One very positive thing about Poland is that it’s so very consistent. With very few exceptions the narrative is always one of Poland being the Very Heroic Victim Who Has Always Been Wronged. Not only were there no death camps in Poland (Auschwitz was really a sanatorium) but Poles suffered that much harder than anyone else in the world, not just during the war but also after, especially after.

Leaving aside that while communism most certainly was no picnic and prison was always a threat, there was no constant slave labor and imminent death in a camp. Of course, having said that Poles will now argue that the labor camps in Siberia were much worse than any concentration camp. If anyone, Poland should understand the plight of the Jews, seeing how much they suffered themselves (the Poles, not the Jews).

The Jews actually asked for it. Don’t believe me? Just ask Kowalski down the street whose grandfather just happened to be walking past Town Square at the precise moment a rabbi asked an SS guard if he could address the group that had just been rounded up. The SS guard granted permission (cue my Polish relative, who upon hearing the story commented with, “yeah, like that would have happened”).  Kowalski’s grandfather then stuck around even longer to overhear how the rabbi told them – and here Kowalski quotes, remembering the exact same words as his grandfather told him – “we have to go to the camps. This is our punishment which we have to accept for having killed their savior 2000 years ago.”

You think I’m exaggerating? It was documented in a movie, the title of which escapes me. The director went to investigate anti-Semitism in Poland, and really didn’t have to search too hard.

Poland is an interesting place, full of hypocrisy. Call a Pole out for referring to someone who has lived in Poland for generations as “the Jew,” and the answer you’ll get is a very quick and indignant, “but that’s what he is.” Yet, use the same logic with Polish death camps – that should be termed Polish death camps simply for the fact that they existed on Polish soil – and all hell breaks loose. Poles will argue this way and that in comments stating how a) Poland was innocent because there were no death camps period, and b) the Jews sold out their own, too.

If anyone, Poles should know what that’s like; making the impossible choice between ratting out your father and mother and getting something to eat / not going to a labor camp / prison. After all, that’s how it worked during communism. But far be it from them to ever say anything positive. Or even show empathy (because Heaven forbid that would merely show weakness). Instead they resort to the old tried and tested method of accusations and denial.

Though, to be fair, Poland is nothing if not loyal. As long as you have what they deem prestigious. The pedophile who ran away to France, which welcomed him with arms wide open (I am deeply ashamed of my country for this) is pretty much the only one they refer to as a fellow Pole and never as a Jew. And they will defend him to the bitter end. “Misunderstood,” is one argument. Another being, “show some compassion, his wife and unborn child were murdered. It’s a tragedy.”

Don’t get me wrong, what happened to Sharon Tate was a tragedy that defies any and all definition. But how you get from that to justifying being in a hot tub with a girl barely in her teens while your friend only escaped detection because he was sleeping something off in the other room is completely beyond me. But of course I lack understanding of the great Polish soul. And the despicable pedophile dwarf is of course a misunderstood genius. And yes, in this case the use of dwarf is deliberate. Poland expects you to fulfill certain ideals, perfect height being one of them.

And before the old argument of “how can you say all that” is brought up, there’s freedom of speech for one. Plus, regular readers of this blog will be able to piece this together in no time at all. But either way you look at it, Poland is a despicable country and should really take a good hard look at itself.

We all know that’ll never happen. Verbal attacks and attempts at character assassination will happen before a Pole ever admits to him / her or the country ever doing anything wrong.