An appeal for Unity

by Jan Niechwiadowicz

It has often puzzled me why some people take a particular point of view when it seems blatantly obvious they are wrong. It seems to make no logical sense.

Many Jews especially those who survived in occupied Europe during WWII view everything relative to the Holocaust. Most ethnic Poles see the end of WWII as merely moving from one dictator to another. How could most Jews understand the significant of this transfer when their suffering at the hands of the Nazi Germans had been so complete?

Likewise Ethnic Poles who suffered terrible at the hands of the Germans but would not know true freedom for almost 50 years and can’t accept that their pain didn’t equal that of the Jewish agony.

Both must accept the actions of a minority never truly represent the majority. The apparent happiest of the Jews at the Soviet arrival in 39/44 and the seemly Polish indifferent can’t be put down to ethnic nor religious views. Both Poles and Jews are simply human. Both wanted to live hence accepting one invader as better than another or avoiding trouble by not helping is what most humans do.

It is sad that most of us are not heroes. It is a shame that there are not more like Marek Eldman and Irena Sendler. These are the exception to the rule. I don’t want to generate hatred by ethnic Poles and Jews over suffering caused by the Nazi Germans and Soviet Russians. Still the sooner both Poles and Jews accept this, then the sooner we can move on together.