‘Righteous’ Poles Ask Israel And Poland To Return To ‘Path Of Reconciliation’

Image by wikicommons

By JTA February 26, 2018

WARSAW, Poland (JTA) — A letter signed by a group of 50 Poles honored by Yad Vashem with the title of Righteous Among the Nations appeals to the governments of both Israel and Poland to return “to the path of dialogue and reconciliation.”

“Please do not write the history anew,” reads the letter sent Monday to the prime ministers of Israel and Poland.

“The greatest tragedy in the history of both our nations was once and for all recorded during the dark night of the Nazi occupation, the victims of which we are still all of today,” wrote the group of Righteous Among the Nations. They admit that “as in everyone, also in our nation, there were wicked people, [who] acted on their own behalf, not on behalf of the Polish state.” Signatories of the letter stressed that those people were members of Polish nation. “We were also afraid of them,” they said.

The letter was signed by the members of the Polish Society of the Righteous Among the Nations – a non-governmental organization founded in 1985 on the initiative of people honored by the State of Israel as Righteous Among the Nations for saving Jews during World War II.

Now, the Righteous are urging “our two nations, united by a nearly 1000-year-old common history, to build a covenant and a future in Poland, Europe, Israel and America, based on friendship, solidarity and truth.”

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO