Podróż w jedną stronę. Żyd – bliski sąsiad, a mimo to obcy i niechciany. Migracje z przymusu – Marzec ’68

Abstract

The first part of the article refers to 19th and 20th century Zionism, the second to the foundations of anti-Zionism with its negative effect in 1967–1968 – to historical events in which it took on the characteristics of anti-Jewishness, anti-Israelism and anti-Semitism. Efforts to recreate and consolidate the state of Israel in Palestine will be shown. and the processes that led to the essence of March ‘68 – the forced migration of Polish Jews. March ‘68 should be understood as a series of political events at home and abroad, including those that took place in the period preceding it – along with their causes and consequences. It can also be read in the context of the Six-Day War, which lasted from 5 to 10 June 1967 year. The spiral of social hatred was set in motion. Channels of mass propaganda were set in motion, which at every corner, in every workplace, in educational establishments and youth organisations fomented hostility towards the Jewish community living in Poland. Forced migration inflicted not only moral but also intellectual and material harm on many Polish Jews. Torn from their country of birth, where they had survived the period of German occupation, the nightmare of ghettos, camps and death marches – they were reluctant to leave. But despite the humiliation they suffered, some of them still felt themselves to be Poles or Poles with Jewish origins. The final chord of the forced migration were the farewells attended by friends, often even Jews, who had decided to stay in Poland. As a rule, these took place at railway stations. The Gdanski station in Warsaw has become a symbol here, where every day crowds of colleagues, relatives and friends stood to bid farewell to those leaving for Vienna. How difficult it is to think about this today! How can one pass by without reflection, indifferent, knowing that Poland then lost the core and flower of its intelligentsia! The question that needs to be asked here is: what would Poland look like today if it had not been for the Holocaust and then March ‘68? Let me close this – how sad and tragic – paragraph of history with a summary by a Polish novelist and columnist Stefan Kisielewski, a keen observer of human stupidity, who directly experienced the loss of his close colleagues and friends – Polish Jews – leaving their own homeland in 1968: ...who of our present-day simpletons will understand the meaning of such a heroic accession to Polishness on the part of people who are now insulted and humiliated at every turn.