Just hearing the words Warsaw, Lublin, Lodz, and Krakow makes a Jew think about the Holocaust. Such an automatic association will take years to let go of, and understandably so.
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
But the time has come for Israeli society to step away from this one-dimensional "Poland equals Holocaust" view and leave behind the arrogant contempt and rigid thinking.
You see, there is a problem in the Polish-Jewish-Israeli triangle, which can negatively impact our future: the view that Poland was evil and that the Poles were the devil's helpers is distorted and ignorant and causes a wound that keeps bleeding.
Jews had lived in Poland for a thousand years and integrated into the culture, the business world, and politics. One-third of Warsaw and Lublin's population was Jewish, as was a quarter of Krakow's. In September 1939, Nazi Germany invaded Poland and established its killing machine on Polish territory.
During the war, most Poles were busy trying to survive. World War II claimed the lives of six million Poled, half of whom were Jewish, 86% of the country's entire Jewish population. After the war, Poland was under communist rule for decades.
To put it simply: Hitler-led Germany was the devil that perpetrated the atrocities. At times, it seems that preoccupation with Polish guilt can sometimes overshadow this. Poland, as an occupied and powerless country, was weak and battered.
I am not asking to start a discussion on how good or bad the Poles were, or which nation was the most antisemitic. This issue has been covered by the media plenty.
True, Poland had its fair share of Jew-haters, bad neighbors, and killers. The Kielce and Jedwabne pogroms will never be forgotten, but neither will the 7,000 Polish Righteous Among the Nations who put their lives at risk to save Jews.
I am the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, and like many in Israel, I feel that something was lost in Poland, an "old" home that I must learn about if I want to understand where I come from.
In recent years, I have also met non-Jewish Poles, who also see their country's Jewish past as an integral part of their identity: Polish Olympic athlete Dariusz Popiela founded an association to preserve the Jewish heritage of his city, actor Witold established a center for the preservation of the memory of Lublin Jews, photographer Agnieszka Traczewska has been capturing the lives of Hassidic Jews, and Rafal Betlejewski created the well-known "I miss you, Jew" graffiti, that reflects just that: Poland misses its Jews.
These artists and public figures dedicated their time to the preservation of Jewish heritage, looking back at the wound of the war and the life that preceded it. And they are not doing this out of guilt.
The time has come to step away from the overly prevalent Israeli outlok of arrogant antagonism, mental shallowness, and victim fixation. Understanding the complexity of the situation and refraining from prejudices is essential to learning from the past and breaking free from its shackles. To liberate the ghetto. A liberation that will heal a painful wound that continues to bleed.
Poland of 2022, like in the graffiti mentioned above, longs for its Jews. We must free Poland from our hatred in order to liberate ourselves as a society.
Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!
