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On several occasions, John
Paul II has addressed himself to the destruction of the Jews during
his visits to Poland, which he regards as pilgrimages. All Poles
unanimously admire the Pope, and his remarks on the Jews have
certainly been distasteful to some Poles, including members of the
clergy, who even today have not cleansed themselves of antisemitism.
In April 1986, John Paul II
was the first pope to visit the Great Synagogue in Rome, where he
said, inter alia, “On June 7, 1979, as I visited the death
camp at Auschwitz, during mass for the multitudinous victims of
various peoples, I dwelled in particular on a plaque bearing an
inscription in Hebrew. I expressed my feelings at that moment in the
following way: ‘This inscription evokes the memory of the people
whose offspring were doomed to utter annihilation. This people has
its origins in Abraham, whom Paul of Tarsus termed the “father of
our faith.” This people, which received from God the commandment
“Thou shalt not murder,” itself experienced a singular ordeal in
killing. No one may pass this plaque indifferently.
John Paul II defined
antisemitism as a sin and termed “various forms of antisemitism
and discrimination against Jews contrary to the spirit of
Christianity.” In 1984, he stated, “To the Jewish people who
live in the State of Israel and sustain on its soil the great value
embodied in its history and faith, we wish the longed-for peace and
deserved tranquillity, the indisputable entitlements of any people
and a condition for the life and advancement of any society.”
During his visit to Poland in
1987, the Pope stated in an encounter with Jews: “... I think the
Jewish people today, perhaps more than ever, is at the focal
point of interest of the world’s peoples. You have indeed become a
resounding warning to all of humankind, all peoples, all regimes,
and every individual.” In 1983, marking the fortieth anniversary
of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, he portrayed the Uprising as “a cry
of despair on behalf of the right to life, liberty, and the
salvation of human dignity.”
Revealing his personal
recollections in one of his public appearances, he said:
"I remember, first of
all, the elementary school in Wadowice,
where at least one-fourth of my classmates were Jewish boys.
It is appropriate here to mention my friendship with one of
them, Jerzy Kluger. It has lasted from my student days to the
present time. My eyes still behold, like a living picture, the
Jews walking on the Sabbath to the synagogue near our
high school. The two religious blocs, Catholic and Jewish,
were linked, so I assume, by the knowledge that they worship
the same God. Despite the difference in language, the prayers
in church and synagogue were based on the same texts.
Then
came the Second World War, with the concentration
camps and the planned extermination. Its primary victims were
the sons and daughters of the Jewish people, solely because
they were Jews. Everyone who lived in Poland at that time
must have come into contact with it, at least indirectly.
This was also my personal experience, which I carry inside
to this day. Auschwitz, evidently the most salient symbol of the
Shoah of the Jewish people, illustrates the level to which a
system resting on foundations of racial hatred and aspiration
to governmental supremacy of one people can descend.
The warning of Auschwitz continues to resound.
Auschwitz, meaning antisemitism, a massive sin against
humankind, signifies that any manifestation of racial hatred
that inescapably leads to the trampling of humankind is a great
sin
against humankind."
Even
if the Pope’s idyllic description of Polish-Jewish relations and
interfaith relations in Poland hardly reflects the reality in the
interwar period, the fact that he so believes, or wishes to
believe, is valuable. Jerzy Turowicz, a Polish thinker and pundit
who was a close associate of the Pope’s, wrote, “John Paul II
is totally aware that the khurbn, the Holocaust, or the
Shoah ... the only attempt of its kind to physically exterminate
an entire people, represents not only a crisis in Jewish history
but also a singular challenge to Christians ....”
Remarks
by a Polish Pope in these matters [Christian-Jewish relations] must
have a vast impact on the outlooks and attitudes of his own people.
The insistent urgings in the writings of John Paul II allow us to
understand the distinction of his views on Christian-Jewish
relations relative to views that are widely held even today. The
Pope believes that the situation in this respect is improving. The
reason for this, beyond doubt, is his personal example, activity,
and teachings.
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