I

fiance against the Commu-
nist rulers.
Polonsky believes that the
defiance and success of the
Solidarity movement gave
Poles a new sense of self-
esteem which enabled them
to look rationally at the most
unpleasant aspects of their
recent history.
An example was the crea-
tion of the "Flying Univer-
sity" in the mid-70s. An im-
portant component of this
underground insitution, so-
called because the venue of
its lectures was constantly
moved to keep one step
ahead of official retribution,
was a Jewish studies section.
"There has been a genuine
soul-searching and a desire
to come to terms with the
past," says Polonsky. "There
is also a nostalgia for the old
multi-ethnic, multi-cultural
Poland and an awareness
that any understanding of
Polish history is impossible
without an understanding of
the history of Polish Jewry."
The people involved in
these processes are leaders
of the new Polish govern-
ment and remain deeply
committed to dealing with
issues involving Israel and
world Jewry, Polonsky says.
However, Bartoszewski, a
Polish-born non-Jew, points
out that this phenomenon is
still largely confined to
Poland's intellectual elite
and has had little impact on
ordinary Poles, "who know
next to nothing about
Judaism or Jewish history."
"There are still people who
use anti-Semitism as a polit-
ical tool," Bartoszewski
says. "And we see more of
this today than before
because people can now say
what they want."
After the war a dispropor-
tionate number of the Jews
who stayed in Poland were
Communists, creating the
false impression that- Jews
are Communists. Examples
were Jacob Berman, the
head of the security services,
and Jerzy Urban, the
government's official
spokesman.
"For many Poles it was
convenient to blame the
Jews for the alien, hateful
order they were forced to en-
dure," Bartoszewski says.
"It is easier to believe that
your persecutors are not
your own people."
But that might be chang-
ing because Jews are so well
represented in the move-
ment which successfully
opposed the Communist
regime. "Poland is now
much more like a normal
country, where origins
matter less than opinions,"
Bartoszewski says.

Both Polonsky and Bar-
toszewski regard the
Auschwitz convent affair as
a warning and an achiev-
ement: The depth of bit-
terness revealed the great
distance that still divides
Jews and Poles. But it also
showed that contacts bet-
ween key Poles and Jews
will hold up under strain.
Bartoszewski was im-
pressed that major Jewish
organizations such as B'nai
B'rith could understand that
Poland's Cardinal Jozef
Glemp, who issued a state-
ment that conjured up anti-
Semitic allusions, repre-
sented a "conservative,
narrow-minded view which
is at loggerheads with the
government and, indeed,
with the Pope and Poland's
liberal clergy."
After the cardinal came
under unprecedented public
attack by Polish Catholics,
he changed his position and
became conciliatory.
At the same time, Jewish
organizations distanced
themselves from the actions
of Rabbi Avi Weiss, the
American rabbi who led a
demonstration against the
Carmelite convent at
Auschwitz.
"The lesson to be learned
from this," says Polonsky,
"is that Polish anti-
Semitism should be
criticized by Poles and
Jewish extremism by Jews."
Both Polonsky and Bar-
toszewski are convinced that
it is now possible for Jews
and Poles to start the pains-
taking, painful journey to a
new understanding and a
new relationship.
"I think that the Jewish
world wants to hear the
Poles admit that there was
and is anti-Semitism in
Poland and that their ac-
tions have not been above
reproach," says Polonsky.
"This is difficult for the
Poles to do because they are
defensive and because they,
no less than the Jews, see
themselves as victims of
Nazism."
Bartoszewski, who is not
Jewish but is steeped in a
tradition of Jewish-Polish
conciliation, believes the two
peoples must give each other
another chance.
His father, now professor
of modern history at the
University of Munich, was a
founder of Zegota, an
organization which sought
to save Jews in World War
Two. He was imprisoned by
the Nazis and later by the
Communists. In 1963, he
was among the first to be
declared a Righteous Gentile
by Yad Vashem.o

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