ANTISEMITISM in POLAND!? 

What I THOUGHT Poland was like BEFORE moving here! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-JEFu5CN-YHw.html

Co jest większe - antypolonizm w Izraelu czy antysemityzm w Polsce?

Pierwszym Żydem jakiego poznałem był wielki polski poeta. Żyd z urodzenia Polak z wyboru Marian Hemar. Prawie pięćdziesiąt lat temu wzruszył mnie jego wiersz „Odpowiedź” Do dziś pamietam jego słowa: „Kto raz ochrzczony niewidzialnym znakiem Błogosławiony potem czy przeklęty Będzie Polakiem!” Stało się dla mnie jasne, że być Polakiem to więcej jak przynależeć do jakiejś nacji. To coś ponadczasowego.

Dosyć wyważona wypowiedź. Z mojej perspektywy dosyć prawdziwa. Wspomnienie o żydowskich funkcjonariuszach służb komunistycznych, a także o 'micie' o pewnej ilości osób żydowskiego pochodzenia które po zmianie nazwisk weszły w skład władz polski jest godna docenienia, ponieważ została dostrzeżona. Micheal - akurat żarty o Żydach i pieniądzach, w mojej ocenie są dosyć neutralne. To podobny kaliber do żartów o ruskich i ich zwyczajach, o francuzach i zamiłowaniu do mody, niemcach i ich brak wysublimowania etc. Są to żarty oparte na stereotypach (i pewnie mają pewne korzenie w faktach). Czym innym są żarty obracające się wokół wojny i holocaustu. Te co do zasady mają wymowę antysemicką. Dzisiaj są w zdecydowanym odwrocie. Należy jednak pamiętać o kategorii Polish Jokes w USA. Każda nacja obrywa w żartach poprzez zachowania części społeczeństwa.

Żydzi Którzy mieszkają czy mieszkali w Polsce są byli i zawsze będą Polakami razem jako jeden naród przezywaliśmy wielkie chwile w Historii Polski te piękne i te smutne i tragiczne razem cierpieliśmy krwawiliśmy ale i razem się cieszyliśmy. I żeby nie było za kolorowo dzielą nas różne kwestie różne pretensje jednych do drugich które narastały przez lata czy raczej wieki naszego wspólne mieszkania w domu Naszym Polsce. Olać jednostki które które chcą nas skłócić a są takie i niestety sporo ciśnienie czasem potrafią podnieść. Ale ostatecznie Większość ludzie jest moim zdaniem mądrzejsza od garstki krzykaczy czy Polityków...

Michael, do you know that almost every Pole was weaned on poems by Polish Jewish poets? Tuwim, Brzechwa, Leśmian. For us, Jews are an important part of our culture, so it is normal that we are interested in them. If you want to test your knowledge of the Polish language, try reading fantastic poem "Lokomotywa" by Tuwim. We love when foreigners living in Poland try to do this after learning the language. And the highest level of knowledge of Polish is called "Leśmian level".

I have feelings sometimes that Izraeli government uses holocaust as a political weapon.The Polish society is no different than other everywhere you can find antisemitism and I am sure there are much worse but it is stereotype and it easy to use ,if someone doesn’t like or doesn’t know what they talking about.Greetings 😊

In polish language we have also same negative words or phrases related with for example Gipsy and even with Greek ("nie udawaj Greka"). Once I have heard some interesting statment about antisemitism in Poland: Jews think that are so special to hated them more than other people, but here we hate everybody the same, as we hate each others in Poland. And I think that might be true.

Bardziej chyba sensowne byłoby pytanie o antypolonizm wśród narodu wybranego. Może uważanie się za lepszych od innych nie jest najlepszą receptą na zdrowe relacje? Jeśli chodzi o antysemityzm w Polsce, to go nie ma, bo Polacy nie są tak nienawistni, jak myślą Żydzi, oni po prostu chcą pokoju i to jest ich priorytet. Polacy też sporo wycierpieli. Mam nadzieję, że wszystko wam się tam ułoży i będziecie mogli żyć w spokoju.

Michael, it is very important that you distinguish opposition to the state of Israel (its behavior towards Palestinians - which is reprehensible), and hostility towards people of Jewish origin. These are two different things. Regards

Michael, I am glad you have appeared on the scene to set the story straight about the complex relationship between non-Polish Jews, the more informed Polish Jews and Poles. I am an Australian of part-Polish descent whose late Polish veteran father fought with the 250,000 Poles under British command from 1940 to 1945. I became a Polonphile after seeing how the Polish nation, locked away behind the Iron Curtain, was grossly misrepresented for its large contribution to helping win WW2, and its overall history being dismissed or defamed in the West. I remember sitting with my father watching the 1978 Hollywood television mini-series 'Holocaust' where Polish soldiers were falsely shown as helping the Germans put down the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. This was a gross misrepresentation which greatly upset my WW2 veteran father. Strangely, to this day there was been no Hollywood production about the 63 Day 1944 Warsaw Uprising, in which some Jewish survivors of the 1943 Ghetto Uprising also participated. One thing is for sure I am glad that I am not a Polish-American having to put up with this belittlement of the Polish story in American popular culture. It seems that apart from the Russians and Germans many Jews (such as Leon Uris) also contributed what can be described as defamatory and derogatory anti-Polonism. Having read 'Bieganski: The Brute Polak Stereotype, Its Role in Polish-Jewish Relations and American Popular Culture' by Danusha V. Goska I believe that the dialogue between Jews and Poles has a long way to go and that there need to be concessions on both sides. And, yes here in Australia there is a Polish and Jewish friendship society where these matters are addressed in a more congenial and less mutually accusative manner. While Polish Jews Gross and Grabowski have focussed on the Polish role in the Jewish Holocaust, which some claim is an exaggeration, there are Polish scholars and some Jews such as Hannah Arendt (author of Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil) and Holocaust survivor, the late Edward Mosberg ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-pAW5MfA0Yk4.html who also address Jewish collaboration with the German occupiers. Professor Ewa Kurek, who wrote, "Polish-Jewish Relations 1939-1945: Beyond the Limits of Solidarity' goes into some detail about Jewish collaborators not only with the Germans but also with the Soviets (1939 to 1941). Instead of this mantra of 'Polish Death' camps people should chill and get to the truth. As the Polish Prime Minister said, much to Netanyahu's chagrin, "There were Polish, Russian, and Jewish collaborators". A somewhat more sobering history of Polish and Jewish relations is Joshua D. Zimmerman's, The Polish Underground and the Jews, 1939-1945'. Zimmerman, a Jewish American historian, spent seven years in Poland researching Polish archives for his book, "The Polish Underground and the Jews, 1939-1945". He makes no apologies for upsetting the sensibilities of either the Poles or the Jews and hopes that his work would set the foundation for a more accurate historical perspective on the relationship between Poles and Jews during WW2. I very much hope so as well because there is so much hatred borne of misinformation.

I am a Pole living in Canada since 1986, but brought up in Poland. I would hesitate to ever say the word Jew in Polish ("Żyd"). I can easily say it in English, but it is true, that in Polish it sounds as a name-calling. At the same time, a suggestion that Poles may be antisemitic, feels offensive to me too. Perhaps, I see Jews in Polish history through the character "Rachela" from one of the most significant plays in Polish literature, "Wesele" by Wyspianski. Thanks.

Artur Rubinstein uważał się za Polaka i twierdził, że tylko Polak może dobrze wykonywać utwory Szopena. 😅

My aunt, born in 1920, tutored Jewish friends as a young girl. They treated her as a goy and someone who was supposed to serve them. These stories circulated in our family and evoked rather negative stereotypes towards Jews. However, my brother and I, who regularly listened to these stories, did not become anti-Semites. And when I think about it, it seems to me that there were at least two reasons why this happened. The first was common sense, which suggested that maybe some Jews were not nice, but that does not mean that all of them are like that. And the second is the religious reason, i.e. the awareness that all the apostles were Jews, the Evangelists too, Mary - the Mother of God was a Jew, her husband Joseph and at the very end, the Lord Jesus was also a Jew... so so many people we love so much came from from this nation... and isn't this a sufficient reason for love for them to be greater than antipathy towards Jews? In later years, as a student, I lived in one room in a dormitory with a friend who openly claimed to be a Jew, I had friends at university who were Jews and I did not encounter any manifestation of anti-Semitism there... which does not mean that this phenomenon occurred in trace amounts. does not exist in our country, but my view of the matter shows that it is rather a marginal phenomenon.

Most Polish people do not fear the Jewish culture/religion/?ethnicity?. We are not antisemitic in that way. Some of us have issues with historical choices of communities siding with the overlords and Polish occupiers. Be it during partitions or during communism. This ofc is a weakness and a mistake often stemming from some ingrained generational trauma. In that way some Polish people are antySemitic - by acting in a tribal way assigning group responsibility for history to people living with them today. I would propose a different perspective on the "Jewish joke" people. Most of us don't have the patience and were never taught political correctness as children. I am not joking - some of our Polish childhood rhymes could be classified as legitimate hate speech felonies in the west today. I can't say for every person, but i would guess that 90%+ of those people are not antisemitic and instead just: insensitive, socially awkward, uncultured, jerks. Jerks not antisemities. However misguided, the intention is most of the time not malicious. You need to lower the political correctness standards a lot. It makes learning about people more efficient and more real. Gritty. Polish people are not meek. Antisemitism and other examples of group victimization are simply not as important to people in Poland in most cases. We had plenty of actual oppression of our own which only ended 30 years ago with the fall of communism. It desensitized us to the western virtue signaling. We have no regrets, we are survivors. Some of us are jerks. It's less of a problem than you think if you don't think about it.

Nice, well-thought, even though short but deep video. In my opinion, it touches a lot of aspects (good and bad ones) in a good and lightweight way. 👍 It focuses more on describing the current situation than holding tight to the past.

Hello. My oponion is that all the sentences are coming from time before 2 war word when Polish and Jewish lived together. My granny known a few of those sentences and she was using them from time to time. For me it was just a sentence like we have a lot in polish language. Even when I used it in past never thinking about Jewish nation at all. I think that its normal like the other countries has those kind of negative sentences about Polish ppl as well. No offence ❤

Michael maybe you could make a video about philo-semitism in Poland, I have never thought about it but now you mentioned it it makes a lot of sense, I myself and many of my friends would fall under that category. Something that definitely is routed in both genuine interest in Jewish culture, especially (but not only) pre-WW2 Polish Jewish culture; and in the feeling that we want to make it up after what Jews went through in WW2 (even if it might sound a bit shallow it is still genuine). Peace and love

BTW how can anybody call country with Jewish Prime minister Morawiecki and Jewish First Lady Kornhauser"antisemitic"?

Pytanie o to gdzie jest ta granica gdzie zaczyna się nietolerancja. Czy możemy oskarżyć Niemców o antypolonizm z racji tego, że nazywają nas złodziejami samochodów? Moim zdaniem nie. Żydzi mają tą granicę mocno przesuniętą. (maja ku temu powody) Grają kartą antysemityzmu bardzo często. W dużej mierze wtedy gdy nie ma mowy o antysemityzmie np. gdy ktoś ma inne zdanie lub opinie. To co napisałem to tylko przekaz jaki do mnie dociera za pomocą mediów. Nie miałem okazji przekonać się o tym w praktyce. Dlatego prawdopodobne jest też to, że w taki sposób postępuje jedynie cześć Żydów, a jako że jest to temat, który grzeje polskie społeczeństwo to przebija się do nas. Przykładowo protesty Izraelitów przeciw mordą ludności cywilnej w Gazie mogą dowodzić, że mieszkają tam zwyczajni ludzie podobni do nas, których po prostu rusza ludzkie cierpienie. Szczerze powiedziawszy trochę mnie to zaskoczyło, że Żydów rusza cierpienie kogoś innego niż ich własnej nacji. W końcu wiele razy widziałem filmy gdzie z ust Żyda padało, że Goj to gorszy gatunek człowieka.

Hi. I warmly welcome you to Poland and I am pleased with your presence. When it comes to anti-Semitism... Unfortunately, this concept has become significantly devalued. Nowadays, anti-Semites are not defined as those who do not like Jews, but rather those who are disliked by Jews. Our common history is of course complicated, but you won't understand it all if you don't know it. You said Poland is no worse than Germany or Sweden in terms of anti-Semitism? Are you really comparing us to Germany? Have you ever wondered why such a large number of Jews lived in Poland for centuries? We have never had the "Edict of the Alhambra" and we have never had an event on the scale of "Kristallnacht". Are you talking about Sweden? About Sweden, which until the 18th century accepted Jews only if they converted to the Lutheran faith? Why did Jews refer to Poland as Polin? You know what this word means. The topic is long and it is impossible to discuss it all here. However, I think that the problem of Jews is the lack of knowledge about their own history. Today, history is read from the point of view of American Jews - descendants of those who were often indifferent to the fate of their compatriots. Eastern European Jews were often treated with contempt by Western Jews. And perhaps that is why it is so difficult for Jews today to accept that the Holocaust was a tragedy and drama not only for Jews as such but also for Poles. After all, these Jewish Poles were our neighbors, they were our fellow citizens. And we also miss them... I wonder if certain groups are trying to cover their shame by covering it with the stereotype of a Pole - an anti-Semite... But who was at Yad Vashem and saw how many monuments were erected to Poles in front of other nations - (and Poland was the only a country where the Germans used the death penalty for helping Jews) - this one will not accept this stereotype so easily. I am not saying that our common history was perfect, but for some reason such a large number of Jews lived here for so many centuries... It is worth considering.

Ja to tylko tutaj zostawię: „…dla Polaków to była po prostu kwestia biologiczna, naturalna - śmierć jak śmierć, a dla Żydów to była tragedia, to było dramatyczne doświadczenie, to była metafizyka…”

As far as I remember as a kid in sixties and seventies jokes about Jews were either nasty about how thin they got in concentration camp as in during a count one was missing because they couldn't see him behind a spade or how good Jews are as businessman. Have to share one of my favorite jokes that happened to be about Jews. Isaak and Moishe took a seven day train trip to Siberia. They don't talk at all. On day five Isaak gasped Ahhhh. Two hours later Moishe says "Isaak, I thought we agreed that during this trip we don't discuss business"

Americans telling me Polish silly jokes is also very weird. Hard to comprehend what do they want to achieve by telling me these jokes.

There is a good paper writen on Polish-Jewish relations by the Willson Center tittled: "WRESTLING WITH GHOSTS: POLES AND JEWS TODAY" By Madeline G. Levine. You may find if interesting and you can get it in PDF form as well.

About telling jokes in Poland... I don't know why, by we are finding it irresistible to tell jokes about "stupid blond girl", ginger not having soul, doctors, lawyers, germans, czech, inteligent/stupid/small/big/fat/thin people - to the person that can relate with it the most... It is not hate, it in genom xD

In general I agree with this opinion. I will add that in addition to specific anti-Semitism in the linguistic layer (which is certainly related to the past, not the present), there is also pro-Semitism in the form of worship for the modern state of Israel, which is treated as the "shield of the West" in the Middle East (OK, let's be honest, this is very currently being severely tested). This shows perfectly that the Polish soul is different from, for example, German, British or Dutch, and our "anti-Semitism" is not the same, soulless, mechanical and dehumanizing anti-Semitism known from Western Europe. This is a more specific neighborly relationship that has developed over a thousand years of coexistence - without any special ideologization.

Whenever I hear people say a blonde joke, I ask myself “do they really believe that blondes are dumb? Or are they just hoping to be rewarded with a laugh? Neither is a good answer. So I completely understand your frustration - especially as neither one of us can change our roots (ha ha). But seriously speaking, I commend your putting yourself on the line and explaining to people in your gentle way, why telling a Jewish joke to a Jewish person would go down like a lead balloon. Hopefully some of your viewers will stop and think about what jokes they choose to repeat and why, before they go into a defensive - or offensive - with “Oh, but, Michael, you just don’t understand us Poles”. What you’re doing is very important, so don’t be discouraged, even if you can’t get through to everyone. As an old Polish saying goes, “they didn’t build Kraków straight away” ( it’s an actual saying. I guess Kraków is closer than Rome). I would like to point out that “they” implies it wasn’t achieved by one person - but someone had to pick up the spade. All the best, and don’t lose your sense of humour!

Jedna bardzo ważna rzecz w kontekście żartów - Polacy lubią "okrutne" żarty, a raczej jak my to widzimy, uszczypliwe, tak żartujemy z samych siebie chociażby

szanowny panie, 1. w USA były i są popularne "polskie żarty" , wyśmiewające Polskę i Polaków, w pana narracji oznaczałoby to że amerykanie są polkożercami i doszukiwać się na wielu płaszczyznach zła tkwiącego w amerykańskim społeczeństwie (a nawet wysnuć z tego wniosek o możliwej z ich strony fizycznej agresji wobec osób przyjeżdżających z Polski - co oczywiście byłoby kompletną bzdurą i nieporozumieniem), jeżeli ten temat stałby się natomiast medialnie omawianym problemem w Polsce to jakby Pan ocenił wtedy stan psychiczny polskiego społeczeństwa? 2. praktycznie 100% komentarzy na temat antysemityzmu jest poświęconych zachowaniem się osób różnych narodowości wobec Żydów, natomiast brak informacji jak Żydzi zachowywali się żyjąc w danych krajach, bo... emocje, stereotypy, dowcipy (dobre i złe) nie powstają w próżni tylko w interakcjach na styku społecznym, gospodarczym; pozdrawiam

Mnie wręcz irytuje zachowanie pewnych grupy po obu stronach. Najgorsze w życiu są skrajne emocje. Dlatego Polacy jak słyszą "Żyd" to widzą pejsatego Chasyda w futrzanej czapie, skrupulatnie liczącego każdy grosik, którego na końcu Niemiec spalił w piecu. Dosłownie widzą ten obrazek. Żydzi natomiast, szczególnie obywatele Izraela, na słowo "Polacy" widzą 3 miliony Żydów przed II Wojną Światową oraz te parę tysięcy po 1945 roku. Prawica głównie tak uczy. Dlatego Żydzi boją się Polaków jak tu przyjeżdżają. Prawda leży gdzieś po środku, jak to w życiu zazwyczaj bywa. Moja żona akurat specjalizuje się w tej tematyce i dzięki temu poznałem przeróżne historie polsko-żydowskie. Te prawdziwe. Jeden przykład. Rodzina żydowska w polskiej wsi. Jedyny sposób na przeżycie to było kupowanie płodów rolny od polskich chłopów i sprzedaż z niewielkim zyskiem wszystkim. Nie mogli posiadać ziemi uprawnej. Polska chłopska rodzina w tej samej wsi. Nadprodukcja żywności i problem z jej zbytem. Jedyny sposób to sprzedać po kosztach tej żydowskiej rodzinie, która potem drożej odsprzeda nawet tej rodzinie, od której kupiła. To tylko mały epizod i początek trudnych relacji społecznych na tych terenach na początku XX wieku. Żydzi są znienawidzeni z jednego powodu. Odnoszą sukces jako mała grupa etniczna praktycznie w każdych warunkach społeczno-ekonomicznych. Polacy mają żal, bo współcześni, już mocni Żydzi, obarczają się ich odpowiedzialnością za Holokaust, a to jest niezwykle krzywdzące. Gdyby Polacy byli aż takimi wielkimi antysemitami to Żydzi zostaliby wypędzeni zaraz po I Wojnie Światowej albo kilka wieków wcześniej. Dopiero Niemcy to zrobili, przy milczącej zgodzie świata i arabskim aplauzie. Widać jak to jest krzywdzące w świetle obecnych wydarzeń. Antysemityzm w Polsce jest karalny i używa się tych paragrafów. Natomiast dzisiaj dosłownie na ulicach Londynu, Paryża, Waszyngtonu i wielu innych zachodnich miast antysemityzm jest dosłownie skandowany pełnym gardłem i tamtejsze rządy chowają głowy w piasek. W krajach arabskich oraz w większości islamskich bycie żydem jest wręcz nielegalne. Tak samo jak chrześcijaństwo. Dla każdego jest miejsce na tym świecie, ale bez wbijania drugiego butem w ziemię. Tak naprawdę to w naszych rękach jest to jak ten świat będzie wyglądał jutro. Historia trzeba znać, ale patrzeć należy w przyszłość. Rodakom polecam się przyglądać temu co się dzieje w Europie zachodniej. Nam do tego daleko, ale i u nas będą próbować.

Polski katolik i patriota pozdrawia polskiego Żyda. 🇵🇱🤜🤛🇵🇱

Świat zrobił się bardzo niebezpieczny.

Who started whole polish anti-semitism campaing in the western world? Israel. Check what they teach about Poland in their schools.

You know I met Jews, quite a few of them around 30 and 2 of them had UZI and mp5. They insisted that I need to cross the road because they didn't want me on THEIR pavement, while holding guns in their hands. It was quite a few years ago I was like 17? Coming back from school Near Majdanek camp. So you can imagine what I was thinking about Jews from this point. Nice people they are I thought /s.

So good that you are getting our actual emotional climate, and not get immersed too much into all the emotional frenzy resulting from mass media and politics. So many people are superficial in their perception of us.

We also use 'stingy like a Scot ' but rarely. To German someone, 'oszwabić' (from the Swabia region) means to rob someone. 'Holender' (Dutchman) is something akin to the f bomb. To leave English style is to bum out without a polite good-bye & thanks. Meksyk (Mexico) is an euphemism for carnage. And to Jew means to skimp. So the language is full of people references. Not just Jews, but I understand it's the most tangible for you.

I love how ypur videos remind me of old school youtube, before the professionalisation of a hobby, one can really feel you are here to say what you mean. Also, the only antisemitic Poles I have met are those who never met actual Jews so its mostly just unexperienced people being used to do someone else's bidding. You coming here and letting people see you are just another neighbour with a funny accent definitely helps fight those interests. Beyond that, when it comes to philosemitism, Jews were a big part of Polish society and played an important role in development of our culture. One cannot understand history of Poland without understanding historical inhabitants of Poland. And just to give you a quick example, I come from a small provincial town and I have passed by a decrepid(now luckily restored) synagogue as well as a Jewish cementery quite regularly for most of my life but it took me quarter a century before I actually met a person from Your nation. It was awkward and yet the dude was weirdly familiar when asked about the life of a Jew, it wasnt quite a glove fit but you could esily see that a lot of customs and traditions were intertwined. So to sum it up, we erupt with a thousand questions because we were actually missing You guys. All the love from lesser Poland voivodeship!

Till the middle of the clip I've been thinking you keep a pipe in your right hand and I've been waiting for you to smoke it. Then I realized it is a mic :-)

Maybe you'll do an episode about interest on Poland from the site of the Jews? I grew up in Poland and never heard anything bad about Jews - on the contrary: I remember my parents and their friends they were very happy when Israel defended its existence during the war against Arab countries. It hurts me very much when people say that Poles are anti-Semitic, because it's not true I remember learning at school that Jews found refuge in Poland in the Middle Ages and that was cool for me. Yes, I remember also that there was one boy at school who sometimes told jokes about Jews, but not many laughed at it. Then I lived in other countries and there I encountered anti-Semism more often. Kind regards

About post war period Jews in communist power apparatus - in some departaments it was 70%+ of Jewish people in the higher ups and we are talking post Holocaust period, so we can say there was a lot of Communist Jews ;)

Są ludzie i są ludzie. Człowiek którego najbardziej w Polsce cenie -za odwagę inteligencję i uczciwość jest Polakiem, Żydem - Bronisław Wildstein Człowiek którego w Polsce najmniej cenię -za manipulację i nieuczciwość intelektualną jest również Polakiem, Żydem - Adam Michnik Świat jest dziwny.

The term anti-semitism is used in so many contexts, it is slowly losing any proper meaning. Take conditions in Poland before the ww2. The Jews formed a very tight-knit community. As an example, a Jewish wholesaler would give a Jewish retailer better conditions than he would give a competing Polish retailer. For the Jews it was business. When some ethnic Poles called for the buying public to prefer stores ran by ethnic Poles, the Jews cried that's anti-semitism.

Arabowie to też semici, więc czym są działania terrorystów i IDF?

When I was a little girl, my dad showed me the musical "Fiddler on the Roof." I fell in love with this film, this music (I know all the songs by heart), this story, I couldn't come to terms with this tragedy. It was heartbreaking. I come from an all-female family (my grandfather had four daughters and all his daughters had only daughters 😆), so I felt a connection to Tevye's family and his struggles. I probably became a philosemite... Then I was sad to hear all these negative opinions of Jews about Poles... I had no idea that we had such bad "press" among Jews😔 I hope that one day we will find the balance that we had for centuries of living together . I hope there is such a willingness on both sides.

Hello Michael 🥰As far as I am concerned I declare myself to be anti-zionist and totally not antisemite > I love you and all decent wonderful jews ❤😜

For me the biggest eye opener about antisemitism and its historical roots was this lecture by Glenn Dynner, an American professor of Jewish history. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Bp495Uz_Cq4.html| The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was an oppressive regime where peasants were basically slaves, and Jews were working for the nobility of that regime, managing the infrastructure that peasants had to pay extortionate prices for using. So the resentment of the surfs against this medieval system turned into ani-semitism. Since surfdom ended in the late 19th century, many people in the early 20th still remembered it. But now that's ancient history, and antisemitism is currently, as you say, mostly linguistic baggage. Another thing I recently found out is that the word "Żyd" has a meaning in football hooligan slang. It means "supporter of the opposite team". That's why when you see anti-semitic graffiti, it's almost always accompanied by names of football teams. It's not even referring to actual Jews, it's just a weird old ways for these hooligan groups to refer to each other.

make a film about anti-Polonism among Jews, but you won't do it because it is not a relevant topic, you will have more to say about anti-Semitism in Russia, Germany or France, but it is not a relevant topic either'

So my grandparents was dying trying to save Jews and now they think we are antisemitic? Oh wow! How nice of them!🤦🏻‍♂️

Our grandparents were fighting arm by arm together in ghettoes . love from poland

Jewish culture is a part of Polish Lithuanian commonwealth herritage, that's why we are interested in jewish culture. About Kielce pogrom, it's a fact, nobody denies it. The facts I know are that in that time there was a very important conference of western powers. Pogrom took place few days before it in Kielce that was under controll of communists, not the polish resistance WIN. This terrible crime benefited only russian occupants. The pogroms never took place on territories controlled by legally voted polish government or polish resistance. The other factor is that there was huge number of Jews who joined communists and colaborated with them. Even before ww2 there was a problem with communists who made raids into polish territory. After ww2 Jews who survived holocaust only by help from Poles who risked their and their families lives, joined new ,, government ". It wasn't so black or white situation. There were for example people like Szmul Oswind who was one of the most important commanders of anticommunistic resistance and stayed loyal with paying biggest possible price for it.

I would never deny that anti-Jewish sentiment exists(ed) in Poland. However it was mild compared to what went on in Latvia and Lithuania during WWII where locals openly slaughtered Jews in the streets while German soldiers watching were appalled.

There is Polish antisemitism. I’ve heard it from young Poles. It’s not just the old people. If they know you’re Jewish, they won’t say it to your face, but they say it among other non-Jews. Eastern Europe in general is like that. Sorry to generalize, but it’s been my experience.

Michael, what language your mother spoke?

People need to chill the fuck out. Tell me a funny Polish joke and I will not be offended, Just make it original and not "how many *insert naton* do you need to *insertt activity*?" joke. It's fucking lame and lazy. Make fun of us, our specific charachteristics, of what makes us who we are. I dare you and I will applaud you if you do it the right way. We like to tell jokes about the Jews too. Doesn't make us antisemitic. Makes us people with a sense of humor. You should try it too. It's really liberating.

Any time two diverse people live in the same space for 800 years there will be a diverse, at times positive, at times negative history built. that is just human nature. However it must be said that nowhere else in the world has Jewish culture been given such refuge and the opportunity to flourish than in the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth.

I see everything that uses the word Jew in a non glorifying way is anti-semitism. If even a joke makes you use such phrases i think that the Jewish Community just loves victimisation. We should ask the Scotish now if we are anti-scotish as in the jokes they are also cheap. And than maby we should ask if all the western jokes about Polish people beeing stupid is also anty-polish. But if jokes are so bad, i wonder how should talk about the lies regarding Poland and polish people spread by the Jewish community. To be honest using the victim card in Poland is a bit offensive.

Dear Michael Rubenfeld, thank you very much for your video. I am very glad that you are in Poland. As a Pole I would like to confirm that the claim about Polish innate antisemitism does eally hurt me.

But can we agree on being antisemitic is different from being anti-zionist?

Ziemia obiecana - polski film historyczno-obyczajowy z 1974 roku w reżyserii i według scenariusza Andrzeja Wajdy. propomuje. The Promised Land - a Polish historical and drama film from 1974, directed and written by Andrzej Wajda. Could you please translate Song 14:20 to 14:40 please? bardzo aktywna i doceniana kultóra to ludzie zacni o wielkiej inteligencji. polski by nie było bez braci Żydów.

As a native of Kraków and tour guide in Kazimierz's Jewish district, let me pinch in my two cents into this discussion. First of all, there aren't few Jews in Poland. Yes, in a religious, linguistic or national sense few people in Poland practice Judaism, speak Yiddish, or claim to be exclusively Jewish, however many members of the Polish Jewish community that survived the holocaust and did not decide to migrate to Israel or the US assimilated into the majority Polish culture - as that was the pressure of Soviet installed Communism and postwar reality. Hence, modern Poland has still many people partially or fully aware of their Jewish origins - such as Poland's former Ministers of Foreign Affairs Bornisław Geremek and Adam Daniel Rotfeld, former Speakers of the House Marek Borowski and Ludwik Dorn, journalists like Adam Michnik and Jerzy Urban, movie directors like Agnieskza Holland and Roman Polanski etc. etc. Second, there is considerable historical cross-influence between Polish and Jewish Ashkenazi Yiddish culture. Everywhere in Poland you can buy maca (matzah), Kraków's praised _obwarzanki_ are a close relative of bagels, and a number of Polish words are direct borrowings from Yiddish, such as: belfer, bajzel, ciuch, plajta etc. Hence, I do not find the word _Żyd_ to be offensive, as it too is a borrowing into the Polish language, but this time from the Italian word _giudeo_ , which to my knowledge also is not intended as offensive. Polish Jewish writer and poet Julian Tuwim even wrote a beautiful literary piece called _My, Żydzi polscy_ . As a Pole I would not get offended if someone in English would call me a _Polack_ , because that literally is the Polish word for a _Pole_ . It’s the attitude and resulting intonation and behaviour that matter. Third, regarding Jewish jokes it is important to remember that actually many of them A) have their roots in actual lingustic misunderstandings between Poles and Jews (and Polonized-Jews) and are aimed at making light of the cross cultural difficulties and B) were often written down and authored by Polish Jewish writers and screenplay directors. A prime example is the skit _Sęk_ written by Polish Jewish author Konrad Tom and performed by _Kabaret Dudek_ . _I do not divide Poles into "native"and "non-native"_ , _leaving it to native and non-native racists_ , _native and non-native Nazis_ . _I divide Poles like Jews and like other nations_ , _into wise and stupid_ , _honest and thieves_ , _intelligent and dull_ , _interesting and boring_ , _wronged and harmful_ , _gentlemen and non-gentlemen_ , _etc._ _I also divide Poles into fascists and counter-fascists_ . _These two camps are_ , _of course_ , _not uniform_ , _each of them shimmers with shades of colors of various densities_ . _But the dividing line definitely exists_ , _and it will soon be possible to draw it quite clearly_ . _Shades will remain shades_ , _but the color of the line itself will brighten and deepen dramatically_ . - Julian Tuwim, _We, Polish Jews_

what is antisemitism? Seriously. Im absolutely positive that most people who use this term have no idea whats behind it. another word there is no antisemitism in Poland. The Kielce pogrom ? Like Jedwabne this is one of the biggest lies serving certain agenda. On the other hand Anti Polonism in Israel and Jewish diasporas thats a fact.

There's one thing I hate about the Jews and this is not the fact that they're Jewish. It's about the public statements of Israeli politicians claiming that we're one big group of antisemites. We suffered a lot during the WW2 alongside the Jews (of Polish origin or simply Polish citizens) and the government of Israel seems to forget that we lost milions of people then, throughout the Holocaust and the whole WW2, as well. It's like erasing our national trauma and filling this gap with the convenient idea about the antisemitic Poles. It's like spitting directly in the faces of our ancestors. The situation of our nations isn't that different, we were occupied, erased, we lost milions of lives, this is our common trauma and I can't bear the fact somebody wants to take it from us. They say this, omitting the fact that Poles have the biggest number of the Righteous Among the Nations. Let's talk about antipolonism which, for unknown reason, easily passes the check of political corectness. Thanks for the video, I get your feelings and must say the video's pretty accurate. If I may suggest, please consider creating a video on historically prominent Polish-Jewish people.

would you be open to a discussion with a polish atheist who would like like to discuss the current situation of Polish people them being Jews or not ...

Judzić/judzisz, żydowskim targiem, kochajmy się jak bracia liczmy jak żydzi. Just a few phrases in polish

Imagine somebody, who is hatefull to You, it's not about antisemitism. Imagine what You wil think and how You will behave to somebody, who hate You for no reason?

I think that maybe the Jewish jokes are a form of teasing in response of how we see each other, or how we feel others may see us (like in "Polish jokes"). I don't feel like we care that much of others making fun of us, as long as we can 'bite back" in a way. But yeah, I dont think there's something anti-semitic behind this at all. Thanks for being open-minded anyway, sorry it make you feel bad

My Grandmother from Lublin was from a philosemitic family. There is such a thing.

Never in my life has anyone I know ever said anything bad about Jews, or just talked about Jews. Not because we somehow like Jews or maybe avoid the topic, it's just not a subcjet for us at all. I don't know what to talk about. We don't know any Jews. I'm just talking about conversations with friends. you are the first Jew in Poland I know 🙌Media and RU-vid are different

Bol shevism is not good

I consider myself a philo- semit and I would love to see more and more Jewish people living in Poland being part of our culture as it once was. I totally agree that there is antisemitism in the language- I actually used to use the verb "zydzic" in order to describe an act of not willing to pay money for anything. I realized a few years ago that maybe I should stop using that word cause it's stigmatizing. Also, I've been noticing (especially in the recent years) that there is more and more antisemitism in the far right, blaming Jews (as always) for absolutely everything. But I think is it not only a Polish problem, rather a global "trend". I really hope that with the new government the narrative will become more respectful and gentle.

One rabbi said this about anti-Semitism in Poland: The situation is much better than Jews think and much worse than Poles think. As for baseball, baseball comes from Poland, from a Polish game from the 16th century called "Palant". Check it out. By the way, you have a really beautiful voice. If you want to sing something, let me know. I'm a bit into Jewish music. :)

Just to stay on the funny side- there is this joke- we hate everyone equally;) including ourselves. (Again just a dark humor ;) ) But honestly, as someone who was into Jewish history in PL, I believe, most of Poles are rather curious about Jews, and are very respectful of the past. And I'd say we do know a lot about the most painful history- Holocaust. I was however very surprised that Jews I met in Israel, or those coming to PL from Isreael, know far far less then Poles. At least this was my perception . Yes, antisemitism is still visible in language - mostly in old expressions. I agree with that. Maybe if someday you would like to do some videos on well known Polish Jews, I would recommend Marek Edelman as one of those people. Amazing person, inspiring, unapologetic.

There is not antisementizm in Poland, man! What is this chanel all about? You are so anoing! If you speak untruths and insult Poles, don't expect to be popular.

The sad reality is that the association of Jews and money is less of an antisemitic trope but based in reality. For the longest time Jews thrived in Poland in the middle class, specifically the merchant class, in some small town most stores were own exclusively by Jews, at least where my family was.During the time of the Kingdom of Poland, Jews were employed by the nobility as tax collectors, its why when the cossacks rebelled they started murdering Jews. It's just the way things were. There is a difference between disparaging a whole group of people and poking fun of real phenomenon.

A co z zatruwaniem studni? Żart, żart :)

"If I were a rich man" that is my favourite and optimistic. :)

You gotta understand such is Polish/ Slavic/ Central European culture - if you want to break ice with a German you would tell them a German or.. “anti-German” joke. If you want to break ice with a Czech you might tell them a joke about a Pole a Czech and A Russian and when you want to break ice with a Jew you tell them “anti-Semitic”/ Jewish joke. Hence called “a joke” and as you like comedy I hope you will understand it. We try to turn it into a joke because - and this is true to Łódź for instance - there was/ is a saying going around which goes: “Jewish buildings, Polish Streets” - it is alluding to the tremendous wealth many of the Jewish people had and the vast poverty many Poles were in at the same time. So, people are so over it and put it behind them and in response they would make a joke about it to laugh about what happened.

There is a lot of chauvinists and xenophobes in Poland. Pretty much anyone different is treated with suspicion. It gets better with more educated and younger people, but it all depends. What upsets me a lot recently that anyone who is critical of Israel and it's unjust and genocidal policies is automatically labeled "antisemitic". That's BS. Criticizing the state of Israel is not prima facie antisemitic, as criticizing India is not anti-Hinduistic. Criticizing Myanmar and it's government is not anti-Buddhist.

The number 10000 Jews in Poland refers to either religious Jews or those who consider themselves Jewish enough to choose it as their ethnicity on the national population poll. However, there are many more people who are Jewish, or partly Jewish, who have no problem admitting to their roots in a casual conversation but don't choose Jewish ethnicity in the poll. And while Poles are unlikely to have met someone from the first group, they probably met more than one person from the other. Hence the general feeling that there are still quite many Jews in Poland.

Brat naszego znajomego polskiego Żyda wrócił z Izraela, bo mu się bardziej podoba życie w Polsce. Jak go spytasz o szczegóły powodu jego powrotu to gdybyś nie wiedział, że jest Żydem mogła by być łatwo uznany za anrysemicka. Także nie każdy Żyd uważa Izrael za najlepsze miejsce do życia.

'Jew' is often used in a derogatory way in English speaking nations.

Just, go home man. You will find love.

Actually, there are very good reasons why the term "Jew" was a term for scrooges - such was the Jewish culture in Poland. There were encountered relatively wealthy people who underfed with their families. Typical situations were cases of wealthy people who lived in dilapidated sheds in the centers of towns, disfiguring the neighborhoods - administrative fines were imposed on such people to force them to clean up and repair at least their facades. You fall into patterns of what you consider anti-Semitism, dare we call it stereotypical thinking. I would advise you to adopt the definition that anti-Semites are people who wish Jews badly because they are Jews. All the simple naive ones miss this essence of the matter, although they are convenient for the intellectually lazy, and are themselves stereotypes that will ultimately harm the Jews themselves. In Poland, Jews officially engaged in usury (lending at interest) because Christians were not allowed, there are special royal decrees from hundreds of years ago that regulate these matters. And this function continued until the outbreak of World War II. Jews engaged in commerce because the nobility was not allowed, and the Polish bourgeoisie was inconvenienced by the threat of political ambitions. "Jew" did not simply mean nationality (because it was of secondary importance) or religion, but also a state/social class in feudal society, with specific social roles, to which you now refer as "anti-Semitism." This is part of your history.

Can not wait for your next video Michael. Thank you !

Please note that in English, “presently” means “soon” and not “at present” or “currently”. In Polish, the word for Jew does not carry any negative connotations whatsoever. The Germans could maybe say, that because the word “Niemiec” contains the word “no” which is a negative prefix in many Polish words, it hints at a negative meaning when saying German. But even the “nie” in “Niemiec” is not really a prefix, because there is no word “miec” in Polish.

Very balaced opinion - I want to thank you as a Pole living in Poland, Michael. I think BTW that as a western civilization we became too sensitive about verbal so called 'opression' or general style of communication. What I mean is clearly visible in one of my favourite movies - Gran Torino - in a barber shop scene. A fake insult in a conversation between old school men is actually not meaning to make harm if you know what I mean. So looking for a bad intensions is building a barricade - where it is not needed. And... some of the memories from post war communism era when there were a certain number of Jews in a comunist antipatriotic machine - who without any doubt - made a significant harm to many Polish families - these memories are not aimed in Jewish people in general - but in those bastards who did it. Threre were Poles, Ukrainians and Russians who did that too. The traditions of Polish tolerance date way back to the at least 16th century when many people fled to the Commonwealth from other countries and lived here fairly peacefully - like Czech Protestants, Arians, Ukrainians and Jews. And Jews actually found their niche in Polish/Lithuanian economy. These traditions are alive today - actually everybody is welcome in Poland - under one not very hard condition - that this person or group percieves and acts as a part of THIS society and works in a common interest. That is actually all... Acting against this common interest is seen as an act of betrayal and treated accordingly. Nothing personal or racist in this - just protecting our business.

Polish people are wonderful. Its more systemic, lots of us dont have acces to our homeland, and lost all our wealth, and 2 generations later growing in extreme poverty. And they dont have programs for expelled ashkenazim to come back and even remotely live a normal life.

yeah hard not to get triggered with these accusations when we get accused of it by some american or israeli jews all the time even though the cases of anti-semitism in poland are as fringe as in every other western country; i'd even go as far as say that most of the anti-semitism in poland is basically caused by absurd claims like "Poles imbibe anti-Semitism with their mothers’ milk” made by israeli politicians

Is a Jew a follower of a religion or a representative of an ethnic group? I never know

As you said, generally most polish people never actually met jew in real life. What they met though is Jan Tomasz Gross, Jan Hartman or Adam Michnik (had jewish father), 
people who generally blame polish people for holocaust. Quote “polish people killed more jews than germans” or “polish death camps”.
This obviously rages polish conservatives, and cause they rage at that, they are portrayed “anti-semitic” while germans are getting washed up cause it was “all nazis” right. 
And some will extrapolate this behaviour to all the jews, which is obviously not true. 
On conservative side there was JPII who had many jewish friends, there was Szewach Weiss and I think there is more space for jews there, as we all longingly recall Commonwealth. ps. I often shorthen my fried name from Michał, to "Michu" which sounds very yiddish.

Why, do you think there is antysemitsm in the world/ Do yo thinkk that Jew has anything to do with it?

Is there anti semitism in Poland? There is, no doubt, and it has its roots in a special kind of catholicism still easy to find in some rural areas. At the same time there is a lot of admiration, respect shown when confronted with jewish achievements and jewish influence on Polish culture. I wouldn't put all Poles in the same basket. At the moment Poland is probably one of the the safest place for Jews in the world. A lot of sympathy after October 7th in the media and among people as well. Not a single one pro-Palestinian demonstration. It is not dangerous in Poland to wear kippa, it could be dangerous to call: Allahu Akbar.

At least when you hear a joke about the Jews its associated with money. When I hear a joke about the Poles its abour 3 Poles and a light bulb

Żydzi muszą zrozumieć że Polska musiała wyslać ich do Izraela w 1968r.Innaczej Izrael przegrał by tę wojnę i nie stał by się potegą technologii.Musielismy to zrobić.Polscy Żydzi mieli w Polsce domy,rodziny i kariery.Nie chcieli wyjeżdżać do kibucow...Tak musiało być.Wszystko ustawione

Latest news from Montreal: Montreal - November 8 - University of Montreal (UdeM) Professor Yanise Arab yells at a Jewish student in Concordia to “go back to Poland, sharmouta (wh*re)”

Frankly speaking if I had lived in Warsaw before the war, I would probably have been an anti-Semite by today's standards, maybe I would have boycotted Jewish stores, but I would also have friends of Jewish origin. anti-Semitism a la Alfred Rosenberg never took root in Poland.

I used to study at Dominican Monastery (Stolarska Str, Krakow) so you may expect they would load me with tonnes of antisemitic bull*hit, but surprisingly, most of the priests were eager to expand their knowledge where their religion cames from, and they became filosemits as result. Not to the point of becoming Jews though. Obiously they still belive Jews get it wrong about the Jesus, bla bla bla, but my point is that in Poland the more working class a person is the more probable they may share some antisemit steretypes. There were too many Jews-Polish writers and intellectuals to allow an intelligent person to be antisemit in Poland. I know no antisemitic educated person but i know quite few antisemitic idiots. I have a feeling that in the West it works the opposite way: the more "progressive" you are the more you are allowed to say antisemitic crap. For instance that the descendents of Palestinians have right to kick out Jews from Palestine, while the Jews being simply born in Israel have no rights whatsoever to live there. It is just ridiculus, especially that boarders and states evolve, change territories etc. That would mean that americans shall go away, that French shall leave their overseas territorries... But apparently the 5 sq meters Israel is their main dilemma. Nice video, keep it up!

Polish anti-semitism was understandable. Compare it to the ant-arab feelings in the France of today. You have a large population speaking a different language, of a different religion and mostly unwilling to integrate. QED.

Here’s something I’d like to mention, something to think about: don’t forget outta 3M Jews at least.. how many.. half must have been Polish-Jews many of which we valued for poetry and what not. Would you say they were just Jewish? Don’t get me wrong I’m not attacking you, just building up a case here. Try that with black British. If anything happened to a large group of black British similarly to what happened to the jews during WWII would you say blacks were murdered or Brits were murdered? Hence myself and many other Poles don’t understand the distinction. Another point is that there were 1.8M Poles murdered in mass graves, concentration camps, gas chambers and shared the fate with the Jews. The Nazis attempted to commit a genocide as well on Poles as on Jews so they can split the land between themselves and the Soviets. At least you guys got memorials in Germany and everywhere, reparations and what not. We got none. The world is unaware we shared the fate with the Jewish people. It might be hurting for many Poles to say to them we had anything to do with it although no doubt there were some tensions pre-war as many of the Poles thought the Jewish immigration from other countries got way out of hand due to persecution of you guys in other European countries.