Pope confronts Poland’s past at Auschwitz

oswiecim, poland | Eleven years ago, at ceremonies marking the 50th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, misunderstandings between Poles and Jews ran so deep that even a rabbi's desire to say the Mourner's Kaddish reportedly disturbed some Polish politicians.

In fact, there were so many debates over the tenor of the event that two separate ceremonies were held: one for Jews, the other arranged by the Polish government.

Fast forward to Pope Benedict XVI's visit Sunday, May 28. Not only was Kaddish recited, but a whole new Catholic sensitivity to Jews was displayed — even as Poland struggles to battle anti-Semitism, sometimes from Catholic sources.

But the pope's visit was a source of unity.

When meeting former inmate Henrik Mandelbaum, who was forced to burn the bodies of his fellow Jews in the Birkenau crematoria, the normally reserved Benedict kissed him on both cheeks; the latter blushed with gratitude.

Poland's chief rabbi, U.S.-born Michael Schudrich, not only said Kaddish in the presence of the pope and the country's top elected leaders, but also recalled those non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews from the gas chambers.

The pope prayed with clasped hands as Simcha Keller, director of the Jewish community of Lodz, sang "El Maleh Rachamim," a solemn prayer said to honor close relatives who have died.

He also asked some difficult questions: "In a place like this, words fail; in the end, there can be only a dread silence — a silence which itself is a heartfelt cry to God: Why, Lord, did you remain silent?"

Schudrich and others at the ceremony praised the pope for an honest and moving expression of love for all people.

However, the pope "stopped short of decrying anti-Semitism, and although his visit was a wonderful gesture to us all, not mentioning anti-Semitism was a glaring omission," he said.

Abraham Foxman, director of the Anti-Defamation League, was even more critical of the pope's address.

"Standing at the crematoria, the world's largest Jewish cemetery, the pope uttered not one word about anti-Semitism; not one explicit acknowledgment of Jewish lives vanquished simply because they were Jews.

"What the pope did at Auschwitz was to marginalize the distinctly Jewish character of what took place at Auschwitz."

The pope's visit came at a time when Polish-Jewish relations are soaring. The country has the largest number of and best-attended Jewish festivals in Europe, countless Catholic-Jewish initiatives and massive government financial support for the Museum of the History of Polish Jews, expected to open in Warsaw in 2009.

But the specter of anti-Semitism has not been erased in the country that was home to one of the world's largest Jewish communities before World War II.

Less than a month ago, an extreme-right Catholic party whose politicians have a long history of anti-Jewish and anti-gay positions joined the coalition government at the request of Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz.

The League of Polish Families is presided over by Roman Giertych, the country's new minister of education. Giertych was former head of the All-Polish Youth, whose members have been photographed giving the Nazi salute, according to media reports.

Several high-profile acts of anti-Semitism leading up to the pope's visit upset Poland's Jewish community, estimated at up to 10,000 in a country of 38 million.

Schudrich was, for the first time in his 15 years in Poland, assaulted Saturday, May 27 coming out of synagogue. A man hit him in the face and attacked him with pepper spray, shouting "Poland is for Poles."

Schudrich connected the ascension of Giertych and the league, which garnered 8 percent of the vote in the 2005 parliamentary elections, with these events and other recent incidents.

Marcinkiewicz is a strong ally of Jewish causes, but he needed the league so that his conservative Law and Justice Party could have a majority in the Parliament.

Marcinkiewicz's adviser on Jewish affairs, Agnieszka Magdziak-Miszewska, disputes this characterization. "There is zero tolerance by the prime minister for anti-Semitism," she said.

To counter its negative image, government officials emphasize Poland's support of interfaith initiatives, Jewish institutions and gatherings.

But there's no escaping Giertych, who is abhorred by most mainstream Poles and Jews.

When he came to see the pope at Auschwitz-Birkenau, Giertych seemed puzzled when asked about his anti-Semitic image. "I am a lawyer and have many Jewish friends. I drink beer with them," he said.

Asked if he had a message for those worried about the anti-Semitic nature of his party, he said, "That's why I am here today. I am a friend of the Jewish nation."