Hitler took power in Germany in January 1933. From the very beginning, Jews were targeted with policies and local, regional, and federal laws to restrict their rights in every sphere of life. They were denied access to schools, hospitals, libraries, and other public services; to the practice of their professions; to having any items of value but especially radios, the link to the outside world; to sitting on park benches, riding on trams and bicycles, shopping at stores for food, and owning property.
In 1935 Jews in Germany were stripped of their German citizenship, their last hope for legal protection of their rights.
And then came Nov. 9 and 10, 1938, a brutal turning point. Paramilitary troops and ordinary people took to the streets in Germany, Austria, and Czechoslovakia in unprecedented violence against Jews. The actions were organized by the Nazi leadership, Hitler Youth, and by the SA, the Stormtroopers. Members of the various units wore civilian clothes to operate under the fiction that this was a spontaneous expression of public outrage.
The rioters burned hundreds of synagogues – and the synagogues burned in full view of firefighters, who had orders to intervene only if the flames spread to nearby buildings. Rioters shattered shop windows and looted more than 7,500 Jewish-owned businesses. The shards of glass that filled the streets gave the devastation the name Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass. Jewish cemeteries were desecrated and women were raped.
And more than 30,000 Jewish men were rounded up and incarcerated in Dachau, Buchenwald, and other concentration camps.
This wave of terror was covered by newspapers all over the globe. According to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, “No other story about the persecution of the Jews received such widespread and sustained attention from the American press at any other time during the Nazi era.”
Nobody intervened
Yet nobody intervened. Nobody looked at the maelstrom of hate that was building against the Jews and cried STOP! There were no military, political, diplomatic, or economic actions against Germany.
Nazi leadership gathered in 1942 at Wannsee, a Berlin suburb, and planned the “final solution to the Jewish question.” The goal was to create a Europe that was Judenfrei, free of Jews, to be achieved by rounding up and deporting Jews to ghettos and then transporting them to their deaths at extermination sites.
Beginning in 1938, cities and regions throughout German-occupied Europe proudly and publicly announced when they became Judenfrei.
Some examples:
- Gelnhausen, Germany – reported Judenfrei, November 1938
- Bydgoszcz, Poland – reported Judenfrei, December 1939
- Alsace – reported Judenrein, July 1940
- Banat, Serbia – reported Judenfrei, August 1941
- Luxembourg – reported Judenfrei, October 1941
- Estonia – reported Judenfrei at the Wannsee Conference, January 1942
- Vienna – reported Judenfrei, October 1942
- Berlin – reported Judenfrei, May 1943
We know the ending of the story: 6 million Jews were exterminated, simply because of who they were.
A shocking designation
A few months ago, I read with horror that cities in Poland were posting signs declaring that they were “Gay-free.” Nearly 100 Polish municipalities now boast that designation, a newspaper distributed stickers with the same slogan and a crossed-out Pride flag, and participants at a Pride march in the city of Białystok were pelted with stones and bottles by nationalists and far-right groups.
This is shocking on two counts. First, the six concentration camps used exclusively for extermination during the Holocaust, including Auschwitz, were all located in German-occupied Poland. That a country with a history that includes the presence of the Holocaust’s worst horrors is again the site of hatred against a vulnerable group is almost unimaginable.
Second, the slogan of ‘Gay-free’ and its resonance to Judenfrei is terrifying, given our awareness of the historical consequences of the hate and dehumanization in making cities free of Jews.
Attacking the LGBTQ community played a major role in Poland’s right-wing president, Andrzej Duda, July re-election to a second five-year term. He has demonized that population, claiming that they are “worse than communism,” which Poland endured from 1945-1989.
[image_caption]Ellen Kennedy[/image_caption]
What has been the global response to “Gay-free cities”?
Like the United States, Poland is a deeply divided country; 49% of the population voted against Duda in the July election. The homophobia and hate have energized the LGBTQ community and its supporters throughout Poland and abroad.
The European Union has cut off funding to six of the “gay-free” municipalities. The “twinning” city of Fermoy, Ireland, has canceled its connection to Nowa Dęba in southeast Poland.
Hate spreading
But this hasn’t stopped the hate from spreading. Duda has capitalized on a right-wing movement that supports a Poland with no Jews, no Muslims, and no gays.
Antisemitism is seeing a resurgence. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) recently conducted a survey of Poles’ attitudes towards Jews. Fully 48% of Poles, or 15 million people, hold antisemitic views. At least 79% of Poles believe that the Holocaust did not happen. Among the 21% who do believe that the Holocaust was, in fact, an actual occurrence, they maintain that the number of Jews who died is greatly exaggerated.
Duda did not win only on an anti-LGBTQ platform; he rallied people with appeals to antisemitism.
Fully 10% of Poland’s pre-war population was Jewish, or nearly 3.5 million Jews. More than 90% were murdered in the Holocaust. The Nazis seized their property, which was later nationalized by the Polish communists after the war. The Polish economy has benefited significantly.
Poland is the only EU country that has not legislated on and supported property restitution. Duda’s opponent promised to address this issue, and Duda claimed that his opponent would sell Poland out to the international Jewish community and take money from Polish families to pay “Jewish interests.”
This is the rhetoric in Poland today: gay-free in a place that, 75 years ago, nearly became completely Jew-free.
Anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant, anti-gay, anti-Jew.
Who will be next?
World Without Genocide will host a webinar on Tuesday, Nov. 17, from 7 to 9 p.m. CST, “From the Nazis’ Jew-Free Cities to Poland’s Gay-Free Cities Today: The Spread of Hate.” The program is open to the public. Fred Amram, Holocaust survivor and author, is the featured speaker. Registration is required by Nov. 15. It is $10 general public, $5 seniors and students, free to Mitchell Hamline students, $25 for Minnesota lawyers for 2 CLE ‘Elimination of Bias’ credits. Clock hours for teachers, nurses, and social workers.
Ellen J. Kennedy, Ph.D., is the executive director of World Without Genocide at Mitchell Hamline School of Law.
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I read a lot about WWII and Nazi Germany in my youth. I never heard about cities declaring themselves to be free of my Hebrew brethren. But what shocks me most about this is that so many Poles are Holocaust deniers.
They’re not “Holocaust deniers.” Their Christian parents and grandparents witnessed it, just as they witnessed the murder of millions of ethnic Poles.
There are no Holocaust deniers in Poland. We speak about more than 2 million of Polish Christians murdered by Germans and some foreigners belive that the 2 millions do not deserve to be rembered.
The author claims: “At least 79% of Poles believe that the Holocaust did not happen”. Those numbers are way off. In the same source, the Anti-Defamation League’s 2019 surve, we find that: to the first question, “Have you heard about the Holocaust”, 12 percent answer “No”. Out of the majority that have heard of the Holocaust, a whooping one percent flat out denies it, and 21 percent more believe that “the numbers are greatly exaggerated” (I’m copying&pasting the numbers directly from the official ADL website).
Would you care to explain, where did the number 79% come from?
From the same fake news source that disseminated the “LGBT-free zone” hoax.
Excuse me, but the signposts issue is just nitpicking. Yes, they were put there as a happening. But they were put there AFTER the local councils passed the despicable “LGBT-free community” resolutions. So while it is inaccurate to say that “cities in Poland were posting signs…”, it’s a distinction without a difference. Or is in your book somehow OK to officially designate your town or village as “LGBT-free”, but a *sign* reiterating such declaration would be going too far?
Come on.
Maciej, please do not misinfoirm.
The LGBT – free zones are common knowledge. Its widely reported. Calling them a hoax is just flat out lying.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/30/world/europe/LGBT-free-poland-EU-funds.html
https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2020/10/world/lgbt-free-poland-intl-scli-cnnphotos/
Except its not a hoax. Numerous cities in Poland have declared themselves LGBT-free zones.
Pat, name the alleged ‘cities’.
Here is an article that talks about them. There is nothing alleged about it. A third of the country lives in areas that have declared themselves LGBT-free
https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2020/10/world/lgbt-free-poland-intl-scli-cnnphotos/
Pat, I have survived Communism in Poland, so I am able to find errors in texts, eg. in the article by Kennedy. You read liberal propaganda created against the current Polish government and you believe it. You may believe anything, but when you spread the hate propgnada, you are responsible.
There are, from a legal point of view, no LGBT free zones in PL. There are legally non-binding declarations of come cities or municipalities strengthening the rights of families. In most of these declarations there is not even a word about LGBT.
Since I don’t read Polish, I am limited to reading summaries of the “Charter of Rights of Families.”
Allowing same-sex marriage does not hurt traditional families. Human rights are not a zero-sum game: allowing someone else to have a basic human right does not take away anyone else’s right.
The Charter also expresses some skepticism towards programs “aimed at preventing violence and supporting its victims,
preventing alcohol and drug abuse and supporting health prophylaxis.” That’s kind of creepy, especially in a country that has shown a recent lack of enthusiasm for the rule of law.
Wow. There is a pretty big distinction between calling something a hoax and then saying it exists but isn’t legally binding.
And the issue isn’t the legal ramifications, but the fact that hate and bigotry is so widespread in Poland.
The only thing “widespread” is media’s exaggeration of “hate” in Poland and the eagerness of readers to believe it. And Kennedy’s insinuation that Duda is antisemitic is absurd considering his wife is half-Jewish and her father is a Holocaust survivor.
It should be noted that hundreds of Catholic priests and Luthern pastors lost their lives trying to prevent these abominations. Luthern pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer went on record stating that ” Failure to speak is to speak, failure to act is to act, the Lord will not hold us unaccountabe”. He was arrested by the Gestapo, tortured and hung eventually with piano wire. There is also – or was – an interesting documentary on Netfix, showing how Heinchrich Himmler, appropriated an old castle and turned it into an area dedicated to Satan. This comment may make me look superstitious or stupid – so be it. Actual believers, and other good people with a conscience, believers or not, did try to stop these horrors committed against these groups.
When one person escaped from a death camp, the Nazis would execute 10 other prisoners, chosen at random. During one such incident, one man selected for execution begged for his life, pleading that he was a father.
Father Maximilian Kolbe stepped up and offered his life in place of the other man’s. Fr, Kolbe and 9 other men were placed in a cell to die without food or water. Fr. Kolbe lead the men in prayer & singing, amazing & confounding the Nazis. One by one, the other 9 died. The Nazis got tired of waiting for Fr. Kolbe to die. So they went in and broke his legs and killed him.
Kolbe was imprisoned in part for printing and distributing Bibles, as well as for thinking, a crime much worse than all.
But then I’ve been told that all religion is bad, so maybe it’s no big deal, offering your life for that of a father, who survived his death camp experience and lived a long and full life. And hugged his kids once more.
Additionally, there were other decent people trying to stop persecution against the Jews and other people targeted by Hitler and his followers. I believe the 2008 movie, Valkyrie, staring Tom Cruise, is based on the efforts of decent people trying to stop persecution against other people. The military officer played by Tom Cruise tried to blow up Hitler and his inner circle leading the persecutions and driving World War Two.
The officer played by Tom Cruise was Nazi. He joined ther anti-Hitler conspiracy to save Nazi Germany, to prevent allied occupation. Millions of Polish people were murdered or starved or tortured by German policemen and soldiers.
Yes, that is my understanding also- that the officer, who tried to blow up Hitler and his inner circle, driving the persecutions and World War Two, had initially embraced, joined in, and accepted Hitler’s viewpoint and the “final solution”.
The twists and turns of the human heart, good or bad, involves many factors.
Back to what I learned from by US marine father, who was guarding German prisoners of war, one thing I forgot to mention. The German solders, were very afraid in regards to what would become of their families in the Fatherland, since they had
failed to execute their orders. Hitler had retained soldiers in Germany and there was a clear understanding that the German elderly, women and children, would be at the less than tender mercies, of Hitler’s most extreme, ruthless followers should the German soldiers fail to follow Hitler’s orders. Does this justify what they did? No – not my point.
It was the Soviet Union, not Nazi Germany, who persecuted families of prisoners of war. The German soldiers murdered civilians 1939-1944 and claimed in 1945 they were terrorized to do it.
Oh, so millions of German soldiers went to war and carried out atrocities solely under duress. My father and other relatives of that generation who survived the German occupation would not describe their tormentors the way you did. Most Germans were fanatically devoted to Hitler. Stop this whitewashing.
It is evident from von Stauffenberg’s letters to his wife that he was a racist and anti-Semite. His “epiphany” late in the war stemmed from the tide turning militarily against Germany, not by some sudden guilty conscience. Please don’t rely on Hollywood to teach you history.
Thank you Mr. Phalen for your information. Had read a book about those, who tried to stop persecution against people targeted by Hitler and his supporters. My father, while a Marine in World War Two, said most of the German soldiers he was guarding appeared morose and ashamed of themselves. Not morose because of being U.S. prisoners. One or two of them commented that they made no efforts to escape because they were treated better as American POWs than they were as German soldiers. No real point other than I don’t understand the ways of the world.
The editors of MinnPost should have done some fact-checking before publishing this “opinion” piece by Ellen Kennedy. Her comparison between Judenfrei territory in German-occupied Europe and alleged “LGBT-free zones” in today’s Poland is based on a 100% hoax carried out by a gay activist. This is easily verified on an internet search. Dr. Kennedy should be more concerned about the rise of antisemitism in the USA. You do your readers a disservice by publishing this fake news and scaremongering.
Actually, after doing some checking, I want to thank Ms. Kennedy for her accurate reporting and her courage. A quick Google search reveals dozens of media sources reporting on LGBT- free zones in Poland. The idea that this is a hoax is an outright falsehood.
The leaders of Poland are backwards, ignorant and bigoted, and are actively sanitizing history by minimizing Poland’s role in the Holocaust. Again, good work by Ms. Kennedy to bring this to light.
Pat, you are partially right, your media are MISinforming about Poland.
No, thanks to Ms. Kennedy’s brave work and some follow-up research, I feel pretty well informed. What is happening in Poland is very disturbing.
“Poland’s role in the holocaust?” Poland, as a state and nation, had no “role.” Poland was the only country under German occupation which spawned neither a collaborationist regime nor volunteers for the Waffen SS. Collaboration was the act of individuals who were a tiny segment of the population and were considered the dregs of society. They were executed by the Polish underground for their traitorous deeds. 75-80 years after the fact, it’s easy to judge a nation under a brutal occupation by the acts of a small minority.
“The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) recently conducted a survey of Poles’ attitudes towards Jews. Fully 48% of Poles, or 15 million people, hold antisemitic views. At least 79% of Poles believe that the Holocaust did not happen. Among the 21% who do believe that the Holocaust was, in fact, an actual occurrence, they maintain that the number of Jews who died is greatly exaggerated.”
Thanks Ellen Kennedy for the article…but could you be so kind as to provide the original source,of your claim that 79% of Poles deny the existence of the Holocaust according to the ADL survey?…what was their survey group?…extreme right wing fascist supporters?…the public education system alone in Poland is extremely vigilant in presenting to young people the truthful facts of Holocaust history and have done so even through the time of Communism here (1945-1989)…so I can’t see how these figures could be anything but highly inaccurate and I’m sure its extremely offensive to at least 90% of the population in Poland to read such a fictitious and unsubstantiated statement.
Doesn’t the publisher have a responsibility to “fact check” such an important claim?…And shouldn’t journalistic ethics require verification of the survey data?
Waiting patiently for your response.
Hmm, it strikes me the reflexive defensiveness, of what I can only presume are right-wing Poles, towards their homophobia is eerily reminiscent of right-wing Americans, with regard to issue of race. I mean, its not like we can’t see the rightward shift in progress, see the laws enacted. Who exactly are thinking you’re gonna fool here?
Four people joined Minnpost in the last few days just to comment on this story.
These new members talking points to be echoing talking points espoused by the Polish government that the whole controversy has been ginned up by one activist who has been publicizing the issue. Apparently, it’s okay for municipalities to print stickers saying “LGBT-Free Zone,” but talking about it is, as it were, beyond the pale.
The U.S. Ambassador to Poland, among other foreign ambassadors in Warsaw, has denounced the anti-LGBT campaign. Ambassador Mosbacher said that the Polish government is on the “wrong side of history” on LGBT rights.
The stickers were printed by a newspaper, not by any municipality. A hoaxter travelled around Poland with his table and photographed it many times. RB Hollbrook, you misinform.
I think you do not know the meaning of the English word “misinform.” The Polish government has not condemned anti-LGBTQ bias; in fact, prominent politicians have embraced it.
The stickers are real, as is the condemnation of the diplomatic community.
it’s okay for municipalities to print stickers saying “LGBT-Free Zone,” misinforms RB Holbrook and refuses to admit his error. No municipality has printed such a sticker. A newspaper did and the sticker was banned by a court.
And the President of Poland campaigned successfully for re-election saying that the LGBT “ideology” is “worse than Communism.”
RB Holbrook is unable to admit, he invented the stickers printed by municipalities in Poland.
RB Holbrook has lost interest in engaging with obvious trolls.
RB Holbrook claims that Polish municipalities have printed the stikers. Instead to admit his errror, he accuses me of trolling.
Vanessa Gera (AP) is the author of this words. She has attacked Poland at least one time before. US journalism has a long tradition of criminal lies, eg. by Walter Duranty (Pulitzer). It is Gera’s interpretation of sevaral phrases in Polish. Duda protested against obligatory sexual education of children (since 6 years of age) in several EU countries. Some EU countries do not allow home teaching.
I will say, they’re awful thorough.
Hmm, it strikes me that some Americans write about Poland lacking elementary knowledge. ‘There are many rascists in the USA so Poles are equally homophobic.’ Poland is real.
I am neither rightwing nor homophobic. In fact, I am a supporter of gay rights. But people in provincial, conservative towns also have rights, one of them being how their children should be educated. The curriculum would not include teaching four-year-olds about masturbation. Moreover, the LGBT community does their cause a disservice by desecrating churches and religious symbols — especially in vulgar, sexually explicit ways — where Catholicism is still one of the pillars of society. Dr. Kennedy ignores these inconvenient facts.
No, there should be freedom from religion, everywhere. A pity that Poland cannot follow that example.
Matt, name the religion opressed in Poland.
Freedom from religion means that religious doctrine is not forced on the public at large. Adherents of a particular faith are free to follow that doctrine, but it is not the driving force behind public policy.
If you don’t believe in same-sex marriage, don’t do it. No one is going to make you marry a man, no one is going to make you attend a wedding ceremony for two women, and no one is going to say you have to approve of it when it happens. Just leave people alone to choose whom they want to marry.
His point, sir, was that religious doctrine should not dictate public policy in a 21st Century democracy. Or provincial “conservative” cultural prejudices, for that matter…
Umm, I think you misread, its religion, apparently in this case the Catholic church, doing the repression. Religion should have no power to influence secular law. Unless of course you desire theocracy, or in the case of Poland religious support for totalitarianism. A rather sad state of affairs, given Poland’s long history of domination from without, that it would now submit to domination from within.
Its the provincial, conservative towns where LGBT people need protection the most. Letting locals decide what rights people get is not being a supporter of gay rights.
Please show evidence of anyone LGBT in provincial Poland who has been persecuted and needs protection.
“Bydgoszcz, Poland – reported Judenfrei, December 1939” – do you understand your error? Germany invided Poland in September 1939 murdering tens of thousands of Jews and Christians. They annexed Bydgoszcz to Germany and renamed it to Bromberg.
‘participants at a Pride march in the city of Białystok were pelted with stones and bottles by nationalists and far-right groups. ‘ – another part of the story was that LGBT activists attacked a man in Warsaw.
Looks like another democracy has fallen into the grips of rising reactionary cultural authoritarianism. Not seeing any claims that the article isn’t accurately describing the horrendous views of the reactionary Duda. I assume he is Poland’s Trump?
An increase in hate and hate crimes is part and parcel of these rightwing movements across the globe. Hate crimes and hate behavior are at historic levels in the US after 4 years of our monster, Trump, and it looks like Duda has put Poland on the same terrible illiberal path, despite its history of oppression and national annihilation under the Nazis. I’d wish a better future for Poland than this.
‘reactionary cultural authoritarianism’ – your language reminds me my young years under Stalin and his followers. But they attacked the United States mostly, as a land of poverty, slavery and exploitation of workers. The Communists have won in US universities around 1968, now some Americans use the Communist language ignoring its historical context. The context of the langauge included concentration camps (Gulag), mass executions, famines and censorship. Polish leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski comes from Zoliboz, a socialist district of Warsaw. He has created many social projects, helping hundreds of thousands of poor families in Poland. He is human, he has his disadvantages and I do not support him. Yes, he is authocratic but inside his party. Noone is oblidged to join the party. The other big party Platforma has been also authoritarian, when its leader emigrated the party crashed. Kaczynski’s party has won democratic elections several times since 2015. Polish culture is dominated by crazy liberals cofinanced by Soros. How anyone is able to impose the ‘reactionary cultural authoritarianism’ against the majority at universities and in the media? We ‘reactionary cultural authoritarianist’ defend our history, our children, our religion, supporting Duda. We do not want PR censorship and sexual education of children by psychically unstable activists. We do not want attacing police officers and primitive hate speach. “F* Off” is the slogan of the current sexual revolution. So partially Gera is right – the Communists murdered us, but they did not use “F* Off” publicly. Does Joe Biden say “F* Off” every minute? If not, he may be reactionary authoritarian.
Wow that George Soros, he gets around apparently. I shudder to think what you right wingers will do for “boogeyman” motivation when he finally kicks the bucket.
Mr Pankiewicz–
I of course cannot debate you on all the issues (cultural or otherwise) facing Poland today, and I (mostly) have no idea of whom or what you are referring to here. I only note that a national leader/politician attempting to inflame the majority of his citizens against a tiny, historically oppressed, politically powerless minority group, one that is being attacked and marginalized for personal characteristics they cannot change, is a “reactionary”. I guess you would prefer cultural “traditionalist”. The difference is meaningless to the unfortunate group being oppressed. Just as Stalinists/Communists oppressed the “traditionalists”, now those traditionalists seek to oppress (and suppress) gay people. This gay-bashing tactic is also being done by the inheritor of Stalin, Putin.
This hue and cry against some “outsider” group (or cultural “enemy”) is a common and tired tactic of rightwing nationalist regimes, from Milosevich to Orban to Putin, and it is done to distract and divide the people and allow the ruling regime to offer no real progress to the nation, usually while enriching and empowering themselves to the detriment of the country. Usually.
BK Anderson, you do not have any idea about Poland, so please discuss other subjects.