LETTER TO THE EDITOR (07/07/96)

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Is this what Roth worked for?

Dear Editor:

Re: Myron Kuropas's appreciation of the work of David Roth ("Is this what David worked for?" June 9):

It is correct that no nation is congenitally anti-Semitic or racist, and that collective guilt is an odious concept. Responsibility, however, bears thinking about. Before Dr. Kuropas again rushes fraternally to the defense of modern-day Poles in their desire to be absolved of the stain of anti-Semitism, he would do well to consider some unattractive truths. I cite a letter from a Canadian friend teaching at the University of Warsaw concerning last year's presidential elections in Poland, which pitted Solidarity hero Lech Walesa against socialist Alexander Kwasniewski:

"For years I have defended Poles in Canada when the question of their anti-Semitism was raised. Now [in Warsaw] we had campaign posters of Kwasniewski constantly defaced with Stars of David, rabbinical curls or ugly slogans. We had priests in the pulpits and on the Catholic radio station, Radio Maria, calling opponents of Walesa 'Jews' - even the devoutly Catholic Hanna Gronkiewicz Waltz, who priests called a 'Jew' and an agent of the NKVD! It was dreadful and didn't really seem to bother the Poles themselves that much."

Is this what David Roth worked for?

Myrna Kostash
Edmonton

| Home Page |