Mike Parker: Correcting an unintended misstep is necessary

Before I get into the issue for today, I want to let everyone know that the opening of the Gizella Gross Abramson Center for Holocaust and Civil Rights scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. on Sunday, August 22, at Queen Street Methodist Church has been postponed because of concerns over the latest variant of the COVID-19.

“I have been agonizing over this since Monday when I started getting more and more messages from people that they were not going to be able to attend because of concerns over the Delta variant,” Lee Holder, who established the center, told me.

“The majority of people who knew Gizella are older and many have sent their regrets. All of them live around Raleigh and in the western part of the state. I hate to have this event without those that knew and loved her.”

Holder plans to reschedule the opening after COVID is under control and people feel they can congregate safely.

Now to another issue. After my column “Long-time educator opening Center for Holocaust, Civil Rights education” appeared last week, I received an email from Jolanta Nowak of the Division of Information and International Relations with the Institute of National Remembrance. In the article, I mentioned that Gizella Abramson had escaped the Luck ghetto in Poland. I lifted that information from her 2011 obituary to show her determined efforts to oppose the Nazis.

Nowak wrote that sentence represented “gross misinformation and distortion of historical truth.”

“Sadly, the sentence: ‘She escaped the Luck ghetto in Poland’ without the information, that Poland was then under the German occupation, may mislead less informed readers, suggesting that the ghetto was established in cooperation with the Polish authorities,” Nowak added.

Of course, in no way did I mean to imply that Poland had set up the ghettos used to segregate the Jewish people. The Nazis established the ghettos only after Poland was under Nazi occupation. Nowak added:

“First of all, it must be remembered that the Holocaust was a state enterprise of the German Reich. Its implementation, course, time, as well as the selection of tools and crime scenes were the result of the decisions issued by state organs of the German Reich. The German Reich could establish ghettos on Polish territory only after the aggression and destruction of the independent Republic of Poland.”

Not only did the Jewish people suffer from the ruthless power of the Third Reich in Poland, but the Polish people were also victims of the Third Reich’s cruelties.

Nowak explained his concern:

“Using the expression ‘polish concentration camps/polish ghettos’ is painful for the Polish nation, because of the enormity of suffering inflicted by the Nazi German authorities in the territories they occupied. While researchers and people interested in 20th century history, especially the history of Poland, may perceive such an expression as a mental shortcut conveying the present geographical location of ghettos, the average reader may take it as a simple message that Poles created the ghettos within the borders of their sovereign state.”

Nowak concluded his message with this appeal:

“Bearing in mind the truth about ghettos and the clarity of information, on behalf of the Polish Institute of National Remembrance, we would like to ask you to make appropriate corrections to the text published by you.”

I have amended the statement in my copy of the original column to read: “She escaped the Luck ghetto established by the Third Reich in Nazi-occupied Poland.”

I am grateful that Jolanta Nowak cared enough to point out the error in my words Nowak’s thoughtful and thorough response to correct what could produce a false impression based upon my words shows how deeply many people still care about historical accuracy.

I hope Nowak and all those who found my statement offensive can forgive what could be perceived as a slight to Poland and its people. I certainly did not intend to assign any blame to the people of Poland for the existence of the horrific ghettos or horrors of the Holocaust.

Mike Parker is a columnist for The Free Press. You can reach him at mparker16@gmail.com.

Mike Parker is a columnist for the Neuse News. You can reach him at mparker16@gmail.com.