Can anyone from Poland tell me about Auschwitz and The Ghetto?

I would preffer that you just behaved resonably, Harry.

Ummm....you just agreed with me...
America was not at war with Germany and and commerce with Germany did not cease until after the U.S. declared war. Prior to that, from what I gather, a widely held belief in the U.S. was "not again" after WWI, and "if the Europeans wanted to slaughter each other, let them. We want no part of it." .....many of the other things were not much more than rumors. Which shouldn't surprise us...I heard mentioned on the news a few years ago that Christians and Jews in Iran were being required to put stitching indicative of their faith into their clothing...which to me, sounds uneasily familiar. I've not heard it mentioned again, amidst the praise for Ahmadinejad for "standing up to Bush" or whatever it is they like him for these days.

So saying "oooh the Nazis used ticket counters made by IBM!" is an awful lot like saying Osama Bin Ladin uses flourescent light bulbs made in Poland, or drives a BMW made in Germany. I seriously doubt that card punching machines are sold only after one signs a "no use in death camps" clause.


Sean, again, LOTS of money went into Germany from the US prior to the war (which, well, is not surprising...the US had not chosen sides prior to going into the war) so I'm not sure you can convince me that, as implicated, Prescott Bush specifically laid money out for a "camp for working Poles and Jews and others deemed undesirable, to death, and exterminating the rest who cannot work". Otherwise if you are just saying someone sent money to Germany...and well, there's no surprise there.

Just because the British were at war at this point, or Poland, or Russia...Americans wanted no part of it. Apparently even Hitler himself wanted to keep us out of it...but the Japanese ruined that whole idea for him, and dragged the U.S. into the war with what they thought would be a debilitating strike.


Operating a business in a state is quite a bit different than saying one finances a death camp, unless you want to make a REEAAALLLY long stretch. That would be like saying the sale of Coke in Saudi Arabia is somehow funding extremist Islam, or sale of Rolls Royce jet engines to airlines in Pakistan somehow fund their activities.

John P.

Geez, cunning American justifications. Choosing sides, what?? You'd even have contemplated a stint of Nazism?? What did Prescott invest SO MUCH money in? What was his purpose in investing such a vast sum, hope? Hope for what??

The British were NOT at war at this point, the funds arrived well before that. America didn't want a hand in shaping the world order?? Wow, that's a first.

Of course Hitler wanted to keep you guys out, look at how you tipped the balance. Did he want that? Tell me he did and I'll be sure you are knighted within the week. If the US couldn't see what was happening, they were even blinder than dumb Europe.

... and ghettos. Which you didn't bother to discuss in any of your posts.


Ummm … it's a museum now?

Don't give me that crap about sub-camps; it's your only excuse to start that aggressive verbal assault. First poster didn't ask about after the war period.

Seriously, Harry. You came here to provoke. Clear and simple. Not to discuss anything. Looks like you are paid for each time you manage to say "polish concentration camp". You are just Poland basher and loving it.

funny that thing called "truth"...


While many lambast Americans for not knowing enough European history, perhaps the same could be said about Europeans and American history. The U.S. was taking an isolationist stance and the largely popular views were to remain neutral and out of the war. Unfortunately a few torpedo incidents by the Germans started to test this neutral mentality, then when the Japanese (in hind sight, foolishly) decided to bomb Pearl Harbor, alliances were already in place which made U.S. entry in the war inevitable. As for horrors under the Germans (camps, for instance) many simply refused to believe such a charismatic leader as Hitler would be having such evil things carried out. America was not alone in this, by the way.


I cannot watch the video you referred to, but unless he was investing specifically in death camps somehow (????) it is more likely that like many even today who try to make money, he saw Germany on the rise and as a potential investment that would make him or his interests a lot of money. Remember that after WWI an entire wheelbarrow of Deutschmarks would barely buy a loaf of bread...but Germany had started to turn around, and was actually starting to become a world power again. I doubt he invested in concentration camps at all, but wouldn't be surprised if he simply invested in a growing economy. I also doubt he was alone in this. If he DID specifically invest in camps (which many did not even believe existed, remember...there was no "You tube" then) then of course that was deplorable. I simply doubt it.


If the funds arrived well before the British were involved, then again, it is likely nobody was funding "camps". I would also point out that the US was not a superpower at this point. It had the potential to become one, but simply was not. That did not happen until after WWII, realistically. Prior to this it was primarily a regional power. Not to say there was no interest in shaping world order...but that isn't what I said, either. I simply said most wanted no part of the war in Europe and while some dreaded it like an oncoming train, the mindset was, again, if the Europeans want to kill each other, that's their business... it just turns out that isn't how things worked out. It's also why the U.S. did not join until 1941, well into the war for other countries.


I think they saw, but again, the mentality was, "not our fight". Remember, WWI was supposed to be "the war to end all wars". For crying out loud, when the US entered the war many of her implements were badly outdone by German implements, and probably she would have had even less if it were not for contracts making things for British forces...

The Thompson submachine gun, for instance...and later, Mustang fighters (which the US originally didn't want to go for) being redesignated the P-51 for US forces...had originally all been made for UK forces....by Americans. Americans? were flying biplanes at the beginning of the war. Some superpower. Our submarines were commanded by 21 year old "old men" and most often, did not come back...our tanks might as well have been cardboard boxes with a BB gun, compared to the German tanks of the time...

So yes. The U.S. really thought it would be able to sit the thing out. Political will was to do just that.

John P.

You know John, I've had a Polish evening (too many drinks, LOL), so I'm gonna do the right thing and just say that America has profited from war too much for it to be passive. American intervention in WWII was a must. As you said, it became a superpower and used Vietnam to generate sick profits. It could ill afford to "sit things out" given the prevailing political climate.

Surely as early as Jan or Feb 1940, you could see what the Nazis were doing? Maybe you calculated that British and French resistance would last as long as 1941. This was a world issue, not a European issue. The Jews made it that way. Or do you consider Jews to be an exclusively European issue?

Errm, wasn't Fanta actually a branch of Coca-Cola?

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fanta

I believe it kept trading under that name throughout nthe war and post-war the manager handed all the profits to CC.

snopes.com/cokelore/fanta.asp

Of course both the American and the British governments covertly supported Hitler and fascism in the Spanish Civil War.
https://polishforums.com/archives/2005-2009/history/volunteers-spanish-civil-war-18834/

Of course not all were blind.....

Abe Lincoln Brigade
writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/88/abe-brigade.html

Mulit-national entities pay local taxes. So in your example if the corporate taxes from selling Coke in Saudi Arabia are used in part by the Saudi Regime to support extremist Islam then I would say yes selling Coke in Saudi Arabia is funding extremism. Just as selling Coke to the Nazis was supporting the Nazis through corporate taxation did as did IBM's selling of data entry systems support it through export sales of goods.

If selling products did not support terrorism then why does/did the US of recent years have an embargo on certain products that cannot be exported to some countries if these countries are deemed to have links with terrorism etc?

Yes the 'communist' Polish government ran them even though only a small percentage of Poles were communists (Is this where I should add that a much higher percentage of Jews were communist?). As to why the camps did "outlast Stalin" um, this is one of those 'duh' answers; it's because the Soviet Union outlasted Stalin. The Russians were still there. Ever hear of the Warsaw Pact?

You seem to have a blind spot when it comes to the whole picture.

Reuters: March 1, 2009

Poland formally asked the European Union for help in maintaining the former Nazi death camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrote a letter to leaders of fellow E.U. member states asking for the creation of a special fund to help carry out much-needed repair and restoration at the camp, Polish media said.

"Saving Auschwitz-Birkenau means saving the memory of millions who suffered and were bestially murdered," Reuters reported Tusk as saying. "It is the responsibility and duty of entire Europe."

The letter was dated Feb. 10 but not made public until now, according to Reuters.

ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3678583,00.html

Personaly i'd be content to leave it to rot, its just a waste of space;)

Since only Jews perished there, it is sort of a Jewish cemetary. One would think Israel would be concerned and help maintain it.

The ironies of history... built by Poles (as an army barracks), extended by Germans, (partly) destroyed by inmates and (partly) dismantled by Germans, rebuilt by Poles (as a museum) and now refurbished/restored by Germans.


What about the Poles who were first housed there, the Gypsies et al? Anyway, I thought Israel was more into collecting Jewish items, like the Bruno Schulz murals. Maybe they could transport the whole camp over there.

Maybe 1jola is a hapless victim of Jewish propaganda that only Jews died there or maybe was just an antisemitc retort???

Only Jews perished ther you must be joking.


If the Jews put money in i wouldnt be surprised if they start charging entry fees.

No, he's just repeating what he was taught when he was young. Remember that 1Jola is really Jewish and so slips up occasionally in his attempts to act like an anti-semitic Pole.

Maybe you are not familiar with this story.

"...foreign help still constitutes only 1-3% of the museum's annual $10m budget - barely enough to cover day-to-day operations, including paying the museum's 250 staff, let alone conservation work.

This falls far short of the $100m the museum says it needs to carry out vital tasks, such as preserving crumbling barracks, creating a new exhibition and building specialised storage facilities.

"The international community has not done enough," said 92-year-old Holocaust survivor and treasurer of the Auschwitz Museum budget committee, Kalman Sultanik.

"Germany in particular has not done enough. Whatever Germany does is not enough - not for the survivors, definitely not for Auschwitz."

news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7800397.stm


The Ynet article only mentioned Jews. Is it propaganda? No, it is a lie.


Did you read the article?


The Jews don't run museums in Poland.


What was I taught when I was young, genius?


Keep up pissing me off.

Yes they do actually. I can think of two in Warsaw alone.


All about the holocaust, but from the Jewish perspective. I imagine that as Jewish Poles, your parents had quite fixed ideas about the events and that after they were forced out of Poland in the late 1960s those views hardened.


There really is no need for you to get angry about people knowing your ethnic origins. I'm sure that if you really didn't want people to know, you wouldn't have posted your origins here for all to see.

What would be those fixed ideas?


In fact I did post my origins. I posted that I am a Pole and a Roman Catholic.

You, on the other hand posted that you claim no nalitionality. Truthfully, you are the first person I have heard to say something ridiculous like that in all my life.

Sorry but you can not be either of those things. Your yourself said that only Jews were able to escape communism and get a free ride to the west. You and your parents escaped to the west, therefore you must be Jewish and not Roman Catholic. And you yourself said that a Jew can not be a Pole, so you can not be a Pole.


I think I said that I wouldn't describe myself as being of any nationality. I claim different nationalities when they suit me (e.g. using a European citizenship when in the EU). And truthfully, wouldn't the world be a better place if everybody was a lot less nationalistic and a lot more humanistic?

You need medical help.


You would make a great citizen of the Soviet Union.

From someone that proved such a lousy citzen of their own country—by abandonning it for the 'free' west thus leaving Poland to its fate—now that is pretty funny :-)))

Did your parents give you the choice of residence when you were a child, genius? Now, based on what Harry the Cosmopolitan said don't you think he would make a great communist?

Here is my anthem:



...and here is Harry's:

youtube.com/watch?v=suVB3YGIUk0

Well actually yes! At aged seven I was given the choice to go to an English boarding school or travel the world with them. I chose to travel and it proved the best choice as I spent these most enjoyable years in East Africa, North Africa and the Middle East.

I can see the conversation. "Son, we're going on a hippy tour around the world. You don't need us, and you should get a good education, so why don't you stay behind in England while we do the wild thing. Well, unless you want to come with us, it's up to you, whadda ya say, biggen?"

So, your parents nearly abandoned you at the ago of seven.

Actually, my late father, a Pole, was busy killing communist insurgents in numerous covert British military operations during these world tours—and he was very good at this job ;-))) And he certainly had some pretty wild experiences.

If I were mean, I would make repeated posts how your parents tried to abandon you at the age of seven. I won't and you should refrain from joining ranks with Harry at smearing everything Polish and twisting facts.

Feel free as I don't have any issues regarding possible abandonment by my parents. They could easily have placed me in boarding school without asking my opinion, and this would have been the easier option, because my father who was deported to Germany as a young teenager missed out on his education so he was concerned that travelling around with frequent disruptions to his children's education would have put us at a disadvantage in later life, as it had been for him. But as it turned out he need not have worried as I was given the very best education at numerous Embassy schools and had also a great time enjoying the world.


BTW. I don't consider pointing out instances of Polish antisemitism or collaboration with the Nazis as smearing Poland; these are facts not smears. Just as some Polish Jews collaborated with the Nazis is also fact. I recognise both as part of Polish history whereas you do not.