‘We’re Not to Blame, But Please Forgive Poland,’ President Tells Jews Over 1968 Persecution

Blame the Nazis for the Holocaust

Blame the Communists for the '68 purge 

But don't blame Poles, just because it all happened in Poland

Poland's President Andrzej Duda. © Agencja Gazeta/Dawid Zuchowicz / Reuters

Polish President Andrzej Duda has apologized to Jews who were kicked out of the country in the anti-Semitic campaign of 1968. At the same time though, Duda asserted that Warsaw bears no responsibility for the country’s past.

“The free and independent Poland of today, my generation, is not responsible and does not need to apologize. To those who were driven out then… I’d like to say please forgive the Republic, Poles, the Poland of that time for having carried out such a shameful act,” Duda said as cited by AFP.

Fifty years ago, more than 10,000 Jews were forced to leave Poland after being sacked from their jobs and accused of working against the country by the media and participants of staged mass rallies. The anti-Semitic campaign, led by Interior Minister Mieczyslaw Moczar, was the result of struggles in elite Polish circles.

It was also a response to the Six-Day War of 1967, an Israeli-Arab conflict, which saw the Jewish State occupying East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Golan Heights, drawing the condemnation of the USSR and other Communist states.

Duda’s apology comes at a time when tensions are running high between Warsaw and Jerusalem over new Polish legislation which outlaws blaming Poles for Nazi crimes committed on Polish soil, and makes using the phrase “Polish death camps” illegal. The standoff began as Israel and Jewish groups from around the globe argued that the law was an attempt by the Poles to whitewash their past.

The head of the Polish National Security Council, Pawel Soloch, was to visit Israel in early February, but the visit was suspended while a group of Israeli MPs demanded the country’s Holocaust denial law be amended. The bone of contention was criminalizing efforts to diminish cooperation with the Nazis. Swastikas and anti-Polish slogans were also painted on Poland’s embassy in Tel Aviv.

Polish officials have been adding fuel to the fire by making controversial statements, such as that of Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, who said last month that there were not only Jewish victims, but also “Jewish perpetrators” in the Holocaust. Presidential advisor Andrzej Zybertowicz also explained Israel’s furious reaction to the legislation in terms of a “feeling of shame at the passivity of the Jews during the Holocaust.”

If Poles weren't complicit with the Nazis in the Holocaust, then they also should be blamed for their passivity in allowing such human rights atrocities to be committed on Polish soil.

Polish priest and editor-in-chief of Catholic magazine, Henryk Zielinski, made headlines after claiming that Jews have “different concept of truth”, as something that “serves Israel’s interests.”

That is because 'real truth' usually does serve Israel's interest. How cynical to dismiss truth because it happens to benefit one country.

Poland needs to stop trying to tell the world how wonderful they are and start digging for the real truth. Only then will you be able to purge the ugliness that lies below the surface. Those of you who remember the '68 purge, how did you feel about it? Were you sympathetic to the Jews or were you happy to see them go? The answer to that question will tell you whether you are (were) antisemitic. 

Perhaps it would be good to visit the Polin Museum and see how you respond to the March, 1968 purge display? But do it quickly before it disappears.

There is antisemitism in Poland and it's obvious by the statements quoted above. It is also obvious by their willingness to believe the Palestinian Propaganda Machine which is so easily discredited with only a little effort.

An estimated 6 million Jews, around two-thirds of the Jewish population of Europe, were killed by the Nazis, including at the Auschwitz, Sobibor and other death camps, which operated on the territory of occupied Poland from 1939 to 1945.

Erdogan Shuts Down 1,000+ Private Schools, 1,200+ Charities, 15 Universities

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan © Umit Bektas / Reuters

Turkey’s purge of Gulen supporters continued on Saturday with the closure of hundreds of private schools, charities and other institutions suspects of links with the US-based cleric. Ankara declared a state of emergency after a failed military coup.

If you've ever had any doubt that Erdogan is completely insane,

this should end it for you.

The decree issued by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is his first since the state of emergency was declared on Wednesday. He has ordered the closure of 1,043 private schools, 1,229 charities and foundations, 19 trade unions, 15 universities and 35 medical institutions, state news agency Anadolu reported on Saturday.

The organizations slated to be shut down are suspected of links with US-based Muslim cleric, Fethullah Gulen, a former ally of Erdogan, who turned into his fierce opponent. The Turkish government accused Gulen of having a hand behind the last week’s coup attempt as well as earlier attacks on it.

In the wake of the weekend violence, which claimed at least 246 lives, Ankara launched a massive purge of suspected Gulen supporters among the military, police, judges, municipal officials and other branches of the government.

Another such measure ordered by Erdogan on Saturday allows for longer detention of people without charge.

The three-month state of emergency declared on Wednesday gives the Turkish executive authority to pass laws without parliament’s support and limit rights and freedoms as they deem necessary.

Turkey’s foreign allies, the US and the EU, reacted nervously to the crackdown. The EU threatened to suspend accession talks with Ankara, if Erdogan delivered on his threat to lift a moratorium on capital punishment. The US said Turkey should provide convincing proof of Gulen’s guilt, if it wanted the cleric to be extradited. Gulen, a long-time resident of the US, has denied masterminding the coup.

Sex, Gluttony and Golf: Chinese Communist Party's Deadly Sins

China's ruling Communist Party has adopted new rules on clean
governance and discipline, according to state media

AFP 
China's Communist Party has banned its members from "extravagant eating and drinking", engaging in "improper sexual relationships with others" and playing golf, state media reported Thursday.

The ruling party's Political Bureau adopted new rules on clean governance and discipline earlier this month, the official Xinhua news agency said, describing the measures as "a moral ethical code that members must abide by".

Party members were already barred from "keeping paramours and conducting adultery" but the new rule on sexual activity was stricter, Xinhua said.

Hmmm. I wonder what is included in 'improper sexual relationships'? Is this an attack on homosexuality? I don't hear the western media screaming yet?

Playing golf and excessive eating and drinking were explicitly listed as violations of discipline for the first time, it added.

OK, excessive eating and drinking I can probably live without, but 'no golf'! This could destroy the Communist Party from within!

The regulations -- which apply to everyone in the 88-million-strong Communist Party -- also forbid forming cliques within the party and nepotism.

I'm surprised that there are only 88 million Communists in China; I thought it would be 10 times that number. I believe that if you want to work and advance in any government position, you probably have to be a Communist.

Since ascending to the party leadership in 2012, President Xi Jinping has launched an austerity drive and a sweeping crackdown on corruption, with thousands of officials falling from power.

China's Communist Party has 88 million members (AFP Photo/Liu Jin)

But critics of the campaign liken it to a political purge targeting Xi's opponents.

Spending on luxury goods and in high-end restaurants has plummeted amid the crackdown, with government officials intimidated by high-profile corruption prosecutions.

The document did not detail punishments for violating the new rules, but the party maintains its own feared internal disciplinary system, which operates without judicial oversight.

Party discipline superseded criminal law, Xinhua said.

The Communist Party has long had an ambivalent relationship with golf, which is a lucrative opportunity for local authorities and a favoured pastime of some officials, but is also closely associated with wealth and Western elites. 

This is Communist paranoia. They see anything western as an attempt by western powers to destroy China, including western religion. Wherever Communism exists, or has ever existed, paranoia is/was extremely prevalent.

Central authorities ordered a nationwide moratorium on new golf courses in 2004, but development continued as revenue-minded local officials went their own way, even offering tax breaks for operators of new courses in places such as Hainan province.

The number of courses in China has grown from fewer than 200 at the time of the ban to more than 600 this year, according to Xinhua.