Man Instead of Nation

During the Holocaust there have been <x0-> Polish defendants, as well as Jewish guilty”, answered Polish Prime Minister Matthews Morawiecki at the Munich Security Conference in mid-February, a journalist. The journalist had confessed to his Jewish mother that during the Nazi occupation of World War II, she had been denounced by her Polish neighbors but managed to escape at the right time. Nearly a month after the conference, Morawiecki's words still cause reactions, not only in Poland, but also in Europe, Israel and the US.
After Auschwitz, it is barbarous to write a poem”, Theodor W. Adorno in 1951. The famous philosopher later related his radical suspicion of culture (with that of language) in the way he dealt with cruelty. But how should we talk about the Holocaust?

What do the words tell us?

The media reaction to Morawieck's claim obscures this very problem. What notions do we use to report on the cruelty of our close past? And what exactly do we understand with the seemingly clear words like <x0 guilty” and „viktim”?
“In Holocaust studies, there are three notions that were proposed by Raul Hilberg: „Fajtor, victim and those who stood by”, Prof underscored. Andreze '%bikowski from the Historical Institute of Judaism” in Warsaw. Online portal „O pres” interviewed the historian on the occasion of Morawick's claim. „The players are primarily named as Nazis”, explains ♫bikowski, „in terms of even representatives of the institutions or associations that collaborated with the Nazis, let's say Lithuanian, Ukrainian, or Belarus. (...) Jews cannot be identified as guilty. ”

The basic characteristic of genocide can be described this way: You can't escape the victim's role. If I've been persecuted as <x0).. ..whore” by the Nazis, this has sealed my destiny. There's nothing changing here. Otherwise, if I'm persecuted as the communist „”, at least I have a choice: I can put aside my views, and have a chance to survive. Even if there is guilt within certain groups of victims, the historical scientific record offers different language instruments. In the case of Nazi collapses, we're talking about „the trained”.

Set things by name”

It is not clear whether Morawieck wanted to rise up against this language use or simply make apparent the shortcomings in his knowledge. This adds to the lack of empathy and political wrongdoing. But such confusion is characteristic.
Bogusław Chrabota, editor-in-chief of the renowned newspaper „Rzecpospolia”, in a sarcastic opinion wrote about the Polish people that they have eagerly entered an absurd race in which they always want to give a victim (of history) as good as the Jews.” Because in the debate that the Polish prime minister sparked, some of the people have the attitude that someone finally has the guts of „naming things”. According to them, the definition of <x6 Jewish guiltyies” is correct. Especially when it can be referred to a „Polish guilty”.

Disconnection From the Tongue of the Sinners

What do you want? Media issues and attempts to directly influence political influence on how a Polish prime minister should speak, whether from Washington, Tel Aviv, or Berlin, are amplified by rulers in the country and bring outrage among Polishs. They hollow out even more the shaken trust in democracy: Not only Europe, the economy and defence must submit to the dictatorship of the fittest but also the memory. Instead of reflection and dialogue, they require polarisation and the course of confrontation. And this from both inside and outside: Swords sharpened. So far for a verbal war.
Chrabota's comment is part of a weekend supplement of “Rzecpospolita”, which centered on a David star, with two flags connected to each other, one Polish and one Israeli. Title: „We are people.” I would personally go one step further. Do we need to share memories according to ethnic affiliation? The guilty have always taken the first human. So isn't cruelty first of all life being confessed? National label, arbitrator, has been the language and at the same time the instrument of the guilty. It's time to finally distance ourselves from such a language.

/Stanisław Strasbourgr is a writer and a culture manager. His novel „History Trader” has recently been published in German. The author was born in Warsaw and lives in Berlin, Warsaw, and Mediterranean cities.