The Parkland students are saying it too, “Never Again” – It is for everyone, enough is enough.
— Previous interview with co-director, Larry Loewinger —
The film is viewable online, HERE.
I dedicate this screening to Jan Karski (cf. the bottom of this page)
There is nothing like “Jewish issues.” There are human issues. If you are a Muslim, a Jew, a young Pole, a man, a woman, a homosexual or straight, you still have the same problems: fear, love, helplessness, loneliness. We all experience the same things. That’s why I don’t want to be pushed into being an expert on Jews. “Here is Bialek. He specializes in Jews.” What Jews? You are a Jew. I am a Jew. You are a Jew. How do you know that you are not a Jew? 3 million Jews lived here. There were traveling tradesmen. Maybe grandma did not pay attention. Nobody knows. — Bogdan Bialek
- On one hand, one can claim a sense of fatigue, yes, “another Holocaust story.” Too bad for there is so much to say!
Or as Aharon Appelfeld said “ Everything that happened was SO gigantic, SO inconceivable that the witness even seems like a fabricator to himself.“
The unbelievable is next to us: there is no need for fiction.
- On the other hand, and this is is one that is most important to me:
Why remember? What is it that needs to be remembered… when some people cannot remember their keys.
- The Holocaust can become a myth – by that I mean the same thing as when we say “France” – “Poland” – “Germany” or “Jews” – a shortcut for an entity that is beyond our comprehension.
- The politicization (and recycling) of the Holocaust, how it is used in a variety of contexts with their own specific agendas.
- The Holocaust stands also for something else that has been, and continues to be ignored or is at best minimized, anti-Semitism, the hatred of (or a milder form, the lack of interest in) Jews and anything Jewish. I can see it in the glazed-eye looks of those I invite to the screenings.
- The stories: what happened needs to be told. They are part of the present. This is the way life can go on.
- Every killing, even in its anonymity is unique, and in that sense, by telling the innumerable stories, we provide these individuals the space in our lives, and the actuality of their killing.
I first noticed this film when I previewed films for the St. Louis International Film Festival where it ended up winning the Interfaith Best Documentary award.
Some definitions may be necessary:
a pogrom
A noun, an organized massacre of a particular ethnic group, in particular that of Jews in Russia or eastern Europe (often around Passover – cf “Blood Libel,” due to the drunkenness around Easter).
– ORIGIN early 20th century: from Russian, literally ‘devastation’, from gromit ‘destroy by the use of violence’.
The Blood Libel
A rumor (always tenacious and pernicious – think of George Lakoff’s book, Don’t Think of an Elephant), that claims that Jews use the blood of Christian children for their unleavened bread, their Matzah. Provoked the killing of many Jewish communities throughout Europe, from the Middle-Ages to the XXth century. Reappeared as recently as 20 years ago when Oprah Winfrey interviewed a delusional young Jewish woman on national television.
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion
A book you can find today in bookstores in the US, in Japan and in Arab countries. A forged document, originally published in Tsarist Russia, that claims that Jews are everywhere and interested in controlling the entire world. Henry Ford, the industrialist published 500,000 copies.
The Shoah
Because the word “Holocaust” implies a sacred burnt offering, there was a need to get away from a form of religious martyrology. Shoah means “catastrophe” in Hebrew.
No battle is ever won … victory is an illusion of philosophers and fools. — William Faulkner
He who fights, can lose. He who doesn’t fight, has already lost. — Bertolt Brecht
A question we can discuss after the film… since I am from France, I am often asked “Is France an anti-semitic country?”
There were 42 people killed that July 4, 1946, among whom was the four-week-old Adam Fisch, together with his mother. And someone one could only identify through the tattoo on his arm—Auschwitz B 2969.
Besides the filmmakers, Michal Jaskulski & Larry Loewinger, I would like to thank Jan Gross of Princeton University, the author of Neighbors & Fear, Dr. Joanna Tokarska-Bakir from the Institute of Slavic Studies at the Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland, author of Pogrom Cries, and her upcoming Under curse: The Social Portrait of the Kielce Pogrom, to be published, in Polish, French and English & Rafal Betlejewski, an artist and journalist who’s been most active recently with his I MISS YOU JEW! project (he provided me the Solidarity in Truth text below).
For minorities words are treacherous. It is clear that the status-quo of words is not for them.
There should be unique words for every moment because nothing is ever the same.
But without going there, keeping it relatively simple: new words are coined to describe what is unbelievable — Aryanization (stealing from Jews), Pogrom (rampage & killing around town) & Shoah (Catastrophe).
From Joanna Tokarska-Bakir’s Blood libel in Poland and Eastern borderland at the beginning of XXI century. Politics of memory
The motif of watching a child in agony was recorded in “The Brothers Karamazov” where one can read about a Jew who
“took a four-year-old child […] and then crucified him on the wall, hammered nails into him, and crucified him, and afterwards at the trial he said that the child died quickly, within four hours. That was ‘quickly’! He said the child moaned, kept on moaning and he stood admiring it.”
This quote, in a nutshell, contains the crux of the blood libel: an impersonation of evil appears on the scene, while an audience stupefied with voyeuristic horror and fascination appears in the auditorium. Watching the agony of a child is such an effective symbol of cruelty that even the Nazi propaganda would use it to justify its own.
“Blood libel” was an accusation that was rampant throughout Poland’s Post-War pogroms, from Kraków, Kielce, Bytom, Bialystok, Bielawa, Czestochowa, Legnica, Otwock, Rzeszów, Sosnowiec, Szczecin, to Tarnów. Slovakia had some too as well as Hungary, in Kunmadaras and Miskolc
Bogdan Bialek stands for continuity, in time and in space: we are our past, we are everyone. It is clear that for him, a face, a presence is not just a face or a presence…
He represents the lineage of individuals like Martin Buber, Emmanuel Lévinas who understood the importance – not just of the stranger (as in the Passover Seder) – but of anyone who is different who can through their alterity become our teacher, allowing us to envision the complexity that surrounds us, and challenging our complacent selves.
As my mentor Rabbi Zalman Schachter used to say “The only way to get it together is together.” Our sense of what constitutes US needs to grow by leaps and bounds: we are neither the center of the universe, nor of the earth, nor of our lives – we are actually quite on the periphery.
We can finish with a quote by Primo Levi:
I have deliberately assumed the calm and sober language of the witness, not the lamenting tones of the victim or the irate voice of someone who seeks revenge. I thought that my account would be more credible and useful the more it appeared objective, the less it sounded overly emotional; only in this way does a witness in matters of justice perform his task, which is that of preparing the ground for the judge. The judges are my readers.
or the famous line by George Santayana:
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
In response to the current crisis in Jewish-Polish relations…
One year ago, I didn’t expect such a deep crisis in Polish-Jewish relations both on the diplomatic level and on the human level, so it is difficult for me to become a prophet. Everything is possible: everything that has happened with Polish-Jewish reparations can happen again – either towards the good or the bad.
I don’t believe in so-called „pure evil”. I believe deeply that innate evil doesn’t exist. You can’t simply be bad in the same way, as you can be helpless or sad. There are always reasons for evil. I see personally the reasons of this evil in that huge moral devastation, looseness of moral rules, lack of governing power. I don’t try to justify nor to excuse the perpetrators of that evil. I try to understand the mechanisms of that tragedy and I think that in the some way all these people were the victims of their times. They were the victims of a bad Church pedagogy, victims of some historical politics, victims of the Nazi propaganda. Of course human beings are not helpless, they can choose. There were people, who didn’t behave in that way. But I think that we need to understand deeper the mechanisms which lead to the evil, than simply to say „This is evil”.
MICHAL JASKULSKI: The problem in Poland is that we have never really had good education about the Holocaust and its aftermath. It is very basic and informal. As our protagonist says, “in our talks about Poles and Jews there is no compassion, no regret, no sorrow.” It is easy to blame others for our scars. But we never looked at what the Holocaust did to Poles -– not as a nation but as people. None of us living today is able to answer how religion, social considerations and the terror would have shaped us. We have not learned this sensitivity yet. This is why the debate often ends up with attacking and defending. In a way, the conversation about this difficult past begins with your own attitude…
Bogdan was there all the time. Three years later, during one of the interviews, he said that he has an enormous amount of empathy for what had happened to the Jews in the Polish land but at the same time he has a lot of empathy towards Poles, even for the perpetrators. At first it sounded like a heresy: How can you put the victims and perpetrators in the same sentence? But this was the moment, when we understood that this man does not have a Jewish or Polish perspective. He sees things through a human perspective.
A response to current the Polish-Jewish crisis.
SOLIDARITY IN TRUTH: Open Letter of Polish NGOs Condemning Anti-Semitism
#SOLIDARITYINTRUTH
Open letter addressed to international public opinion, at the initiative of the civic NGOs in Poland
WE ARE WRITING TO YOU FROM POLAND
And from many other places in the world, where we live, study and work. We, the Poles, who do not agree with how current policy casts a pall over the Polish-Jewish relations developed over the years. We write to all of you who look at Poland today with disbelief, sadness or anger.
We write because we want you to know that regardless of how radical and inappropriate the positions of Polish authorities or certain groups are, these are not the positions and views of us all. We ask that you keep current politics in perspective, although we know how difficult this may be.
There are millions of people in our country for whom the Polish-Jewish dialogue and the truth about common history are important. We write to you as friends to friends, so that you may know that we are there, in Poland and the times that history and heritage bound us, and that we are also bound together in daily life and the future.
The Holocaust was an unimaginable tragedy of the Jewish people – a great failure of humanity. Today, instead of maintaining humility and respect for its victims, attempts are being made to divide us, Jews and Poles.
A law has been ratified by the Polish parliament, which provides imprisonment for speech, statements are being made that seek to whitewash Poles’ involvement in the Holocaust, thoughtless actions are being taken by politicians that arouse anti-Semitic sentiment – all this is not being done in our name.
There are more of us, people who think like us, who, seeing what is happening now, feel anger.
We may feel bitterness, we may feel sadness, we may feel rage, but all together we want to say: enough of the silence and divisiveness. We will not allow the years of reconciliation to be destroyed. Only complete truth and solidarity can be the foundation of our co-existence.
Truth, because the pride in those Poles who heroically helped the Jews will not obscure the wrongs that Jews confronted in Poland, including from citizens of our country. We want the whole truth about the Holocaust, however painful it may be. Remembrance of millions of Jews, citizens of Poland, murdered during the war, teaches us to learn from the past.
As in years past, today is also about solidarity. It is about solidarity in seeking the truth, solidarity with the descendants of Holocaust victims, solidarity with the people expelled from home in 1968, and solidarity in the face of anti-Semitism.
We are united by more than a thousand years of common history; Jews are and have been Poles for hundreds of years. They created and continue to create our common country. Anti-Semitism is also aimed at us because it is aimed at people and freedom of speech. That is why we want to say it loud and firmly – NO TO ANTISEMITISM. No to misrepresenting history.
That is why we should all unite at this particular time around the truth about those terrible times. So that they may never be repeated. Truth and solidarity are the only ways we can return together to the path of reconciliation so needed by both our nations.
Signed by NGOs:
A Million
Akcja Demokracja
Archiwum Osiaty?skiego
Autonomia
Berli?ski Kongres Kobiet
Bydgoskie Forum Obywatelskie
Centrum Pomocy Prawnej im. Haliny Nie?
Demokracja Siemiatycze
Dziewuchy Dziewuchom W?gorzewo
FARSA Londyn
Femini Berlin Polska
Forum Dialogu
Forum Kraków
Front Gorzów FG 2018
Fundacja im. Bronislawa Geremka
Fundacja im. Kazimierza ?yszczy?skiego
Fundacja Instytut Studiów Strategicznych
Fundacja Liberte!
Fundacja Idealna Gmina
Fundacja im. Kazimierza ?yszczy?skiego
Fundacja im. Stefana Batorego
Fundacja Judaica Centrum Kultury ?ydowskiej Kraków
Fundacja Krystyny Jandy na rzecz Kultury
Fundacja Lege Pharmaciae
Fundacja na Rzecz Ró?norodno?ci Spo?ecznej
Fundacja Obserwatorium ?ywej Kultury – Sie? Badawcza
Fundacja O?rodek Kontroli Obywatelskiej “OKO”
Fundacja Pole Dialogu
Fundacja Szko?a Liderów
Gildia Polskich Re?yserów Dokumentalnych
Gildia Polskich Re?yserów i Re?yserek Teatralnych
Gildia Re?yserów Polskich
Grupa Artystyczna Teraz Poli?
Helsi?ska Fundacja Praw Cz?owieka
Inicjatywa #WolneS?dy
Inicjatywa “Nie w moim imieniu”
INPRIS – Instytut Prawa i Spo?ecze?stwa
Instytut Spraw Publicznych
Kampania Przeciw Homofobii
Klub Inteligencji Katolickiej w Warszawie
Komitet Obrony Demokracji
Komitet Obrony Demokracji (Region Dolno?l?ski, Kujawsko-Pomorski, Lubelski, Lubuski, ?ódzki, Ma?opolski, Mazowiecki, Opolski, Podkarpacki, Podlaski, Pomorski, ?l?ski, ?wi?tokrzyski, Warmi?sko-Mazurski, Wielkopolski, Zachodniopomorski, UK)
Krytyka Polityczna
Kultura Liberalna
Kultura Niepodleg?a
L?borskie Dziewuchy
Manifest Wolnej Polki
Obywatele Kultury
Obywatele Nauki
Obywatele Solidarnie w Akcji
Obywatele RP
Obywatele Dla Edukacji
Ogólnopolska Federacja Organizacji Pozarz?dowych
Ogólnopolski Strajk Kobiet
Ogólnopolski Strajk Kobiet: Gryfino, Gorzów Wielkopolski, D?browa Górnicza, Jelenia Góra, Katowice, Kielce, Kraków, Koszalin, Lublin, Opole, Pi?a, Piotrków Trybunalski, Pozna?, Pu?awy, Sanok, S?awno, ?winouj?cie, Warszawa, W?gorzewo, Wroc?aw, Zaj?czniki, Zgorzelec, Zielona Góra
Polski PEN Club
Polskie Stowarzyszenie im. Janusza Korczaka
Pozna? Wolny Od Nienawi?ci
Pracowania Bada? i Innowacji Spo?ecznych STOCZNIA
Projekt:Polska
Protest Kobiet
Radomianie Dla Demokracji
Radomska Inicjatywa Kobieca
Sie? Obywatelska Watchdog Polska
Stowarzyszenie Interwencji Prawnej
Stowarzyszenie im. Jana Karskiego, Kielce.
Stowarzyszenie im. prof. Zbigniewa Ho?dy
Stowarzyszenie im. Janusza Korczaka
Stowarzyszenie Klon/Jawor
Stowarzyszenie Kongres Kobiet
Stowarzyszenie na Rzecz Kultury Niepodleg?ej
Stowarzyszenie Pisarzy Polskich
Stowarzyszenie Otwarta Rzeczpospolita
Stowarzyszenie Obserwatorium ?ywej Kultury – Sie? Badawcza
Stowarzyszenie Stop Stereotypom
Stowarzyszenie ?l?skie Per?y Rybnik
Studencki Komitet Antyfaszystowski
Toru?skie Dziewuchy
Towarzystwo Dziennikarskie
Unia Polskich Teatrów
Warszawskie Dziewuchy Dziewuchom
Wspólna Zielona Góra
Jan Karski, Polish Patriot
“… I myself became a Jew. And just as my wife’s entire family was wiped out in the ghettos of Poland – in Nazi concentration camps and crematoria – so have all the Jews who were slaughtered become my family. But I am a Christian Jew… I am a practicing Catholic… My faith tells me the second original sin has been committed by humanity. This sin will haunt humanity to the end of time. And I want it to be so.”
“It was easy for the Nazis to kill Jews, because they did it. The Allies considered it impossible and too costly to rescue the Jews, because they didn’t do it. The Jews were abandoned by all governments, church hierarchies and societies, but thousands of Jews survived because thousands of individuals in Poland, France, Belgium, Denmark, Holland helped to save Jews. Now, every government and church says, “We tried to help the Jews”, because they are ashamed, they want to keep their reputations. They didn’t help, because six million Jews perished, but those in the government, in the churches they survived. No one did enough.”
From Shoah by Claude Lanzmann
from Karski & The Lords of Humanity by Slawomir Grünberg
Laure Adler & Ses Invités/Ses sujets
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