PIS councillor wants to censor Poland's history book

Yes, and the crystal ball says that 56% of the votes will be won by the Polish Patriotic League, a mega-party formed in 2041 after PiS merged with Kukiz, PSL and the Catholic Democratic Alliance (set up in 2030). Petru's N-word will be long gone, the successor to PO, Demokratyczny Rynek (Democratic Market) party, will get 8% of the vote and a small leftist grouping, the Progress Party (Partia Postępu) will get 9% in 2067. The Polish Muslim Union (Związek Muzułmanów Polskich) did not make it under the wire with only 3%. Muslims now account for 4% of Poland's popualtion but many do not have Polish ciitzenship and some of those who do have do not vote.

Setting up a separate thread for a minor local incident was asinine in the first place. The mods should have transferred it to the post-election thread. I used to create separate threads for things but mostly they got merged with similar ones already in existence.

And chill out and lighten up, lower-case! One PF-er constantly snitching to mods on PF is more than enough.

A "minor local incident" or an attempt to e plunge the massacre of 88 Poles from the history books?

Originally it was a pogrom (a Russian word BTW) of 88 Jews. Make up your mind.

No doubts, no grey areas. It was a massacre (is a pogrom that kills so many, anything but?) of 88 Poles.

It makes no attempt at all to address the disgraceful attempt by a member of PIS and the PiSlamic State to airbrush the slaughter of 88 men, women and children of Bialystok by their neighbours.

However, there are distinct parallels to what the PIS councillor is trying to do and what supporters of the PiSlamic State are doing here. The PIS councillor wants to prevent discussion of the mass murder of of 88 men, women and children of Bialystok by their neighbours and he does so by attempting to censor history. The supporters of the PiSlamic State here want to prevent discussion of the disgusting behaviour of this member of PIS and are doing so by attempting to drive the thread off-topic by ad hom trolling. We know why PIS tolerate such behaviour from their members, the question is by PF allows certain posters to attempt to prevent discussion of topics such as this PIS councillor wanting to censor a history book.

So where did the Jews disappeared? this was supposed to be an example of Polish anti-Semitism. Or have your PC heroes now defined anti-Semitism to mean Pole-bashing?


Judging from the huge amount of time spent and copy churned out by you about this one bloke, he must be some really VIP of nationwide, nay--world-wide prominence whose every utterance and act is of key significance.

Harry, you lost me right from the get go of this thread because of the following comments
The idiot who is calling for this censorship is going as far as claiming that Poles have never been anti-semitic.
when the reality very well known to be that some Poles were/are violently anti-semitic

It would be interesting to talk about the ' Brexit vote' in which 51% of the UK's voting population voted for a decision which in born out of 'nationalist sentiment' the Tories manifesto is now to discriminate against foreigners.

You must be working for a NGO which has an agenda to be divisive..

Is that so? Care to provide a quote with him stating that pogrom in Białystok prompted him to the linguisting creativity.


In every way. Anybody can drawn whatever they like but if they apply for taxpayers money they should either agree to set terms or not. All that noise and whinning tells me it all more at stake - a biased propaganda.

You can not get it right. You're a racist and an anti-semite either way. lol
The fact it doesn't make sense in the real world or there is no logic behind it, doesn't stop commies from spewing BS. They dare to claim that their magical thinking has something to do with science. lol!

As an add on, Migrants streaming into Europe from the Middle East are bringing with them virulent anti-Semitism which is erupting from Scandinavia to France to Germany, this is a far greater threat to Jewish communities in Europe than the exclusion of a passage in history. We live in modern times which must have modern solutions.

Now now, I-S. Dr Zamenhof created Esperanto long before 1906. He did however survive the 1906 Pogrom, and to attempt to censor that massacre in his hometown from the story of his life is attempting to rewrite history. He created Esperanto in part because he believed the linguistic diversity in Bialystok kept people apart rather than cfeating cohesion. His words below still stand today.

"I am profoundly convinced that every nationalism offers humanity only the greatest unhappiness... It is true that the nationalism of oppressed peoples - as a natural self-defensive reaction - is much more excusable than the nationalism of peoples who oppress; but, if the nationalism of the strong is ignoble, the nationalism of the weak is imprudent; both give birth to and support each other..."

Thank you jon. I rest my case.

Do you wish to deny that the PIS councillor claimed that Poles have never been anti-semitic or do you wish to claim that no Pole has ever been violently anti-semitic?


If you think it would be interesting to do that, start a thread in which to do that (I'd be happy to correct your factual errors.

Jon, Zamenhof was Jewish in Russian occupied Poland at a time when it was extremely dangerous to be overtly Jewish. Fact

The religious backround of the emininent Polish linguist is an irrelevant fact in the matter of a PiS functionary attempting to rewrite history and airbrush a pogrom, one that Zamenhof survived, from a book about him.

Does that mean Zamnehof was in the midst of the tsar's charging mounted Cossacks and managed to escape unscathed. Or merely that he was living there at the time of the pogrom but not idrectly involved?

Do you wish to deny that the PIS councillor claimed that Poles have never been anti-semitic or do you wish to claim that no Pole has ever been violently anti-semitic?

That would depend on which group of Poles he was referring to. The mistake you make as a non Polish speaking person is to understand the semantics of the Polish language. You rely on Polish/English translation/translators or google translate. As someone non fluent in the Polish language you will never quite understand first hand. This is the reason for your multiple errors on this forum.

Hard to know how you think that justifies an attempt by a PiS functionary to recall and re-issue a history book in order to remove one of the most significant events in his city during his life.

Jon, as you very well know Zamenhof studied both in Warsaw and Moscow, the family lived in Warsaw he was only living in Bialystok for a short period of his life. Moreover at the time of Ludwik living in Bialystok it was Russian occupied and influenced, so your argument about Poles being anti Semite is mute.

So did many people.


He's the city's most famous son, together with Max Weber.

And you've still failed to provide even one single reason why the PiS councillor feels justified in trying to change a book about him.

You mean to say that facts shouldn't get in the way of progressive ideology?

I don't see any example of that. Do you?

Only the strange sort of behaviour we've come to expect from PiS politicians. Fortunately the city's mayoral office have slapped him down, saying they have no plans to change the book.

And you've still failed to provide even one single reason why the PiS councillor feels justified in trying to change a book about him.

Firstly John the book is about Bialystok, The illustrations which Marek Chojnowski suggests to be deleted refer to pogroms carried out by Bialystok residents that were enabled by Russian authorities when they controlled the area.His suggestion the illustration s do not depict the city in best light are actual.I find it absolutely hilarious that you and your side kick Harry continuously bite the hand which feeds, you live in Poland and continuously spew bile about the ruling government, in some countries as a guest you would be asked to leave.

Well, you have said that a fact that pogrom in 1906 had nothing to do with Zamenhof's work and very little with him doesn't justfy omission in a booklet about Zamenhof, paid by the Polish taxpayers. That is progressive ideology in action.


He is an ass.

Have you read the book? Can you cite the sentence or passage that according to you has been removed or doctored? Otherwise you're simply engagign in what Poles call "bicie piany" (rush to Google translate)!

Do feel most free to read the first post in this thread: it contains links to photos of the pictures which First Secretary Kaczynski's loyal servant wants removed from the book in question.

And therefore the book should stand as it is - the city council have agreed to this and slapped down Chojnicki.

There are varying interpretations of history in Poland - not all of us here care for the type of reactionary narrative that PiS favour.


As a citizen, I doubt that.


No need for google, Po, to know that your kneejerk reaction means exactly that.

First of all, this is a comic book. Secondly the councillor doesa nto deny htat a pogrom had occurred but feels it is out of place in a popular pulication meant to promote Białystok and will be distributed ot Polish schools and embassies abroad.

Re the 1906 pogrom, the tsarist occupation authorities for the first time allowed a Corpus Christi procession to move through the streets, and during the procession a bomb went off killing one of hte procession participants. At the same time the Russian Orthodox Chruch was holding its own rival procession commemorating the return of the Greek Catholic Church into its fold. According to the Russian authorities, Jews, who accoutned for 66% of the Bialystok townsfolk, opened fire on the procession. Russian police officer Dyerkachov, who had opposed the anti-Semitism of police commissioner Shermyetov, was killed in the violence. Those circumstances clearly showed that this was a tsarist provocation designed to to stir up the city's Polish and Russian populace.

There are varying interpretations of history in Poland - not all of us here care for the type of reactionary narrative that PiS favour.

There are varying degrees of history the world over,

As a citizen, I doubt that.

The USA denaturalize citizens so why is it impossible for Poland to do the same.We live in changing times Jon.