http://webfactory.fcny.org/kf/events/news/petition/?sistart=267000&count=2

Please spread word of this again. We only need 1,319 to go until the 300,000 signatures mark. Off to raise some more support.

Regards

Jan N., Cardiff

Dear All,

The PMI (Polish Media Issue group) has started a project to investigate why
Poles are not regularly included as victims of the Germans.  If you come across
articles which reference multiple victims but fail to include Poles/Slavs then I
would appreciate being informed.

Regards

Jan N., Cardiff

Hello,

This email message is a notification to let you know that
a file has been uploaded to the Files area of the Poland-speaks-out
group.

   File        : /PMI 2012 report.pdf
   Uploaded by : jan_niechwiadowicz <jan_niechwiadowicz@...>
   Description : PMI report 2005-2011

You can access this file at the URL:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Poland-speaks-out/files/PMI%202012%20report.pdf

To learn more about file sharing for your group, please visit:
http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/groups/original/members/web/index.html
Regards,

jan_niechwiadowicz <jan_niechwiadowicz@...>

Dear Group,

As you should be aware I am writing a series of booklets on issues related to World War Two and Poland.  They go under the umbrella title of German Camps Polish Victims.  One area I am short is photos.

If you own the copyright of useful photos such as those of the German camps, memorials to the victims or the destruction carried out by the Germans then I appreciate copies.

Regards

Jan N., Cardiff

New website launched next weekend but a temporary version is available at germancampspolishvictims.info

Dear group,

http://germancampspolishvictims.info/

The new version of the German Camps, Polish Victims website is now live.  It has the first of the associated booklets called "German camps, Polish Victims: The BBC coverage of German occupied Poland" is available for free download.  This 64 page booklet outlines what studying over 500 pages on the BBC website found. 

If time please check out the site and download the booklet.  Any comments on either would be appreciated.  The booklet goes to the printer end of next week, so any comments on its content and format would be useful.  Note: the cover is still missing due to it needing to be converted to PDF but I don't have the software at present.

Does the booklet made a solid case?  Does it need more work?  Please be honest about it.

Regards

Jan N.,

Co-ordinator of the German Camps, Polish Victims project

http://www.change.org/petitions/usa-holocaust-museum-include-polands-history-and\
-people-in-the-ushm-museum

Hello,

This email message is a notification to let you know that
a file has been uploaded to the Files area of the Poland-speaks-out
group.

   File        : /gcpv_poster.png
   Uploaded by : jan_niechwiadowicz <jan_niechwiadowicz@...>
   Description : Launch of GCPV at POSK on 17th March 2012

You can access this file at the URL:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Poland-speaks-out/files/gcpv_poster.png

To learn more about file sharing for your group, please visit:
http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/groups/original/members/web/index.html
Regards,

jan_niechwiadowicz <jan_niechwiadowicz@...>

Dear Group,

We are in count down to the launch of the printed version of the GCPV booklet on
the BBC.   I have uploaded the poster to the group file section.  Please do
spread word of this event to others e.g. print the poster out and put it in your
local club or shop.

The event is on 17th March, 6.30pm at POSK in London.  It is free but those
giving Ł2 towards costs will receive the 64 page soft-back version for free. 
Prior to the 16th March (UK time), you can order the booklet post free (Ł6
hardback, Ł2 soft-back).

Further the booklet is still free to download at
http://germancampspolishvictims.info/.

Members should note that the embassy have a debate on the Thursday before.  I
plan to attend the embassy event on Thursday.  Friday I will be delivering
copies of the booklet to the BBC, embassy, Federation and others in London.

Regards

Jan N., Cardiff


March 15th at 3.30pm

POLES AND JEWS DURING WORLD WAR II

A panel on Polish – Jewish relations

Polish embassy in London

March 17th 6.30pm

German Camps, Polish Victims project launch

POSK in London

Dear members,

Please try to come to POSK on Saturday to be at the launch of German Camps, Polish Victims see http://www.germancampspolishvictims.info/download/gcpv_poster.png for details

Jan N., Cardiff

----- Original Message -----

From: Jan

To: Poland-speaks-out@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Tuesday, March 13, 2012 9:42 PM

Subject: [Poland-speaks-out] FFT: GCPV launch at POSK, London on 17th March

Dear members,

Please try to come to POSK on Saturday to be at the launch of German Camps, Polish Victims see http://www.germancampspolishvictims.info/download/gcpv_poster.png for details

Jan N., Cardiff

Dear members,

Please try to come to POSK on Saturday to be at the launch of German Camps, Polish Victims see http://www.germancampspolishvictims.info/download/gcpv_poster.png for details

Jan N., Cardiff

-- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My Websites & Blogs
www.kresy.co.uk & http://mylgvblog.blogspot.com/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

----- Original Message -----

From: Witold.Szymanski

To: Poland-speaks-out@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Tuesday, March 13, 2012 6:33 PM

Subject: Re: [Poland-speaks-out] FFT: GCPV launch at POSK, London on 17th March

 

Thank you for the invitation, Jan, but I'll be visiting Warsaw for a week, starting of Friday 16th. March.

 

Congratulations for having been voted man of action and winning the award from "Dziennik Polski" as man of the year!

Keep on the good work.

 

Best regards,

Witold.

----- Original Message -----

From: Jan

To: Poland-speaks-out@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Tuesday, March 13, 2012 9:42 PM

Subject: [Poland-speaks-out] FFT: GCPV launch at POSK, London on 17th March

Dear members,

Please try to come to POSK on Saturday to be at the launch of German Camps, Polish Victims see http://www.germancampspolishvictims.info/download/gcpv_poster.png for details

Jan N., Cardiff

Dear Group,

As you likely know, Euro 2012 starts on 8^th June and is partially in Poland.  Teams such as the German and English will visit Auschwitz.  Fans and reporters will likewise write about their experiences including WWII sites.  I suggest we need to take action now to ensure a minimum of errors.

The PMI are taking action but need help.  If you have suggestions on media to contact or willing to help then please say.

Regards

Jan N., Cardiff

       Polish Roots - British Born     

                            The Central Association of Individual Members of the

                                  Federation of Poles in Great Britain with Topaz

                                                             Invite you to

A Mini Conference : The Future Role of Poles born in GB

POSK, (2nd Floor), Sapphire Room

Thursday 24^th May at 7.30pm

This is the first of a series of meetings, aimed at people born in Britain of Polish origin. The purpose of these meetings is to discuss and focus on their needs. The meeting will be held in English, with Polish used as required.

We will hear from several speakers, born in GB, who are actively involved in organisations such as the Federation of Poles in GB (FPGB*), about their background, current activities and their hopes for the future. We will then invite everyone to participate in an open discussion about their concerns, ideas and how to get involved. There will be an opportunity to get to know each other and to network. Finally, we hope to produce a plan to move forward so that Poles born in GB have more of an influence on shaping the future policy of the Polish Community here.

7.00: Registration

7.30: Start - Chairman of meeting - Chris Zarębski, Chairman of Advisory Council FPGB

7.40: Dr. Włodzimierz Mier-Jędrzejowicz - Chairman FPGB

7.50: Tadeusz Stenzel - Vice Chairman FPGB

            Other speakers to include: Andrzej Tutkaj, Marek Laskiewicz, Bożena Karol,

            Katy Carr, Jan Niechwiadowicz and others. (list is subject to change)

8.30: Open Session – Topics include:

            1/. Definition of our identity. - What criteria?

            2/. What role do we have if any in shaping the future of the Polish Community?

            3/. How do we maintain our parent's/grandparent's legacy?

(buildings: POSK, Fawley Court, Ognisko, Laxton Hall etc.

memorials: Katyn massacre at Gunnersbury Cemetry, Polish Airmens' at Northolt etc.

cultural & religious: Polish Library & Conrad Room, Sikorski Institute, SPK, parishes)

            4/. What is our contact and interface with current Polish migration? (± 800,000)

            5/. Is Polish needed for activity in Polish organisations? Polish: lifelong learning? 

            6/. What are the challenges ahead? (20,000 Polish children born in the UK annually)

            7/. Do we need a new organisation? Can we adapt existing organisations?

            8/. What next?

9.15: Closing remarks

9.30: Close of meeting: Networking

Further info: Bozena Karol tel: 07979 037183 e-mail: polishroots@...

Federation of Poles in GB tel: 0208 741 1606 e-mail: office@...

* FPGB is the Federation of Poles in Great Britain,

(In Polish ZPWB; Zjednoczenie Polskie w Wielkiej Brytanii.

Dear Group,

The PMI is a worldwide group of individuals who combat bad media coverage of Poland and Poles. We cover everything from Polish jokes in the US to immigration issues in the UK. Still our main work to date has been to combat WWII issues especially incorrect terms like "Polish concentration camp" and "Poland's death camps".

We now have a Facebook arm.  Put Polish Media Issues into the Facebook search or try the following http://www.facebook.com/groups/110553989006604/

Regards

Jan N., Cardiff

http://germancampspolishvictims.info/ ((Currently a dead site but has useful information))

----- Original Message -----

From: Jan

To: Poland-speaks-out@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Tuesday, May 29, 2012 10:34 PM

Subject: [Poland-speaks-out] Alert: Barack Obama says Polish death camp

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rd-v24pAg7s

Dear Group,

Witek: What do you make of Obama? Is he that ignorant? Or is he just plain stupid, with simple gift of the gap?

I don't know.  Still read the following which claims "President Obama has a long track record of insulting the Poles". 

Regards

Jan N., Cardiff

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/nilegardiner/100161347/barack-obama-has-insulted-38-million-poles-with-his-crass-and-ignorant-polish-death-camp-remark/

President Obama has a long track record of insulting the Poles. In 2010 he chose to play golf on the day of the funeral of the Polish President Lech Kaczynski, the Polish First Lady, and 94 senior officials who perished in the Smolensk air disaster. Eight months earlier he humiliated Warsaw by pulling out of the agreement over Third Site missile defence installations in Poland and the Czech Republic. And last night Barack Obama caused huge offence in Poland by referring to a Nazi death camp in Poland as "a Polish death camp" while awarding the Presidential Medal of Freedom to a Polish resistance fighter. As ABC's Jake Tapper reported:

Poles and Polish-Americans expressed outrage today at President Obama's reference earlier to "a Polish death camp" — as opposed to a Nazi death camp in German-occupied Poland.

"The White House will apologize for this outrageous error," Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski tweeted. Sikorski said that Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk "will make a statement in the morning. It's a pity that this important ceremony was upstaged by ignorance and incompetence."

The president had been trying to honor a famous Pole, awarding a Presidential Medal of Freedom to Jan Karski, a resistance fighter who sneaked behind enemy lines to bear witness to the atrocities being committed against Jews. President Obama referred to him being smuggled "into the Warsaw ghetto and a Polish death camp to see for himself."

The Obama administration has tried to downplay the incident. According to ABC:

National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor said in a statement, "The President was referring to Nazi death camps operated in Poland. The President has demonstrated in word and deed his rock-solid commitment to our close alliance with Poland."

Weasel words from the White House will do little however to calm Polish anger. After all, these were carefully scripted remarks by the president reading off a teleprompter. Six millions Poles died at the hands of Nazi Germany during World War Two, including three million Polish Jews during the Holocaust. The president's use of the term "Polish death camp" is hugely insulting to the Polish people, and will reinforce the growing image across Eastern and Central Europe of an American presidency that cares little for key US allies, especially against the backdrop of its controversial and weak-kneed "reset" policy towards Russia. For a US administration that likes to boast of "smart power," this was an act of staggering historical ignorance as well as crass insensitivity.

----- Original Message -----

From: Jan

To: Poland-speaks-out@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Wednesday, May 30, 2012 1:30 PM

Subject: [Poland-speaks-out] Re: Alert: Barack Obama says Polish death camp

Dear Group,

Witek: What do you make of Obama? Is he that ignorant? Or is he just plain stupid, with simple gift of the gap?

I don't know.  Still read the following which claims "President Obama has a long track record of insulting the Poles". 

Regards

Jan N., Cardiff

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/nilegardiner/100161347/barack-obama-has-insulted-38-million-poles-with-his-crass-and-ignorant-polish-death-camp-remark/

President Obama has a long track record of insulting the Poles. In 2010 he chose to play golf on the day of the funeral of the Polish President Lech Kaczynski, the Polish First Lady, and 94 senior officials who perished in the Smolensk air disaster. Eight months earlier he humiliated Warsaw by pulling out of the agreement over Third Site missile defence installations in Poland and the Czech Republic. And last night Barack Obama caused huge offence in Poland by referring to a Nazi death camp in Poland as "a Polish death camp" while awarding the Presidential Medal of Freedom to a Polish resistance fighter. As ABC's Jake Tapper reported:

Poles and Polish-Americans expressed outrage today at President Obama's reference earlier to "a Polish death camp" — as opposed to a Nazi death camp in German-occupied Poland.

"The White House will apologize for this outrageous error," Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski tweeted. Sikorski said that Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk "will make a statement in the morning. It's a pity that this important ceremony was upstaged by ignorance and incompetence."

The president had been trying to honor a famous Pole, awarding a Presidential Medal of Freedom to Jan Karski, a resistance fighter who sneaked behind enemy lines to bear witness to the atrocities being committed against Jews. President Obama referred to him being smuggled "into the Warsaw ghetto and a Polish death camp to see for himself."

The Obama administration has tried to downplay the incident. According to ABC:

National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor said in a statement, "The President was referring to Nazi death camps operated in Poland. The President has demonstrated in word and deed his rock-solid commitment to our close alliance with Poland."

Weasel words from the White House will do little however to calm Polish anger. After all, these were carefully scripted remarks by the president reading off a teleprompter. Six millions Poles died at the hands of Nazi Germany during World War Two, including three million Polish Jews during the Holocaust. The president's use of the term "Polish death camp" is hugely insulting to the Polish people, and will reinforce the growing image across Eastern and Central Europe of an American presidency that cares little for key US allies, especially against the backdrop of its controversial and weak-kneed "reset" policy towards Russia. For a US administration that likes to boast of "smart power," this was an act of staggering historical ignorance as well as crass insensitivity.

----- Original Message -----

From: Jan

To: Poland-speaks-out@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Wednesday, May 30, 2012 8:30 AM

Subject: [Poland-speaks-out] Re: Alert: Barack Obama says Polish death camp

 

Dear Group,

Witek: What do you make of Obama? Is he that ignorant? Or is he just plain stupid, with simple gift of the gap?

I don't know.  Still read the following which claims "President Obama has a long track record of insulting the Poles". 

Regards

Jan N., Cardiff

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/nilegardiner/100161347/barack-obama-has-insulted-38-million-poles-with-his-crass-and-ignorant-polish-death-camp-remark/

President Obama has a long track record of insulting the Poles. In 2010 he chose to play golf on the day of the funeral of the Polish President Lech Kaczynski, the Polish First Lady, and 94 senior officials who perished in the Smolensk air disaster. Eight months earlier he humiliated Warsaw by pulling out of the agreement over Third Site missile defence installations in Poland and the Czech Republic. And last night Barack Obama caused huge offence in Poland by referring to a Nazi death camp in Poland as "a Polish death camp" while awarding the Presidential Medal of Freedom to a Polish resistance fighter. As ABC's Jake Tapper reported:

Poles and Polish-Americans expressed outrage today at President Obama's reference earlier to "a Polish death camp" — as opposed to a Nazi death camp in German-occupied Poland.

"The White House will apologize for this outrageous error," Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski tweeted. Sikorski said that Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk "will make a statement in the morning. It's a pity that this important ceremony was upstaged by ignorance and incompetence."

The president had been trying to honor a famous Pole, awarding a Presidential Medal of Freedom to Jan Karski, a resistance fighter who sneaked behind enemy lines to bear witness to the atrocities being committed against Jews. President Obama referred to him being smuggled "into the Warsaw ghetto and a Polish death camp to see for himself."

The Obama administration has tried to downplay the incident. According to ABC:

National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor said in a statement, "The President was referring to Nazi death camps operated in Poland. The President has demonstrated in word and deed his rock-solid commitment to our close alliance with Poland."

Weasel words from the White House will do little however to calm Polish anger. After all, these were carefully scripted remarks by the president reading off a teleprompter. Six millions Poles died at the hands of Nazi Germany during World War Two, including three million Polish Jews during the Holocaust. The president's use of the term "Polish death camp" is hugely insulting to the Polish people, and will reinforce the growing image across Eastern and Central Europe of an American presidency that cares little for key US allies, especially against the backdrop of its controversial and weak-kneed "reset" policy towards Russia. For a US administration that likes to boast of "smart power," this was an act of staggering historical ignorance as well as crass insensitivity.

Please sign the petition

https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions/!/petition/denounce-phrases-polish-death-camps-or-polish-concentration-camps-part-revisionist-history/6Pyv2K24

Dear Group,

Found this on the web.  I would appreciate a moment of your time to pay your respects to my Uncle.

Regards

Jan N., Cardiff

http://www.phillyburbs.com/obituaries/the_intelligencer/michal-niechwiadowicz/article_cb432390-1d90-5f14-a8be-0490deddb433.html

http://www.thenews.pl/1/10/Artykul/101596,First-trial-confirmed-over-%E2%80%9CPolish-concentration-camp%E2%80%9D-slur

The lawsuit relates to a reference to the former Majdanek forced labour camp, which was set up by the occupying Nazi German regime in 1941 near the city of Lublin.

In an article published in November 2008, Die Welt described the labour camp, where an estimated 79,000 prisoners died, as a "Polish concentration camp."

The case has been filed by Zbigniew Osewski, whose family members suffered under the Nazi regime, with one grandfather dying in a German prison, the other spending five years in a forced labour camp in Essen.

In 2010, the Warsaw Appeal Court ruled that such a case can be taken up by the Polish judiciary, provided that the offence is carried out on Polish territory.

Lawyers have argued that the print version of Die Welt is sold on Polish territory, likewise the online version is accessible, and hence the claim is valid.

Osewski is calling for 500,000 euro (2.2 million zloty) in damages, which he hopes will be paid to an educational centre in the Baltic city of Swinoujscie, near the German border.

Polish Americans picket Obama

Meanwhile, Polish Americans picketed President Barack Obama's visit to his native Chicago over the weekend, following the American leader's use of the expression "Polish death camp," while awarding the Medal of Freedom to the late Polish resistance icon Jan Karski.

The Polish American Action Committee (PAAC), which organised the protest, believes that Obama should have made a vocal apology for last Tuesday's misstatement, and that his letter to President Bronislaw Komorowski was insufficient.

The group of Polish Americans protested outside the Chicago Cultural Center on Friday, where Obama was making a fund-raising speech, in the lead-up to this November's presidential election.

Although Obama's statement did not receive nearly as much coverage in the US as it did in Poland, the Washington Post published a letter on Monday which argued that Jan Karski, the late recipient of the Medal of Freedom, had been overshadowed by the diplomatic scandal.

Dear group,

The fate of my Grandfather is still unknown.  The so called "Belarussian Katyn List" is one of best chances to find where he died.  Please keep me inform of any development.

Regards

Jan N., Cardiff

http://wyborcza.pl/1,75478,11979863,Znalazla_sie_bialoruska_lista_katynska___PIERWSZE.html

Znamy wreszcie ukrywaną przez 72 lata "białoruską listę katyńską". To nazwiska 1996 Polaków wywiezionych przez NKWD do katowni w Mińsku i tam prawdopodobnie rozstrzelanych na rozkaz Stalina i Berii

Wstrząsającego odkrycia dokonała Natalia Lebiediewa. Profesor odnalazła w Rosyjskim Wojskowym Archiwum Państwowym nazwiska Polaków przewożonych w 1940 r. z więzień na obszarze włączonym do radzieckiej Białorusi do więzień zarządu NKWD w Mińsku, gdzie, jak się przypuszcza, rozstrzelano ich na rozkaz Stalina.

- Od dawna podejrzewałam, że śladów tego, co badacze nazywają "białoruską listą katyńską", należy szukać w archiwach 15. Brygady Wojsk Konwojowych, która w 1940 r. stacjonowała na Białorusi i przewoziła więźniów NKWD do stolicy republiki. Przeczucie mnie nie myliło - powiedziała prof. Lebiediewa, która wchodzi w skład Polsko-Rosyjskiej Grupy do Spraw Trudnych.

Przekazała nam listę 1996 osób, które wywieziono z aresztów NKWD w Brześciu, Pińsku, Baranowiczach, Grodnie, Białymstoku i innych miast na terenach okupowanych przez Armię Czerwoną po 5 marca 1940 r.

Prof. Natalia Lebiediewa

Są to wypełnione odręcznie (sądząc z charakteru pisma, przez jednego człowieka) tabele z nazwiskami, imionami i "otczestwem" (imię tworzone w Rosji od imienia ojca) więźniów, których 15. brygada przewoziła wiosną 1940 r. Są też informacje, kiedy, skąd i dokąd ich transportowano.

15. Brygada Wojsk Konwojowych od końca marca do lipca przewoziła do Mińska grupy nawet do 60 osób. W sumie do Mińska zwieziono ponad 1800 z 1996 osób. Zdaniem prof. Lebiediewej 99 proc. tam właśnie rozstrzelano - w tym samym czasie co oficerów w Katyniu, Twerze i Charkowie.

- Przełomowe odkrycie! Do tej pory żaden z polskich badaczy do tych danych nie dotarł - mówi dr Andrzej Kunert, sekretarz Rady Ochrony Pamięci Walk i Męczeństwa.

* Czytaj więcej jutro w "Gazecie Wyborczej"; wkrótce "Gazeta" opublikuje też całą listę odnalezioną przez prof. Lebiediewą

* Rosyjskie archiwa trzeba otwierać powoli i ostrożnie. U nas brat strzelał do brata. Po co nam powtórka kataklizmu? - mówi Andriej Artizow, szef Federalnej Służby Archiwalnej Rosji. Czytaj w sobotę w "Magazynie Świątecznym"

Źródło: Gazeta Wyborcza

Więcej... http://wyborcza.pl/1,75478,11979863,Znalazla_sie_bialoruska_lista_katynska___PIERWSZE.html#ixzz1yMx26HjR

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303962304577508244091759810.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Seventy years ago, my Polish Jewish great-uncle Hejnoch Glowiczower bribed the Germans who ran the Warsaw Ghetto, and fled. Out in the city he was taken in by a network of Poles, who risked the German death penalty to house him, feed him and give him the cover identity that saved his life.

Bearing a perfectly forged German Kennkarte, stamped with a swastika, Hejnoch was moved by his Polish compatriots to a safe house just outside Warsaw. It was the home of Romuald Spasowski, the devout communist who in 1981, as Polish ambassador to the United States, defected and became a Catholic.

After the war, Hejnoch felt at home in Poland. Unlike over half the Polish Jews who survived the Holocaust, he decided not to use his right to emigrate to Israel or elsewhere. Still under a false identity, he started a family and had a successful academic career until 1968, when the Soviet-backed regime alleged Jews were a pro-American fifth column and forced most of them to leave (the secret police knew who was Jewish, even if nobody else did).

Enlarge Image

Time & Life Pictures/Getty Image

The market off Dzielna Street in the Jewish area of Warsaw, 1938.

Nevertheless, Hejnoch's children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren today lead happy lives in Poland, all under that false surname to which they owe their lives. One of them has considered changing it back to Glowiczower. There are countless other such Poles with Jewish roots like this—roots that some are now rediscovering.

Last month, during the Euro 2012 soccer championship and amid media scaremongering about intolerance in Poland and Ukraine, BBC journalist David Shukman wrote of a trip to his ancestral Poland with his daughter Kitty. They went to Baranow, the village from which his Jewish grandfather emigrated to England a century ago. It was one of the most-read articles on the BBC website.

In Baranow, Mr. Shukman interviewed an old man named Stanislaw Stefaniak, who would have been 28 in 1945. "He describes how . . . one day the Jews were ordered to gather in the main square before being marched to the nearest railway station," Mr. Shukman writes.

"A few, he says, were hidden by Poles. What happened to them? He hesitates. The easiest narrative here is that it was only the Nazis who killed the Jews. But Stanislaw admits an uncomfortable truth. After the war, he says, the Jews who came out of hiding were robbed and killed by Poles."

The implication is that all of the survivors of the Holocaust in Baranow were murdered by Poles after the war. But historians tend to agree that of the some 210,000 Jews in Poland at the time, about 2,000 (less than 1%) were killed in the anti-Jewish violence that followed the end of the war. So although possible, it would be extraordinary for Mr. Shukman's ancestral village to have been the site of such a killing.

According to Jewish resistance hero Marek Edelman and academics including Jan Gross, most killings with Jewish victims were not in fact a consequence of anti-Semitism. They were the result of the lawlessness, insurgency and violent suppression in the first postwar years of the Soviet occupation—this killed tens of thousands of Poles, a small fraction of whom were Jewish.

Still, there was widespread anti-Semitism, normally bound up with a stereotype of "Jewish Communism." The most awful consequence was a mass murder at Kielce, where at least 40 Jews died, helping to spur a mass exodus to Israel.

Mr. Shukman's portrayal of the prewar divisions between the Jewish and gentile communities also needs further comment. Poland's anti-Semitic political movements, such as National Democracy, were at least as sinister as, for example, the British Union of Fascists. It received support from a section of the Polish Catholic Church, organized boycotts of Jewish businesses, and lobbied for discrimination against Jews in universities and some professions. Between 1935 and 1939, dozens of Poles were murdered for being Jewish.

But Polish Jews did not live under some kind of apartheid. The Polish officer elite included a proportional number of Jews, including the army's chief rabbi, Boruch Steinberg. Some 100,000 Jews fought against Germany in Polish uniform. Krystyna Skarbek, the Polish secret agent who was the inspiration for Ian Fleming's Vesper Lynd, had a Jewish mother and aristocratic Catholic father.

The wartime Polish government in exile, based in London, included two Jewish members—possibly the most senior Jewish politicians in the world at the time. It was this Polish government that alerted the United Nations to the Holocaust, and that then had to face American and British allegations that it was fearmongering. Polish envoy Jan Karski was sent to describe the plight of his country's Jews to U.S. President Roosevelt, who replied, infamously: "What happened to those lovely Polish horses after the Germans took over?"

Mr. Shukman asks, perhaps rhetorically, whether the motivation of the Polish state to preserve the memory of the German death camps extends to ordinary Polish people and their commemoration of Jewish life. To answer that question Mr. Shukman and his daughter Kitty could come back to Poland for a longer stay, to see and hear much more about where they come from.

In the small countryside town of Dabrowa Tarnowska, the old synagogue has been excellently restored and a few weeks ago was re-opened in a ceremony at which rabbis and priests stood side-by-side. Throughout Poland, moss is being cleaned out of Hebrew texts that are carved in stone. Ever more local communities are caring for their Jewish past.

This is not to suggest that anti-Semitism is less of a problem in Poland than it is in Britain or the U.S. But there is good news here if you want it. Last week, the annual Jewish Cultural Festival began in Krakow, where traditional klezmer and Hebrew hip-hop is performed live in euphoric street parties every summer. The new Museum of the History of Polish Jews in central Warsaw will put the five-year German occupation into the context of 1,000 years of Jewish life in Poland, once home to 80% of world Jewry. This week, after winning more funds from the U.S.-based Taube and Koret Foundations, the center received the largest-ever donation from an individual in Poland: a $6 million completion grant from Poland's richest man, Jan Kulczyk.

Poland's Jewish revival has been growing for years, and is now thriving. It is led not by the Polish government but by Poland's Jewish community itself. The movement has been helped along by a section of the Polish Catholic Church; Pope John Paul II, who was Polish, decreed that anti-Semitism is a sin.

Polish academics have shone light on a World War II pogrom and continue to expose other violent incidents. Jewish food is fashionable, and cantorial recitals sell out. Many Poles who, like Mr. Shukman, are of mixed heritage are talking up the Jewish part of their identity and even converting. Some older Jews find the trend irritatingly kitschy, but few see it as particularly bad.

If you go into the past looking for death and hatred, you will find it. If you go into the past looking for life and love, you will find it, too. Perhaps that can be best shown to us by the generation of Hejnoch Glowiczower's great-grandchildren, the generation of Kitty Shukman. I hope she revisits Poland, and that she will bring her father with her.

—Mr. Tchorek is a freelance journalist in Warsaw.

Dear All,

We have been putting pressure on the BBC.  As the next part we want a joint complaint.  Any BBC licence payer or anyone with a title, no matter how minor, is being asked to sign it.  Draft is below.

Regards

Jan N. Cardiff

As BBC licence payers, we are absolutely disgusted by the programme about Euro 2012, "Stadiums of Hate", which was full of misleading statements resulting in a clearly anti-Polish programme. It appears that the primary idea of that documentary programme was to present Poland and the Ukraine as racist, violent and anti-Semitic.  Hence to show Poland and the Ukraine in a negative light in order to persuade potential English supporters to stay at home.

The Polonophobia, which is prevalent in some British media, fits in perfectly well with political correctness, which allows you to make such statements. As a nation, which respects certain values and traditions, Poland is an easy target to criticize. The anti-Polish campaign in parts of the British media makes it the most discriminated ethnic minority in the UK.

In fact Euro 2012, with the so-called "Stadiums of Hate", turned out to be the most visited European Championship so far, attracting the biggest number of supporters ever. Yet crime against those visiting Poland and racism in the stadiums were virtually non-existent.

We wonder why one of the most friendly, religious, hardworking and humble European nations is humiliated and disrespected by the BBC.  Euro 2012 was held in a calm atmosphere with no racist or anti-Semitic issues.  We wish to make the following clear statement.

THERE ARE NO STADIUMS OF HATE IN POLAND; HOWEVER THERE IS ONE BROADCASTING STATION OF HATE, WHICH IS THE BBC.

With so many concerns about safety during the Olympic Games in London and the rest of the UK as, we wish the UK good luck in running OUR games.

Signed

Patryk Konaszczuk on behalf of Patriae Fidelis

David Jan Niechwiadowicz, coordinator and on behalf Polonia Action Group against Racism ((I am David Jan and my Dad is Jan))

Jim Przedzienkowski, Moderator and on behalf of the Polish Media Issues Group

Marek Laskiewicz, Head of the Polish college

Elizabeth Niechwiadowicz, Trustee and on behalf of Support Poland Limited

Dawid Wawrzyniak, on behalf of Polish Cooperation Network

Jan Niechwiadowicz, Siberia Cross awardee

----- Original Message -----

From: Jan

To: Poland-speaks-out@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Saturday, July 14, 2012 11:05 PM

Subject: [Poland-speaks-out] BBC

Dear All,

We have been putting pressure on the BBC.  As the next part we want a joint complaint.  Any BBC licence payer or anyone with a title, no matter how minor, is being asked to sign it.  Draft is below.

Regards

Jan N. Cardiff

As BBC licence payers, we are absolutely disgusted by the programme about Euro 2012, "Stadiums of Hate", which was full of misleading statements resulting in a clearly anti-Polish programme. It appears that the primary idea of that documentary programme was to present Poland and the Ukraine as racist, violent and anti-Semitic.  Hence to show Poland and the Ukraine in a negative light in order to persuade potential English supporters to stay at home.

The Polonophobia, which is prevalent in some British media, fits in perfectly well with political correctness, which allows you to make such statements. As a nation, which respects certain values and traditions, Poland is an easy target to criticize. The anti-Polish campaign in parts of the British media makes it the most discriminated ethnic minority in the UK.

In fact Euro 2012, with the so-called "Stadiums of Hate", turned out to be the most visited European Championship so far, attracting the biggest number of supporters ever. Yet crime against those visiting Poland and racism in the stadiums were virtually non-existent.

We wonder why one of the most friendly, religious, hardworking and humble European nations is humiliated and disrespected by the BBC.  Euro 2012 was held in a calm atmosphere with no racist or anti-Semitic issues.  We wish to make the following clear statement.

THERE ARE NO STADIUMS OF HATE IN POLAND; HOWEVER THERE IS ONE BROADCASTING STATION OF HATE, WHICH IS THE BBC.

With so many concerns about safety during the Olympic Games in London and the rest of the UK as, we wish the UK good luck in running OUR games.

Signed

Patryk Konaszczuk on behalf of Patriae Fidelis

David Jan Niechwiadowicz, coordinator and on behalf Polonia Action Group against Racism ((I am David Jan and my Dad is Jan))

Jim Przedzienkowski, Moderator and on behalf of the Polish Media Issues Group

Marek Laskiewicz, Head of the Polish college

Elizabeth Niechwiadowicz, Trustee and on behalf of Support Poland Limited

Dawid Wawrzyniak, on behalf of Polish Cooperation Network

Jan Niechwiadowicz, Siberia Cross awardee

Dear Group,

Who are the key players in the Irish Polonia?  German Camps, Polish Victims booklet 2 on the Irish Independent is ready.  I need 5-10 names (outside the Polish embassy in Dublin) to send copies to.

Regards

Jan N., Cardiff

Dear Group,

GCPV 1 on the BBC coverage of German occupied Poland is almost translated into Polish.  We need to finish it and get proof readers.  Are there any volunteers? 

You can download the English version for free from http://germancampspolishvictims.info/ or the kindle version for a small fee from Amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/German-Camps-Polish-Victims-ebook/dp/B009EXASLA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1348337597&sr=8-1

Regards

Jan N., Cardiff

Dear Group,

http://www.amazon.co.uk/German-Camps-Polish-Victims-ebook/dp/B009EXASLA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1348518330&sr=8-1

The German camps, Polish victims booklet on the BBC coverage of German occupied Poland is now available in Kindle format. 

Our second booklet on the Irish Independent is now available in print (contact me to buy a copy) and via http://germancampspolishvictims.info/ and Amazon in the near future.

The translation of the BBC into Polish is nearing completion.  We have 7 pages to finish and would appreciate offers to assist in finishing the translation.

Regards

Jan Niechwiadowicz, Cardiff