Survey results show increasing awareness among Poles regarding the Jewish plight in Auschwitz

Krakow - The 65th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp and International Holocaust Remembrance Day, were marked on January 27 through high profile ceremonies held  in Auschwitz-Birkenau and in nearby Krakow.

Political deaders such as European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek, Polish president Lech Kaczynski, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk as well as his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu, all attended the ceremonies.

In his speech, Buzek called the Holocaust "the greatest human tragedy in history," while the Polish leaders promised to continue preserving the Jewish legacy in Poland and to further strengthen Poland’s ties with Israel.

Earlier this month, Marek Kucia, Professor of sociology at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow conducted a survey in which he attempted to examine the Polish street’s perception of Auschwitz.

More than a thousand respondents above 15 years of age, chosen randomly, where surveyed. Similar polls have been conducted in Poland every 5 years since 1995.

This year’s results show increasing awareness among Poles regarding the Jewish plight in Auschwitz.

In 1995, a mere 8% of respondents regarded Auschwitz as a place where Jews were exterminated specifically, and most referred to it as a place of death and suffering of Poles and mankind in general.

In 2010, 47% of respondents now consider Auschwitz a place where Jews were exterminated. 94% consider it a place where both Poles and Jews were exterminated.

Professor Kucia regards this change as a “mental revolution” in Poles’ perception.

Dr. Zofia Woycicka, a senior consultant for The Museum of the History of Polish Jews , to be opened in 2012 on the site of  the former Warsaw Ghetto,  explains that decades long communist education was largely responsible for Poles’ past views.

According to Dr. Woycicka, communist education stressed strongly that Auschwitz was the site of the martyrdom of communists who were brought to the camp from different countries, rather than a place connected with the Holocaust of the Jews.

Historians also mention the role of Pope John Paul II in raising Poles’ awareness of the genocide of the Jews in particular.

Prof. Kucia survey also shows that the most common symbol of World War II in the eyes of the Poles is ‘Germany’s aggression’, while the 2nd most common symbol being the Auschwitz death camp.

Awareness of the extermination of the Roma in Auschwitz has slightly declined.

In general, anti-Semitism in today’s modern Poland is no more prevalent among the intellectual elite or among Polish students, and interest in Judaism is on the rise.

EJP

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