Feeling a bit irritated about Poland's new laws. Three years in jail for uttering the words "Polish death camps" or mentioning that some Poles took part in the Holocaust (so did others like Norwegians too ..). What kind of crap is that?
One can legitimately think a lot about what's the right terminology and so on - but are they these kind of freedom values "Europe" stands for, nowadays? Fits well with the post-Franco Spanish police attacking people who just wanted to go and vote with savage beatings...
According to Anti-Deformation League's map of antisemitism in the world, 45% of the Poles suffer from antisemitic ideas. In comparison, so do 56% of Iranians.
Apart from that, ehh... are these Poles insinuating that those areas aren't integral parts of Poland? That Poland stopped existing as a nation, just because it was occupied? To my knowledge, no one blames the Holocaust on Poland as a nation. On the other hand, there were antisemites who stood up to assist the Nazis in what they did (almost) wherever the Axis Power's conquered. In the city of Odessa for example, Ukrainians killed a lot of Jews days after Romania had occupied it. Although the Greater-Romanian fascists probably did not like Ukrainians either, just as the Germans did not like Poles. The same happened in Poland in Jedwabne, and in other areas. Antisemitism is a much bigger problem than just Hitler, it had been a long time before national socialism was invented, and if one is against it, one should be consistent, not just react whenever it's coming from Nazis or Islamists or whatever group one happens to dislike a lot.
But it may also be worth a reflection on how this appears to be a major problem in Catholic and Orthodox countries, more so than in Protestant ones, because unfortunately there is some kind of tradition of that kind. I know this very well, after spending ten years as a Catholic (though I'm lapsed now). I have experienced Catholics speaking of such attitudes from, above all, (thankfully) older relatives. I've met Poles on the internet who've spoke of "prophesies", apparently coming from Virgin Mary, that Assad will lead the believers against "Satan's synagogue" (Israel) and such nonsense. Maybe I'm a bit influenced by my smallish German-Jewish heritage, which is noticeable in my last name irl... In 1900, the Prussians had to send soldiers to the town of Kontiz (Chojnice) to protect Jews after the Polish Catholics where rioting due ideas about Jews ritual-murdering Christian babies and drinking their blood. That's the same kind of myths spread when the Black Death ravaged Europe in the 1300s. I have to say that it feels a little hard to blame the Prussians, who built telegraphs and railways and airships and submarines, if the thought struck them that some contemporary Poles were mostly a bunch of peasants still living in the Middle Ages, hunting imagined Jewish vampires... Many Jews fought proudly for Germany during WWI, and Germany was about as much on the road to democracy as Sweden at that time .... all that was kinda destroyed after Versailles and then Hitler and that.. and it doesn't get better when various kooks and extremists kidnap old Prussian or German symbols from that time, because they can not use Nazi ones...
Anyway. Back to our time. Germany has been atoning for its crimes for more than 70 years. While there appears to be great problems in Poland, even recognising the problem - results in the Polish government feeling insulted as soon as anyone suggests that Poles can be antisemites. I do not blame individual Poles for the fact that 45% of Poles carry anti-Semitic ideas according to ADL's investigation, or for what Poles have done historically. But it feels really ugly when Poland is restricting freedom of speech to protect itself against accusations against antisemitism instead of tackling their own problems with antisemitism...
And by the way... they want more compensation now? Maybe the descendants of ethnically cleansed former Prussia, 10 million people, most who were evidently not Nazis or had any part in Nazi policies - should be demanding that from Poland? It's Poland that should come up with a real appology and acknowledge that it was a horrific crime similar to other instances of ethnic cleansing, and offer some to move back if they want to. But they will definitely not do that. Because it would violate their national pride... It was around 10 milion people and at least half a million died on the way. Had what's happened to the Rohingya in Burma right now reached such numbers, the world's leader's would be unanimously asking the United States to intervene ...
Emperor Wilhelm apologised to the Jewish people and said that he was ashamed to be German after the Night of Broken Glass. Not that it helped so much in practice, but that kind of Christian humility seems to be too much even for nations that's crowned Jesus as its King (yeah, really).
Ruhe in Frieden, Preussen...
By the way, I wonder if this means that this movie is to be banned now?
I get that Poland is angry because the EU wants to have a say about their constitution, and I'm not a fan of the unelected bureaucrats in the EU - who apparently support the kinds of things that we saw taking place in Catalonia - doing that. The EU evidently doesn't like liberal democracy. But neither does Poland. And given the amount of contribution they receive from other EU member states, they have kinda forfeited their right to complain, imho...