of Anti-Semitism in pre-war Poland don't understand this issue at all. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madagascar_Plan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madagascar_Plan [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghetto_benches https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghetto_benches [2] https://polska.pl/arts/literature/zofia-kossak-szczucka-anti-semite-who-saved-jews/ https://polska.pl/arts/literature/zofia-kossak-szczucka-anti...
  • jxub 8y ago
    Really solid and unbiased explanation, thanks for that.