Andrew Kobos wrote:
> [...]
> > Declaring that "neither the Polish government nor Church
> > has acted against the desecration of Auschwitz by the erection of
> > hundreds of crosses and the presence of a church at Birkenau, Auschwitz's
> > killing
> > grounds," Shalom International announced a pre-Purim protest vigil on
> > Thursday, February 25th, 5:30pm, at the Polish Consulate, Madison Avenue
> > & 37th Street, Manhattan.
> >
>
> Gdybym byl 25 lutego w NYC, to przylaczylbym sie do tej vigil.
>
> [...]
>
> amk
>
*************************************************************************
Dla mnie nadal pozostaje tajemnica, po co Pan ponownie staral sie o polskie
obywatelstwo....
Jacek Kupinski
**************************************************************************
>
> > Wilhelm Glowacki
> >
>
> Oto moj list do Premiera Canady sprzed trzech tygodni:
>
> Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1999 22:17:28 -0700 (MST)
> From: Andrew Kobos <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: Voice in support of PM's trip to Auschwitz without CPC
>
> Andrew M. Kobos (Dr.)
>
> (home address - removed here)
>
> The Right Honourable Jean Chretien,
> Prime Minister of Canada
> Ottawa, Ontario, K1A OA2
>
> January 26, 1999
>
> Dear Prime Minister:
>
> I am taking the liberty and the privilege to write to you, Sir,
> to sincerely thank you and congratulate you on your decision not
> to have invited representatives of the Canadian Polish
> community (Canadian Polish Congress) to accompany you on your
> recent true pilgrimage to Auschwitz Nazi death camp in Poland.
> And I do mean this as a non-Jewish Canadian of Polish origin and
> a member of the Polish community in Alberta.
>
> Please bear with me since my letter will exceed the customary 150
> words, but I want to make a few points clear. Given my past and
> my contribution to the upholding the Polish heritage in this
> country, only an insane person could accuse me of disloyalty to
> my country of birth - Poland. However, as a thinking and morally
> honest man I cannot and will not extend a blank support to
> everything what is going on in Poland and in the Polish community
> in Canada.
>
> And let me say this, Mr. Prime Minister: I regard the current
> situation around the Auschwitz camp as despicable. I have no
> leverage whatsoever, but I put the blame for it on the Polish
> authorities and the Polish Church. While the action of erecting
> hundreds of crosses at a Nazi execution site in Auschwitz, the
> "Zwirowisko", may be called stupidity at the best or a religious
> terrorism at the worst, the long idleness of the Polish
> authorities and the Church, their empty declarations with no
> action, taking cover behind a small local court, while it was
> them who gave rise to the whole conflict and who broke the signed
> agreements, amounts to nothing less but hypocrisy. It is a
> complacence in violating the fundamental human dignity and
> humbleness in the face of death of millions.
>
> Auschwitz is the graveyard or rather the ash-yard of almost two
> million people. Over ninety percent of them Jewish people, men,
> women, children, babies, elderly, able-bodied and lamed. True,
> some 100,000 of them were Polish, mostly Roman Catholics. A
> horrifying number. But in the sheer bookkeeping of Auschwitz
> death, a small number. It so happened that among the latter was
> my father's brother, Czeslaw Kobos, a Catholic. Tough luck.
>
> The Jewish Holocaust was done in the countless places, many
> extermination camps, many ghettos in Poland and across the
> Nazi/German occupied Europe. But Auschwitz, perhaps because of
> the paralyzing horror of the great number of totally innocent
> Jewish victims, is very special. By having been a highly
> specialized, huge death plant for the people by the people, it
> has become and will remain the most powerful symbol of the
> Holocaust. It was there, as you, Sir, may have seen it only a few
> days ago, where the Nazis built the gas chambers, crematoria,
> where the rail tracks abruptly ended beyond a watch-tower, and
> the platform led human beings straight into the gas chambers.
> This platform, gas chambers and crematoria have become the
> symbols of the Shoah, the most tragic part of the history of
> Jews, Europe, the world, and the humanity. We have to live with it
> and up to it. No choice. Tough luck.
>
> The Holocaust was the Holocaust of Jews. A well planned and
> exercised extinction of almost a whole people, only because they
> were Jews. They were not killed in action, in repression, in the
> underground struggle, by coincidence of unfortunate events, by
> hunger or epidemic. They were killed because and only because
> they were Jews. Their death, a Jewish death, was unique in
> reason and abandonment. Being "Jude"!
>
> I am sure you are perfectly aware of all this, Mr. Prime
> Minister. However, if you still bear with me, Sir, against this
> horrific, hideous background I would like to build my case.
>
> Firstly. No one would like to have his or her death marked by a
> religious symbol not only alien to him/her but frequently and
> rightfully perceived by him/her as a symbol of centuries-long
> persecution. The Auschwitz ash-yard, should be left alone,
> intact. If for nothing else, then for the humbleness emanating
> from the death of the murdered millions. No one should be
> allowed, sovereignty or not, to disrupt their eternal peace. No
> one should be allowed to effectively make mockery of the feelings
> of those who have remained from among them and quite rightfully
> have made themselves the guardians of the memory and the
> admonition of their death.
>
> Secondly. To my dismay, the Polish government and the Church do
> not understand these seemingly simple and decent facts. So do not
> many people in Poland. To make the matter worse, also many in the
> Polish community in this country do not want to understand these
> either. Some Polish organizations in Canada, respectable and old
> as they may otherwise be, make antisemitic statements, the Polish
> ethnic press in Canada, in the Toronto area in particular, is
> quite frequently infested with clearly antisemitic articles also
> regarding the current situation in Auschwitz. This is the most
> regrettable situation. To my knowledge, the Canadian Polish
> Congress never clearly denounced these, even recent incidents.
>
> Thirdly. I do realize only too well that you, Sir, had no choice
> in Poland as to your hosts. But you did have the choice of your
> entourage. And you, Sir, made the right choice. There is nothing
> personal in this against the people from the Canadian Polish
> Congress. But someone should feel the heat. They are the public
> persons, the (quasi) elected representatives of the community.
>
> And for this your clear demonstration of the principles, your
> integrity, your faith in values and for your courage, I salute
> you, Mr. Prime Minister.
>
> This is after all a painful letter to me, Sir. But I have felt an
> inner obligation to write it. Please feel free to make any use of
> it you may deem proper.
>
> Yours Very Respectfully,
>
> (signed)
>
> Andrew (Andrzej) M. Kobos
