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NOTHING page 4

it, your editors demonstrated a
gross misunderstanding (or
worse, distortion) of the existen-
tial difference between a diaspo-
ra Jewish community and a
sovereign Jewish state. Yours is
not to dictate matters of war and
peace to the democratically elect-
ed government of Israel.
It is nothing less than "chutz-
pah" to presumptuously suggest
to Israel's government that you,
more than Prime Minister
Yitzhak Rabin, know how to en-
sure that "the safety of its people
be its top priority." Israel, and Is-
rael alone, must determine the
nature of its commitment to the
peace process — a process em-
barked upon in Israel's self-in-
terest and from a position of
unprecedented strength. Indeed,
Israel will do so irrespective of the
protestation of the Detroit Jew-
ish News and she certainly
doesn't need a lesson from your
paper on how to appropriately
honor the memory of those who
fell in her defense.
Coincidentally, in a letter
which appeared on the very same
page, Israel was berated for her
flawed democratic system, the
evils of which include a "self-de-
structive government" bent on
"suicide." In taking Israel to task,
the well-meaning writer simplis-
tically prescribes the panacea of
an American-style system, pre-
ferring to overlook the shortcom-
ings of the latter (i.e. consistently
lowest voter turnout of almost
any Western democracy) and the
vast difference in the respective
political cultures.
Both the editorial and the let-
ter to the editor reflect a self-
righteous arrogance and a
demagoguery, in the face of
tragedy, that contributes little to
a meaningful diaspora-Israel di-
alogue. In concluding, the edito-
Hal suggests that "Israel and her
supporters need to catch their col-
lective breath." The notion of a
"collective breath," however, is
a misnomer. Israel, for its part,
needs to soberly assess the cur-
rent situation and act according
to the exigencies of security and
reconciliation with her neighbors.
Her prolific supporters abroad
would do well to display some hu-
mility and sensitivity during
these truly difficult times.
Raviv Schwartz
Farmington Hills

Poland Still
Anti-Semitic

(810 .

)

624-7300

Showroom Hours: Monday-Friday 11-5, Saturday 11-3 or by appointment

3160 Haggerty Rd. • West Bloomfield • 48323

It is troublesome for a Holocaust
survivor to read that the cele-
bration of the 50th anniversary
of the liberation of Auschwitz was
marred by controversy.
The concentration camp
Auschwitz was established in 1941
for the incarceration of political op-
ponents of the Nazi regime, pri-
marily Poles. The military
barracks, going back to World War

I, were ideal for that purpose. How-
ever, the proximity to the town lim-
ited expansion and creation of a
death camp. Geographic location
in the western part of Poland was
another consideration. Auschwitz
and the surrounding region were
made part of Germany proper af-
ter September 1939.
German brutality during
World War II was inversely pro-
portional to the west-east direc-
tion. The headquarters of the
concentration camp system was
located on the grounds of the Sax-
enhausen concentration camp,
an hour's ride away from Bran-
denburg Gate in Berlin. The
treatment of the inmates at that
camp was relatively mild corn-
pared to camps located in the
Eastern territories. As the war
progressed, the need to keep
death factories hidden in the East
diminished. The Birkenau death
camp was built adjacent to
Auschwitz; administratively it
was part of Auschwitz. Its im-
portance as a killing center in-
creased when the other death
camps located in the East were
lost as the result of territorial
gains made by the Red Army. •
Why did Auschwitz become
the concrete symbol of the Holo-
caust? The answer is simple: be-
cause it was there. Treblinka,
Sobibor and similar death facto-
ries are conspicuous by their
physical absence. Landsman in
his movie Shoa focused the cam-
eras upon the empty spaces
where the death camp of Tre-
blinka used to be. An empty field
does not have much of a future as
a tourist attraction. Most Jews,
when they say "Auschwitz,"
mean Birkenau, like most
Catholics mean Vatican, when
they say "Rome."
Poland suffered more than any
other European country under
German occupation. This fact
does not explain Poland's lack of
sensitivity for the feelings of Holo-
caust survivors. The reason is,
most likely, the persistence of
anti-Semitism.
Poland is my native country.
Polish is my native tongue. But
because I am a Jew, by Polish
standards I could never say "I am
a Pole." After five years in the
United States, I called myself an
American and no one laughed.
When I was 7 years old, I recited
a poem in school which started
with the line "And I am a little
Pole..." and everyone laughed.
The Jewish children chuckled at
my ignorance; the Polish kids
snickered, offended by my inso-
lence. The teacher suggested that
I should recite a different poem.
In February 1945, after liber-
ation, I returned to my home-
town. The mother of my
childhood sweetheart begged me
not to stay overnight. "They will
kill you," she said. "Why?" I
asked. "Because they hate Jews,"
was her reply.
POLAND page 12