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Title: Neighbors: The Destruction of the Jewish Community in Jedwabne, Poland by Jan T. Gross ISBN: 0-14-200240-2 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: November, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.02 (48 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: "Cautious Skepticism"
Comment: While interesting reading, and somewhat overdone in terms of the gory detail, one is still lead to not fully take at face value all that is stated by Gross as "fact" in the book.
By his own admission in the chapter titled "New Approach To Sources", Gross offers us the new way of studying history by suggesting that we should accept "...what we read in a particular account as fact, until we find persuasive arguments to the contrary, we would avoid more mistakes than we are likely to commit by adopting the opposite approach, which calls for cautious skepticism toward any testimony until independent confirmation of it's content has been found".
If all "historians" were to follow that approach than our historical texts (which are based on empirical evidence) might be full of false information. I am not suggesting that the events described in the book did not happen at all (to the contrary there is independent confirmation of some of what is written), but I am suggesting that all historical subjects be treated with the same "cautious skepticism". The Holocaust of the WW II era should not be afforded any different treatment, just because it may be politically correct to do so.
Gross has cheated the process by which a historical thesis is made, investigated, proven, and documented, by simply taking a few uncorroborated testimonies at face value. As a respected historian and Professor at New York University, Gross should both know better, and should be ashamed of his behavior as a "historian" in the writing of this book.
Rating: 1
Summary: Lies vs anti-semitism
Comment: The Holocaust should be presented honestly. In 1941 about 300 of Jewish inhabitants of Jedwabne, small town in eastern Poland, was burned alive in a small barn. J.T. Gross wrote they were 1600. The investigation has shown that this murder was organized by a group German occupants (some in uniforms, some in civilian clothes) who recuited help from about 40 local collaborants and criminals. J.T. Gross wrote Polish neighbors had murdered Jews from their own initiative.
Result? J.T.Gross gained publicity (and money), millions of Poles feel offended by Jews...
Rating: 3
Summary: Not Exactly Logical in Its Reasoning
Comment: This book is worthwhile for those who need apparent support for their anti-Polish prejudices. It includes the Germans, who would be all too happy to try to dilute their guilt, as well as western Europeans (notably the French, Norwegians, etc.) who were the big league collaborators with the German Nazis. Even if Gross was entirely correct, many more Jedwabnes would be needed for the Poles to even approach the level of guilt of the western Europeans. No wonder that positive reviews of this book were written by buck-passing western Europeans. It also serves as one more symptom of how Holocaust education has departed from historical truth. The fact that some politically-correct Poles may support it does not change this fact. However, the most striking thing about this book is the lack of logic in several of Gross' arguments. For instance, Gross tries to deny the extensive Jewish involvement in Communism by pointing out the (correct) fact that many Jews were deported to Siberia along with the Poles. This would negate the large Jewish collaboration with the Communists only if one Jew would never betray another Jew. Using the same illogic, one could argue that the Judenrat never existed vis a vis the German-made Holocaust. Gross' selective presentation of evidence to support his position is little better than his logic.
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Title: Ordinary Men RI by Christopher R. Browning ISBN: 0060995068 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: May, 1998 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Survival In Auschwitz by Primo Levi ISBN: 0684826801 Publisher: Touchstone Books Pub. Date: September, 1995 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: Into That Darkness: An Examination of Conscience by Gitta Sereny ISBN: 0394710355 Publisher: Vintage Books Pub. Date: February, 1983 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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Title: The Pianist: The Extraordinary True Story of One Man's Survival in Warsaw, 1939-1945 by Wadysaw Szpilman, Anthea Bell, Andrzej Szpilman, Wladyslaw Szpilman, Wilm Hosenfeld ISBN: 0312311354 Publisher: Picador USA Pub. Date: January, 2003 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Forgotten Holocaust: The Poles Under German Occupation 1939-1944 by Richard C. Lukas, Norman Davies ISBN: 0781809010 Publisher: Hippocrene Books Pub. Date: July, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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