Duda and "Ida"

For many, his hidden or open anti -Semitism became a great disappointment after the President of Poland by Polish Polish. Or, at least, suspicions of this. Representatives of the Jewish community drew attention to the refusal of Duda during television battles with President Bronislav Komorovsky to recognize the Poles's responsibility for the mass murder of Jews in Northbne in July 1941. For modern Poland, this is an extremely painful topic. The whole politically active country literally exploded when in mid -April the director of the FBI James Komi mentioned the complicity of the Poles in the Holocaust . Poland demanded apologies from the American government, the defense of which is counted in Warsaw in the context of the growing aggressiveness of Russia after the annexation of Crimea. During the debate, Komorovsky diplomatically clarified that we should more often talk about those Poles who saved the Jews during the war. He especially drew attention: during the Second World War, Poland was a place where the help of Jews or their hiding was punished by the death penalty. Duda immediately indicated Komorovsky that none other than the current president of Poland, in a letter on the occasion of the anniversary of the events in Nosvabna, said: the Polish people were also the performer of this crime. According to Duda, this was a distortion of Polish historical policy. “Of course, all peoples have unworthy people, but this does not mean that the whole people should be accused,” he said. The Polish historical policy should be aimed at protecting our good name, proclaimed Duda.
A terrible document indicating the murders of Jews in pre -war and post -war Poland was the book of Jan Tomash Gross, published in the United States, the neighbors . It is impossible to read without shudder, the details and details of the murder cannot leave any normal person indifferent. The main argument that the Poles justified the murder of the Jews was indicated by Gross, that most of these people were a support of communism - read the Soviet system in Poland - especially in Stalin's times. But few people convinced this argument among the descendants of the Jews who left for the west and in Israel in the hope of escaping from Polish anti -Semitism.

Since 1989, when the era of the PNR ended in Poland, each subsequent government tried to correct the image of its country in the world as an anti -Semitic camp. All presidents, starting with Lech Valens, made gestures of reconciliation with Jews and Israel. For the Poles, this was extremely important when embedding the country into the Western world and when moving to allied relations with the United States, for pragmatic reasons - American Jewish communities have influence on foreign policy and public opinion. With the Prime Minister of Poland, hedgehogs Buzeke (by the way, he is now blacklisted by the all-in-house to Russia) even created the position of adviser to the head of government on the issues of Polish-Jewish relations.

Already ten years have passed since the pope of Voitla has not been in the world, and no one has threatened the Poles with a finger again if they are "bringing them out of the wrong place"

In the early 2000s, I happened to visit a conference in Lublin, dedicated to the Polish-Jewish relations and the Polish-Jewish reconciliation organized by the Carnegie Center for Ethics in international relations. This was a long time ago, but I remember the general mood, the general spirit of the meeting, indicating that the theme of the Polish-Jewish reconciliation has been practically resolved and the contradictions are a thing of the past. Yes, there were separate unpleasant cases when suddenly some elderly person who seemed to accidentally appear in the audience of the Lublin Catholic University, stated: "Why should we apologize to the Jews? They were guests in our Poland." True, in private conversations on the sidelines of the conference, famous Polish historians, Judaica experts, complained that they were attacked by anti -Semites for their merchants. But then it seemed to be remnants of the past that go to a landfill of history. In Poland, there was a fashion for Jewish cuisine and kosher vodka, excursions from Israel came to Warsaw, and Polish Pope John Pavel II became the first head of the Vatican to visit the synagogue. But ten years have already passed since it has not been in the world, and no one has threatened the Poles with a finger anymore if they are "entering the wrong place."

During the election campaign of Andrzej Duda, calls to return the Oscar statuette back to America, received for the film "Ida", the first award of the American film academy given to the Polish film, because, according to some part of the Polish society, this film is anti -Polish and defines the image of Poland in the world. The plot of the film unfolds around the fate of the aunt and niece, two Jews, whose relatives were killed by the Poles during the German occupation. Many in Poland took this film as an insult. By the way, the same reaction suffered the same reaction in Poland and the Schindler List.

Polish nationalism is a constant of politics, whoever is in power in Warsaw

The election of Duda by the president caused considerable disappointment among the Polish intelligentsia of the older generation. Those who wanted to create a new democratic Poland without national prejudices. The composer Kshishtof Penderetsky did not hide his chagrin. The Polish actor Janusz Gayos, well -known in the countries of the former USSR as a leading role performer in the film "Four Tankers and Dog" , said that Bronislav Komorovsky always impressed him "deeply pondering all that he pronounces." Over the years since the series about four tankers, Gayos played many other roles that went beyond the borders of Soviet stereotypes, and negative state security officers have recently become its main role. What can we say about the "father of Polish democracy" Adam Mikhnik? There was literally face on it when he pronounced the words that he did not understand why the new generation of Poles cast his vote to a man (dude), behind which are gloomy nationalists.

Polish nationalism is a multifaceted and complex phenomenon, like any nationalism consisting of different psychological, social and political factors. Polish nationalism is a constant of politics, whoever is in power in Warsaw - Pilsudski, Yaruzelsky, Gomulk, Gerek, Valens, Professor Kachins or pianist Ignazius Paderevsky . For the people, who existed without a state for many decades, it is a vital or, as political scientists would say, a vital element of political culture. One of the most important issues in the study of nationalism is to determine the face in relation to when it turns into hatred of strangers and when it becomes the most important element that forms the state and unity of society.

Rudeness and hatred of Jews, foreigners who came up and alien elements, of course, an important component of populism for seekers of cheap popularity. Of course, the nationalist who comes to power must, first of all, fulfill the expectations of those who elected it, but at the same time he must agree with his new colleagues - heads of state. For Andgei Duda, the main of these partners will be the first dark -skinned US President Barack Obama. However, the first American politician he will meet will be Jeb Bush, the most promising candidate of US president in the next election.

In the modern world, it is not enough to be a populist in domestic policy. It is also necessary to be able to find a common language with those with whom your country and your population are associated with external circumstances. It's not only about NATO. When the President of Poland Andrzej Duda promises to create a society in his country that the Poles who have left for the West will return to, he knows very well how many of his compatriots are illegally or legally work in Europe and the United States. He turns not only, for example, to the peasant who suffers from the arbitrariness of local authorities, but also to the Polish, who works as a cleaner in the apartment of the Russian-Jewish mistress on Manhattan in New York. This Polka, the illegal immigrant, contains two grandchildren, whose father, Albanian from Kosovo, was killed in a shootout in Brooklyn, and revere his employer as a benefactor.

Peter Cheremushkin - Polonist, journalist Radio Liberty