Wiktor Moszczynski (judging by the surname he might be a Pole?) has published an interesting article on economic impact of immigration and report of Their Lordships commented on this blog earlier.
Of course the value of an article is in the comments, especially one of Mr. Phil Cowburn.
Vox populi, vox Dei, see yourself:
I have spent a lot of time in Poland and have been very hospitably received into many Polish homes over the last 15 years. I admire the hardwork and initiative of the younger generation in its determination to bring Poland up to the social and economic standards of Western Europe.
Yet I do deplore this crypto-Messianism – the Polish cult of portraying Poland and the Poles as ‘The Christ of Nations’, always the victim of injustice at the hands of others, but never the recipient of support and good will – that Mr Moszczynski and many other older Poles harbour so deeply in their souls. It’s such a shame that he and his ilk are so good at convincing themselves that they are victims. It lets them off the hook of personal/national responsibility for their fate.
It also prevents them from facing up to the many skeletons in Poland’s own cupboard. For example, the ethnic cleaning of non-Poles from south-eastern Poland in the late 1940s (‘Operation Vistula’) and Polish anti-Semitism (not just pogroms conducted by Poles such as those at Jedwabne during the war, but also the 1968 expulsion of ‘Zionists’ from the Polish Communist Party and the subsequent and consequent migration of tens of thousands of Polish Jews to Israel). Even more to the point, Mr Moszczynski’s victim complex allows him to quote Yalta whilst at the same time omitting all mention of Poland’s part in carving up Czechoslovakia after Munich. The Poles did very nicely, thank you, with their gain of Cieszyn – but Mr Moszczynski’s generation would prefer not to mention that dirty little secret. Fortunately, younger Poles seem to have the courage and character to take a more objective approach to Poland’s troubled history.
This is another sample of the British historical ignorance and indifferentism.
As to Cieszyn, in the 1919 after the World War the National Council of the Cieszyn Dutchy wantent to incorporate Cieszyn with Poland. It’s Czech army that used advantage of Poland being involved in polish-soviet war attacked Cieszyn first… it was in 1919, so 10 years before Hitler’s agression on Czechs in 1938.
In the context of post-war Ukraine and Poland’s history please remember:
- It’s good to listen to the Ukrainians first. In his statement of 27/04/2007 Viktor Yushchenko, president of Ukraine stated that “totalitarian communist regime” was responsible for Action Vistula and not modern independent Poland, friendly towards Ukraine and helpful on their way to democracy through the last 18 years or so…
- Action Vistula was RELOCATION and not ethical cleansing. Most of its subjects were successfully GIVEN land and houses one the post-Yalta western Polish borders. Same practice soviets applied to Poles from Eastern parts of Poland (Lwow, Baranowicze, Wilno). Under the communist rule this was the fate of approx. 10 mln people!
- During the 40’s the Ukrainian nationalists of OUN UPA killed thousands of Polish civilians under German occupation, with full Hitler’s blessing. I have eye-witnessed accounts of people, survivors of the massacres, i.e. in village Palikrowy.Then, after 1945 (war end) OUN and UPA remained active conspiring against re-born Polish state, communist or not it could not agree for such “uprising”.
- On the margin. At this time there was a significant number of Ukrainians pushed from their land by the soviet “Action Z” and this is how they landed on the Polish side of the border.
As to the expulsion of the ‘Zionists’ from the Polish Communist Party… well most of them already came as ‘visitors’ from soviet Russia and with the Red Army. They were communists and Zionists, right?
So, problem of Pole’s responsibility doesn’t exist here. It was internal power game within the communist party, which they lost… and since they were Zionists… they must have liked it going to Israel?
I will put more detailed comment on Jedwabne some time later… time to work.
Tags: Daily Telegraph, economic impact of immigration, immigrants, immigration, Jedwabne, OUN, Phil Cowburn, Poland, Polish, Polish Communist Party, Telegraph.co.uk, The Lords, Their Lordships, UPA, Vox populi vox Dei, Wiktor Moszczynski, Zionists
