Islam - The Crusades > The Truth about the Crusades - Raymond Ibrahim

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'Defenders of the West' author: Crusades were a response to

Muslims who launched ‘brutal holy wars’ against Christians

'Christianity was a very muscular religion for most of history,

especially during the Medieval era,' says Raymond Ibrahim

By Ian M. Giatti, Christian Post Reporter

A 19th century depiction of the 1099 battle of Ascalon, a major victory for Christian forces in the First Crusade.

| Wikimedia Commons

Remember when FIFA banned England football fans from wearing Christian crusader-style costumes ahead of the World Cup in Qatar because it could be considered "offensive against Muslims"?

Turns out the reason is more complex than you might think — at least according to Raymond Ibrahim, an author and expert on Islamic history and doctrine, who says the most misunderstood aspect of the Crusades is the notion that they were offensive wars of aggression. 

Ibrahim's latest book, Defenders of the West: The Christian Heroes Who Stood Against Islam, takes a second look at the historical revisionism surrounding the Crusades when the Roman Catholic Church and European powers fought religious wars for more than 200 years between 1095 and 1291 to regain control of Jerusalem and the Holy Land under Islamic rule.

“We are not told that four centuries earlier Islam erupted out of Arabia and violently conquered three-quarters of what was once the Christian world, including all of the Middle East, North Africa, Spain, and most of the Mediterranean islands,” Ibrahim told The Christian Post via email Tuesday. 

Many historians, said Ibrahim, neglect to mention that in the decades before the First Crusade, the Turks — whom the author said were “the latest standard bearers of the jihad” at the time — had launched renewed invasions into Christian land, including by conquering Asia Minor, an ancient Christian region where many of Saint Paul’s epistles were addressed.

It was during this time, around the mid to late 11th century, that Ibrahim says “tens of thousands of Christians” were slaughtered or enslaved, including in Ani, the medieval capital of Armenia, where roughly 1,000 churches were burned down by invading Muslim hordes.

According to Ibrahim, it was this wave of anti-Christian violence and bloodshed that moved Alexius, the Eastern Roman emperor, to ask for help from the West in what is known today as the First Crusade.

“Many churches in Jerusalem — including the Church of the Resurrection — were being desecrated and destroyed, and even Western pilgrims were being attacked and killed,” said Ibrahim, who pointed to one particularly graphic attack in which multiple Islamic invaders sexually assaulted a German nun who was on pilgrimage.

“Something had to be done, and so the First Crusade was born,” he added.

Much of this history, the author said, has been subject to “modern revisionist retellings” in which historians portray the Crusades as an unprovoked assault in which “the West just decided to attack and terrorize the Middle East.”

He pointed to the teachings of Georgetown professor John Esposito, who was quoted as saying, “Five centuries of peaceful coexistence [between Islam and Christendom] elapsed before political events and an imperial-papal power play led to centuries-long series of so-called holy wars that pitted Christendom against Islam and left an enduring legacy of misunderstanding and distrust.”

Another falsehood surrounding the Crusades, said Ibrahim, is espoused by former nun and self-described “freelance monotheist,” Karen Armstrong, who claims the “idea that Islam imposed itself by the sword is a Western fiction, fabricated during the time of the Crusades when, in fact, it was Western Christians who were fighting brutal holy wars against Islam.” 

In fact, Ibrahim said from the very dawn of Islam, Christians knew and recorded that this new religion — which is translated “submission” in Arabic — spread by the sword.

“No word, of course, that it was Muslims who first launched these ‘brutal holy wars’ against Christians and were the ones who for centuries had been ‘exterminating’ Christians,” he added.

However historical and crucial to the history of Christianity, Ibrahim acknowledged that such a depiction of Christ's followers bearing the Cross and the sword is far removed from Evangelicalism and other contemporary Christian streams.

The author pointed to the tendency of many 21st century Christians “particularly of the ‘liberal’ variety” who subscribe to what Ibrahim coined “doormat Christianity,” one which “begins and ends with their ‘turning the other cheek,’ showing ‘tolerance’ and never judging.”

On the contrary, said Ibrahim, the biblical mandate underpinning the Crusades was the foundation for what is today called Just War theory.

“For most of Christian history, Just War was an uncontested fact,” he said. “It meant that lawbreakers and aggressors were to be fought and punished, including through capital punishment and warfare.

“It’s often forgotten that Christianity was a very muscular religion for most of history, especially during the Medieval era in question. Certainly, Christians exhibited love for others … though wrongdoers — in this case, Muslims severely persecuting fellow Christians — had to be punished.”

Citing the work of Christopher Tyerman, professor of history of the Crusades at the University of Oxford, Ibrahim said the very earliest Christian theologians had concluded that “the so-called charity texts of the New Testament that preached passivism and forgiveness, not retaliation, were firmly defined as applying to the beliefs and behavior of the private person [and not the state].”

Ibrahim continued, “This is because there is ‘no intrinsic contradiction,’ Tyerman says, ‘in a doctrine of personal, individual forgiveness condoning certain forms of necessary public violence to ensure the security in which, in St. Paul’s phrase, Christians ‘may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty’ (1 Tim. 2:2).”

The author’s review of the history of the Crusades stands in stark contrast to other contemporary works on the topic which have compared the Crusades to “white supremacists” in the United States and Europe.

Dan Jones, author of Crusaders: The Epic History of the Wars for the Holy Lands, once compared the religious wars to radical Islamic terror groups like ISIS or al Qaeda.

“I certainly feel that the name of crusading is uncommonly popular among extremist groups in the context of my lifetime,” Jones told CP in a 2019 interview. “This call from the First Crusade has become a call, sort of a rallying cry for white supremacists, both in the United States and in Europe.

"By the same token, the adoption of the binary 'crusading worldview' by al Qaeda offshoots, most notably including ISIS, has been a remarkably popular, remarkably effective propaganda tool on that side. It certainly feels to me like it's on the rise."

Former President Barack Obama was criticized in 2015  by a number of Christian leaders for comparing the actions of the Islamic State terrorist group to the Crusades at that year’s National Prayer Breakfast, where Obama used the Crusades as an example of Christians doing "terrible acts" in the name of Christ.

"Unless we get on our high horse and think this is unique to some other place, remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ,” Obama said in his speech.

He is actually correct in criticizing terrible deeds done by Christians during the Crusades. But he neglects to mention far worse deeds done by Islam - brutal actions that provoked the Crusades to begin with. I'm sure that the kings of England and France did not commit to go to the Middle East for 5 years or more at a time just for the adventure. Atrocities are committed in all wars, perhaps especially when provoked to revenge.

In response, Robert Jeffress, senior pastor of First Baptist Dallas megachurch in Texas, said Jesus would be incensed at Obama's comparison.

"I would imagine that Jesus would be outraged that the president would willfully mischaracterize a movement like Christianity that bears Christ's name," Jeffress asserted. "I believe that Jesus, who said that it would be better to be cast into the sea than to harm a child, would be incensed that Obama would dare link Christianity to ISIS, an organization that tortures children, buries them alive and crucifies them. I think he'd be outraged by it."

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European Courts Lagging Behind Europe in It's Growing Concern for Islamization

Austrian lecture slamming Prophet Mohammed

for marrying 6yo is hate speech – EU court

FILE PHOTO © Global Look Press / ZUMAPRESS.com

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has ruled that an Austrian lecturer is guilty of disparaging Islam, after the woman likened the Prophet Mohammed to a pedophile for marrying a six-year-old girl.

The lecturer known only as Mrs E.S. had already been convicted by an Austrian judge and fined €480 ($548) for her lecture. And now the ECtHR has upheld the ruling. The Strasbourg-based seven-judge panel stated on Thursday that her comparing Prophet Mohammed to a pedophile goes “beyond the permissible limits of an objective debate,” and that the Austrian court was right in “classifying them as an abusive attack which could stir up prejudice and threaten religious peace.”

The woman had unsuccessfully appealed the decision to the Austrian Supreme Court before taking her case to the ECtHR. She argued that what the court saw as inflammatory remarks insulting the Islamic faith was meant to reignite a public debate on child marriages.

She hosted “Basic Information on Islam” seminars in 2008 and 2009, during which she lectured the members of the right-wing Freedom Party (FPO) on the principles of the Islamic religion and its key figures. During one of her lectures, Mrs E.S. stated that marrying prepubescent girls makes Prophet Mohammad no different than a child predator.

“A 56-year-old and a six-year old?... What do we call it, if it is not pedophilia?” the woman reportedly said, referring to the marriage between the Prophet and Aisha, who is believed to have been six or seven when the marriage was arranged, and nine when it was consummated. Some modern scholars, however, dispute that timeline, arguing that Aisha was at least 15 at the time. 

Some modern scholars are trying to revise history to hide who the real Mohammed was.

When convicting Mrs E.S. of deprecating religion, the ECtHR pointed out that it had “comprehensively assessed the wider context” of her statement and “carefully balanced her right to freedom of expression with the right of others to have their religious feelings protected.”

So, political correctness trumps truth every time in the EU.

The panel argued that the expressions the woman used to describe Prophet Muhammed were “not phrased in the neutral manner” and thus cannot be considered a legitimate contribution to the public debate on the sensitive topic of child marriages.

The court also dismissed the lecturer’s claim that the Austrian courts failed to consider the subject matter of her statements.

And then proceeded to ignore the subject matter of her statements. There is so much in Islam that should be debated. Aside from the example Mohammed set in taking 9 y/os to bed, he further gave permission to Muslims to do what they like with non-Muslim girls who are under their power. Rape, slavery, it's all good!

Devout Islam is madness, nothing less, and doesn't deserve to be protected by European courts.

Keeping the Fires Burning: Poland's Government Cultivates a Siege Mentality to its Benefit

Poland's conservative government is very popular in Poland, not-so-much elsewhere. I agree with their refusal to take more Islamic immigrants and for standing up to the EU in that regard. I also agree that they were victimized by the Nazis in WWII just as France was. But France had a powerful and courageous underground that fought the Nazi occupation; I'm not aware that such existed in Poland, if it did, it should be raised in profile.

But France also had those who collaborated with the Nazis; some because it was the best thing to do for France, and some because it was expedient and opportunistic. Some in France outed Jews and sent them on their way to... Poland! No doubt, some in Poland also cooperated with the Nazis for their own benefit. This cannot be swept under the rug.

There is also the matter that antisemitism seems to have infiltrated the Polish government. While they argue that they were not responsible for the genocide of millions of Jews, their recent actions have all the earmarks of antisemitism thereby undermining their attempts to whitewash their image.

Ruling Law and Justice party is polling just under 50% approval, way up from last election in 2015

By Don Murray, CBC News 

Members of the Solidarity trade union in Warsaw protest against EU objections to a new law by Poland's right-wing government lowering the retirement age. Relations with the European Union have been tense. (Wojtek Radwanski/AFP/Getty Images)

How do you douse the fires of controversy? You light a new blaze right next to it. Or perhaps two.

That seems to be the approach of the Polish government in the wake of the controversy unleashed by a new law criminalizing the use of words like "Polish death camps" to describe the Holocaust and the death of six million Jews during the Second World War.

The death camps situated in Poland were not Polish, the government says, but Nazi. To say otherwise is now to break the law in Poland.

International criticism was swift

The World Jewish Congress, in addressing the law, said it had set off a "firestorm of ill will." The new Polish prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, tried to deflect the criticism but only made things worse when he referred to "Jewish perpetrators" who had been guilty, along with others, of Holocaust crimes.

The Polish government backpedalled, suggesting the new law was in a sort of state of suspended animation while the country's constitutional court looked at it.

But to keep the flames burning, the government has put an animal rights bill before Parliament that would effectively ban the kosher slaughter of meat for religious Jews in the country and for export.

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki says anti-Polish sentiment around the world has been gaining power because Poles haven't reacted enough. Now it's reacting.

(Thomas Kienzle/AFP/Getty Images)

And, lighting another fire, Poland's senior senator, Stanislaw Karcewski, sent out an open letter telling Poles abroad to document any "slander" of their nation and report it.

"Please document and react to all anti-Polish hostility, expressions and opinions that harm us. Notify our embassies, consulates and honorary consuls of any slander affecting the good reputation of Poland," Mr Karczewski's letter said.

The intensity of the reaction to these moves may have surprised Poland's  governing Law and Justice party, but not overly so. It sees the outside world as hostile.

"Anti-Polonism around the world has been gaining in power because of a lack of reaction from Poland and the weakness of this reaction for the last 10 years." Those are the words of Prime Minister Morawiecki in the wake of the recent uproar.

Polish trade unionist Lech Walesa with a crowd of workers in Zyrandow, Poland, on Dec. 18, 1981. A heroic figure at the time, Walesa and his peers have lately been described by Law and Justice party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski as 'Poles of the worst sort' who served foreign interests. (Keystone/Getty Images)

And one of the authors of the Holocaust bill, deputy justice minister Patryk Jaki, welcomed the fight. "There comes a time when our country needs catharsis," he said.

None of this has hurt the country's leadership in the polls. On the contrary, more than half of voters say they are satisfied with the president and the prime minister and those numbers are climbing.

And the ruling Law and Justice party, profiting from a booming economy and increased social welfare payments to constituents, is polling just under 50 per cent approval. That's way above the 35 per cent it won in elections in 2015.

This right-wing Polish government cultivates a siege mentality.

To be fair, it actually is under siege — from its big political brother, the European Union. Poland is a member, one of 28, of the EU, and with a population of 38.5 million, it's a major player.

It's also a difficult player.

Law and Justice party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski's core conviction is that the entire Polish elite after the fall of communism in 1990 betrayed the country, a failure characterized by 'post-communist pathologies.'

(Janek Skarzynski/AFP/Getty Images)

The present government has refused to take its quota of refugees agreed to by the EU in 2016. The country, it believes, must remain Catholic and white.

It has also taken aim at its own court system after moving quickly to bring to heel the country's public television networks. They are now run by party loyalists.

The ruling party first set out to replace the country's highest judges with its own nominees. It radically lowered the retirement age for supreme court judges to 65, which would remove 40 per cent of them. It also moved to take control of the judicial council that appoints judges.

Threat of sanctions

Ministers say the legal system is too slow, with judges overpaid and infected with ideas from the past.

These moves alarmed the EU. It has taken Poland, along with Hungary and the Czech Republic, to court for refusing to respect the agreement on refugees. And for the first time the European Commission has invoked Article 7 of the EU constitution against Poland.

It argues Poland is failing to uphold the democratic norms it agreed to when it joined in 2004.

On Feb. 27, the commission renewed its threat of sanctions — the loss of voting rights and possibly European subsidies. That could be major, since Poland is the biggest EU beneficiary with a total of $100 billion in subsidies scheduled between 2014 and 2020.

"The clock is ticking," the German European Affairs Minister Michael Roth said. "The EU is very concerned about the rule of law situation."

The Polish government seems much less concerned. "Europe has run out of gas," Prime Minister Marowiecki told the German magazine Der Spiegel in February.

In the next breath he insisted Poland doesn't want to imitate Britain by leaving the union. It simply wants a more decentralized, less intrusive EU. And he offered no concessions.

That's because it knows it has an ally, Hungary, which has said it's ready to veto any attempt to penalize Poland.

The Polish government also believes it's on a mission, directed by Law and Justice party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski.

Kaczynski's core conviction is that the entire Polish elite after the fall of communism in 1990 betrayed the country.

'Treason in their genes'

The last 28 years have been, in his words "a failure" characterized by "post-communist pathologies."

The men and women who led the country, including Lech Walesa, Poland's first post-communist leader, were "Poles of the worst sort" with "treason in their genes."

They set up a para-democracy serving foreign interests, he believes. The EU is a Trojan horse serving those interests. The judges his government wants to get rid of are infected with these pathologies.

The Polish Holocaust law was born from the same drive to correct the past. Poland, in the eyes of its government, was a "victim nation" and its reputation is spattered with unthinking association with death camps.

"He who controls the past controls the future," George Orwell once wrote ironically in the book 1984. It's a dictum Poland's ruling party takes completely seriously.

Europe's Compassionate Hatred of Israel

by Bat Ye'or

The Jerusalem Declaration of UNESCO seeks to Islamize, with the help of many governments in Europe and other Christian countries, the ancient history of the people of Israel.

But what does this declaration mean for Europe and Christianity? Wasn't Christianity born out of Israel? Wasn't Jesus a Judean Jew, as were the apostles and evangelists? Or was it Islam that Jesus was preaching, in Arabic and in the mosques?

Where are the great Catholic or Protestant voices to protest against this Islamization of Christianity? This passivity, this indifference makes you think that Europe will soon look more like Lebanon.

European countries recognize terrorism everywhere except in Israel, where they themselves are allies of these terrorists whom they call "freedom fighters" or "militants", against "occupation".

This alliance has ruined Europe -- because the enemies of Israel are also enemies of Christianity and of Europe. How can you ally yourself with those who want to destroy you, without in fact dying yourself?

The same obsessive hatred Hitler had for Israel, which led to the ruin of Europe, has persisted today in the European Union against the Jewish State. The great irony is that in trying to destroy Israel, Europe has destroyed itself.

Today we are witnessing the coming of the worldwide caliphate. This expression means that the Muslim view of history is currently prevailing in international institutions. We see it with the Jerusalem Declaration of UNESCO, this palace of revisionism. The Jerusalem Declaration seeks to Islamize, with the help of many governments in Europe and other Christian countries, the ancient history of the people of Israel.

The Venice Declaration of 1980, issued by the European Community, which tried to force Israel to survive in an indefensible territory, already prescribed its disappearance and replacement with a people that had never even manifested itself before 1969 -- and all with the assistance of the Soviet Union and especially France. The Islamization of Jerusalem and the delegitimization of the State of Israel were already set out in the Venice Declaration, which to this date the European Union has continued to view as valid.

The Venice Declaration of 1980 was a gift from the European Community to the Arab League, aimed at reestablishing good economic relations with Arab countries, which had been angered by the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt in 1979, a peace Europe had not been able to prevent. Jewish holy sites and the survival of the Jewish State were sacrificed by the European Community in exchange for petrodollars.

Since that time, the European Union has expressed remorse for the Holocaust and love and compassion for Israel, but has continued to support, fund and encourage a population whose mission is the destruction of Israel, as proclaimed in its doctrine, and with which Europe is quite familiar. European countries zealously spend billions to promote a worldwide Palestinian campaign of hatred against the State of Israel. They recognize terrorism everywhere except in Israel, where they themselves are allies of these terrorists, whom they call "freedom fighters" or "militants", against "occupation". The so-called "Jewish occupation" of Judea and Samaria refers to land that was conquered by war and occupied by Jordan from 1949 to 1967, and from where Palestinian Jews were killed, or dispossessed and expelled.

Does not this policy, championed by France, remind you of something? During WW II, the Pétain-Hitler and the fascists' alliance with the Mufti of Jerusalem, head of the Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine, sought the extermination of the Jewish people, whom they accused of being the cause of evil. Today, this same policy, this same alliance, has set itself the same objective with the same motivation: Israel, to them, is the cause of the wars in the Middle East and must be wiped out. Men from the 1940s have passed away, but their heirs kept their policy, disguising it under compassion and love, driving Israel to suicide "for its own good". Of course!

During WW II, the alliance of Pétain and Hitler with the Mufti of Jerusalem sought the extermination of the Jewish people, whom they accused of being the cause of evil. Today, this same policy, this same alliance, has set itself the same objective with the same motivation: Israel must be wiped out.

Now, with the declaration of UNESCO, we are witnessing the suppression of the history of the Israeli people - the "Holocaust of Memory", as defined by Giulio Meotti -- with the EU joining in.

But what does UNESCO's declaration mean for Europe and Christianity? Wasn't Christianity born out of Israel? Don't churches tell the history of the people of Israel in their paintings, sculptures and stained glass windows? And isn't the Bible, this historical shrine of the people of Israel for more than two millennia, left open on every pulpit of these churches? Hasn't it been read? Commented on for twenty centuries? Wasn't Jesus a Judean Jew, as were the apostles and evangelists?

Or was it Islam that Jesus was preaching, in Arabic and in the mosques?

If Israel never had a history in Judea, then Christianity and the Bible are lies. Are the ancient texts attesting to the existence of Israel from the time of the Pharaohs, Assyria, the Greeks, the Romans all lies? And the Arch of Titus in Rome, did that Menorah on there come from the mosque? There were not even any mosques around at that time -- not even in Arabia.

What the UNESCO's declaration is forcing us to accept is not just the destruction of our identity and culture, and the replacement of Christianity -- a graft of Israel -- with the Muslim faith, but also the destruction of the principle underlying Western civilization itself: reason, the very thing that lifts man above the beasts. We see that Israel, in its defense of the historical principle of its legitimacy, is also theologically protecting the legitimacy of Christianity, also linked to the Bible.

But if this declaration is not true, then the Jewish State's sovereignty over Jerusalem is legal. And if it is legal, why has no one heard the protests of human rights defenders? How many Christians are there in the world? Two and a half billion? How many of these protested? A million? A hundred thousand? Ten thousand? Fifty, if that? And where are the great Catholic or Protestant voices to protest against this Islamization of Christianity? This passivity, this indifference, makes you think that Europe will soon look more like Lebanon.

This UNESCO declaration, to which Europe raised no objections -- with the exception of four countries, whose abstention was not a protest, but an act of cowardice -- is the very charter of the Islamization of Europe and of Christianity. It details a policy that dovetails with what we see unfolding with mass-immigration and its consequences starting in 1973, the date when the European Community allied itself with the enemy of Israel, the PLO. It is this policy of alliance with the enemies of Israel that led to the abandonment of the Lebanese Christians when they were attacked by the Europe-supported Palestinians. It was this policy that led to the denial of the history of jihad, of dhimmitude and of the tragedy of Christians, hostages in the Arab world -- because Palestinians embody jihadist and dhimmitude values against Jews, Christians and Europe.

Europe's alliance with the enemies of Israel, for the purpose of delegitimizing and destroying it, has simply continued the policies of Hitler and Pétain; but how can you destroy Israel without destroying Christianity? What would Christianity be without the Bible, the prophets, a Jewish Jesus, the universal values that these teach? This alliance has ruined Europe -- because the enemies of Israel are also enemies of Christianity and of Europe. How can you ally yourself with those who want to destroy you, without in fact dying yourself?

The same obsessive hatred Hitler had for Israel, which led to the ruin of Europe, has persisted today in the European Union against the Jewish State. The great irony is that in trying to destroy Israel, Europe has destroyed itself.

The people of Europe will regain their freedom and identity by extricating themselves from this Euro-Arab alliance that joins them in a genocidal scheme against Israel and the West, in which they themselves are both protagonists and victims. Then and only then will they be able to help those Muslims who are bravely struggling to release their brethren from the hatred disfiguring the human face -- jihadi hatred -- and persuade them to accept human diversity. We have neglected these Muslims. They have been fighting alone for both them and us. It is imperative to help them.

Bat Ye'or is the author of several books on dhimmitude, including Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axis. Her forthcoming book, Understanding Eurabia, will be published by Gatestone Institute and RVP Publishers in 2017.

Berlin Head of Polish Culture Institute Fired for Promoting ‘Too Much Jewish Content’

    Polnisches Institut Berlin © wikipedia.org

The director of the Polish cultural institute in Berlin, Katarzyna Wielga-Skolimowska, has been fired by Poland’s Foreign Ministry because she allegedly promoted too much “unwanted content”, particularly concerning Polish-Jewish relations.

Wielga-Skolimowska was “dismissed immediately” last week, the institute’s spokesman, Marcin Zastrożny, confirmed to Germany's TAZ daily on December 2. According to Der Tagesspiegel, she was fired without any explanation or prior notice.

She was also ordered to leave the office immediately and depart her flat in Berlin at the end of December. She was not allowed to say goodbye to her subordinates in the institute, Der Tagesspiegel reported.

According to German media, it was the institute’s cultural program that led to her dismissal as it contradicted the cultural policy of the Polish government ruled by the national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party that came to power in 2015.

The Polish ambassador to Germany, Andrzej Przylebski, sharply criticized Wielga-Skolimowska in an internal report in October, which was seen by dpa news agency. The dpa report stated that he particularly rebuked the former head of the Polish cultural institute in Berlin for “excessively covering ... topic[s] related to Polish-Jewish relations” and inviting what was called “unwanted” guests to events staged by the institute.

So, it appears Poland's new government wants to rewrite history and remove all shame from Nazi collusion during WWII. But that is not how you deal with shame - you accept your responsibility, repent, ask forgiveness, and then move on. You don't pretend it never happened or try to diminish the significance of the whole thing - you learn nothing that way; you just develop a shallow and false pride and leave yourself open to recommitting the same atrocities.

One has to wonder if growing antisemitism in Poland and the rest of Europe is contributing to this revisionism. Is another Holocaust possible in the not too distant future? As hard as it is to believe, I think it is not only possible but almost inevitable.

The issue of Polish-Jewish relations should not be promoted “especially in Germany, which should not take the role of mediator” in this field, the report, written by Przylebski said, adding that the institute should instead emphasize the importance of dialog between Poland and Ukraine or Poland and Lithuania, as reported by dpa.

“A blind imitation of nihilist and hedonist trends leads to nothing good in civilizational sense,” the report added, referring to Wielga-Skolimowska’s work.

    Katarzyna Wielga-Skolimowska

The ministry already expressed its discontent with Wielga-Skolimowska’s work for similar reasons. In early 2016, the Foreign Ministry negatively assessed the institute’s performance and appointed conservative Malgorzata Bochwic-Ivanovska to deputy head.

In April 2016, Poland’s Culture Minister, Piotr Glinski, called for "an end to the culture of shame” in relation to the Polish role in Holocaust and WWII. At the time, the Polish cultural institute in Berlin showed the Academy-Award winning film ‘Ida’ (2015) that tells the story of a young woman living in 1960s Poland, who found out that she was Jewish and her parents had been murdered by their Polish neighbors during WWII.

At the same time, the Polish Foreign Ministry insisted on showing another Polish film – a propaganda movie ‘Smolensk’, which suggested that the Polish presidential plane crash in Russia in 2010, which claimed the lives of all passengers aboard, was an act of terrorism orchestrated by Russia.

No German cinema agreed to show the movie, even though it was actively promoted by the institute’s deputy head, Bochwic-Ivanovska.

‘One cannot find better person to promote Polish culture’

– German artists

The decision of the Polish Foreign Ministry has caused a wave of criticism and indignation among German artists and cultural figures and even prompted them to write an open letter to Polish authorities.

The artists expressed their “embarrassment and irritation” over what they called “an unjustified and inexplicable decision” in a letter to the Polish ambassador in Berlin and Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski.

The initiative was put forward by Cilly Kugelmann, the program director of the Jewish Museum in Berlin and supported by the head of the Berliner Festspiele arts center, Thomas Oberender, the director of the Maxim-Gorki-Theater, Shermin Langhoff and the head of a museum of modern art, photography and architecture in Berlin, Thomas Koehler, who signed the letter.

“One could not possibly find a better person to promote Polish culture,” the letter said, as cited by Der Tagesspiegel. “She [Wielga-Skolimowska] has an exceptional talent for communication,” Kugelmann told Der Tagesspiegel, adding that the former Polish cultural institute’s director promoted “an image of a young intelligent country that is ready to face its history.”

“So far, Poland’s culture was presented in the best possible way at different levels [in Germany],” Marcin Piekoszewski, who works for the German-Polish book store ‘Buchbund’, told TAZ, commenting on Wielga-Skolimowska’s work.

Wielga-Skolimowska worked as the head of Berlin’s Polish cultural institute for three years from 2013. Her contract was due to expire only in summer 2017.

She established a cultural exchange program between Poland and Germany, particularly in cooperation with the German Goethe-Institute promoting German culture in foreign countries.

She also created a forum for German and Polish artists, where they could discuss the modern art, architecture, music and journalism, TAZ reported.

The former director of Berlin’s Polish cultural institute also promoted the ‘Film Polska’ film festival in Berlin.

However, she was not the only one reportedly fired due to the inconsistency of her ideas with the Polish government’s policy.

One of many

According to Poland’s Gazeta Wyborcza daily, 13 out of 24 directors of Polish cultural institutes across Europe were fired this summer.

This means that it is government policy to revise history. It's probably an attempt to build Polish pride, but humility wears much better.

Many of them were also criticized for inviting “unwanted” guests to their events, such as Austrian author and journalist Martin Pollack, who criticized the PiS party, or Olga Tokarczuk, a Polish writer and recipient of the German-Polish International Bridge Prize, who was accused of “tarnishing the good name of the Polish nation.”