"The Jews themselves participated in the murder of their own people…” (Polish) murderers may have told themselves that they were doing terrible things, but that their grandchildren would be grateful to them…”
Krzysztof Jasiewicz.

Paris, 8 April 2013

In a letter to Polish Academy of Sciences, President Michal Kleiber, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre (SWC) Director for International Relations, Dr. Shimon Samuels, lamented that the “Academy’s august reputation had, last week, been stained with the dark scourge of antisemitism.”

Samuels referred to “so called Jewish expert”, Professor Krzysztof Jasiewicz’s interview article “Are the Jews Themselves Guilty?”, in the special edition of the Polish magazine, Focus, marking the 70th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising”. 

He urged “measures to suspend all association with him by the Academy, pending his formal expulsion.” 

In the article, Jasiewicz states, among other outrages:

- “’The nonsense about Jews being killed mostly by Poles was created to hide the biggest Jewish secret. The scale of the German crime was only possible because the Jews themselves participated in the murder of their own people.’ 

- ‘For many generations, the Jews, not the Catholic Church, worked to bring the Holocaust about. It looks like the Jews have not learned their lesson and have not come to any conclusions yet.’ 

- ‘The Jews have a problem because they are convinced they are the chosen people… I am convinced that there is no point in a dialogue with the Jews, because it leads nowhere.’ 

- ‘I am greatly convinced that the crime at Jadwabne and other pogroms were not committed in order to steal Jewish property or as a revenge for the many terrible things that Jews did to Poles in the past. The pogroms were mostly motivated by a great fear of the Jews…’ 
‘These desperate murderers may have told themselves that they were doing terrible things, BUT THAT THEIR GRANDCHILDREN WOULD BE GRATEFUL TO THEM…’ (capitalized by SWC) 

- ‘Jews are blinded by their hate and desire for revenge… [They] cooperated with Communist groups before the war and joined the Communist secret police after the war.’ 

- ‘I believe that anyone with some education and intelligence will understand that the Jewish version is not always true and not always better than others.’” 

Samuels pointed to the final quote as a “direct challenge to your Academy, as to whether its ‘education and intelligence’ will, by default, endorse ‘the Jasiewicz version” of Polish-Jewish relations, based on denial, allusions to deicide, incitement and a horrific legacy to the ‘grandchildren generation’”. 

The letter recalled that “the late Simon Wiesenthal, in his novel ‘Krystyna: The Tragedy of the Polish Resistance’, stretched out a hand in reconciliation to the generations of post-war Poland.  Many Poles of every rank have responded in remorse to rebuild the Polish-Jewish relationship, which will be marked in Warsaw,  next year, with the long-awaited opening of the Museum of the History of the Polish Jews.”

The Centre continued,  “Professor Kleiber, your Academy member, Krzysztof Jasiewicz’s claim that ‘there is no point in a dialogue with the Jews…,’ challenges all these post-war efforts and the very significance of the commitment of so many dedicated Poles behind the Museum and other countless such initiatives.” 

Samuels stressed that “Focus Chief Editor, Michael Wojcik has explained that his decision to publish the article was ‘to show that antisemitism among scientists does not just belong to the past, but still exists today’, and he has apologized for any unintended offence”. 

The Centre appealed to the President, arguing that “Jasiewicz probes the timidity of his peers. It is for you to respond. The Academy has been sullied and, only by stripping him of his life membership and a public statement of the Academy's membership condemning him to intellectual exile, will the record be set straight, and the challenge repulsed for future generations”. 

The Wiesenthal Centre appeal for the Academy to act, was “shared with Professor Barbara Kudrycka, Polish Minister of Science and Higher Education, whose Ministry is responsible for funding the Polish Academy of Sciences,” concluded Samuels.