
Whitewash
Poland and the Jews
Jan Grabowski(Author)
New Jewish Press
Published on 26. August 2025
Book
Hardback
112 pages
978-1-4875-6682-1 (ISBN)
Description
In Whitewash, Jan Grabowski brings to light the dangerous practice of Holocaust distortion through the lens of the Polish political landscape. Of the three million Polish Jews who found themselves under German occupation during World War Two, no more than 1 per cent survived the war. Poland was left with a singular burden: the responsibility to safeguard the memory of this immeasurable tragedy. Instead, Poland has emerged as a global leader in Holocaust denial and distortion, all in service of preserving the myth of an unblemished national identity.
Deeply personal and brutally honest, this extended analysis intertwines Grabowski's experiences and those of his family in Poland with a sharp critique of the state's long-standing policy of Holocaust distortion. Carried out over decades by successive political parties, this campaign has become a powerful unifying force in Polish society. To protect the narrative of "political innocence" during the Holocaust, Poland has enacted criminal and civil laws designed to silence independent scholars, including Grabowski, who was sued for defamation in Polish court. In Whitewash, Grabowski examines Holocaust envy, distortion, denial, and de-Judaization in a searing call to protect the integrity of Holocaust memory.
Whitewash effectively weaves together the history and politics of Holocaust distortion, grounding them in Grabowski's own lived experience to underscore the immediate need for collective reckoning and action.
Deeply personal and brutally honest, this extended analysis intertwines Grabowski's experiences and those of his family in Poland with a sharp critique of the state's long-standing policy of Holocaust distortion. Carried out over decades by successive political parties, this campaign has become a powerful unifying force in Polish society. To protect the narrative of "political innocence" during the Holocaust, Poland has enacted criminal and civil laws designed to silence independent scholars, including Grabowski, who was sued for defamation in Polish court. In Whitewash, Grabowski examines Holocaust envy, distortion, denial, and de-Judaization in a searing call to protect the integrity of Holocaust memory.
Whitewash effectively weaves together the history and politics of Holocaust distortion, grounding them in Grabowski's own lived experience to underscore the immediate need for collective reckoning and action.
Reviews / Votes
"Few scholars can speak with as much insight and authority about the politicization of Holocaust memory in today's Poland as Jan Grabowski. Drawing on vast knowledge as well as hard-won personal experience, he delineates in Whitewash the distortions, abuses, and outright lies about Polish complicity in the Holocaust as well as post-war manipulations of the horrors that had occurred. Compelling from first page to last, the book is essential reading for anyone wishing to learn about the destructive processes of historical nullification." -- Alvin H. Rosenfeld, Professor of English and Jewish Studies and Director, Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism, Indiana University "A very important book from a master historian of the subject." -- Jan Gross, Norman B. Tomlinson '16 and '48 Professor Emeritus of War and Society, Princeton University "There is only one country in the world that has introduced a law that prohibits assigning guilt for participation in the Holocaust regardless of the evidence. And only one European country that has not yet regulated the status of Jewish property after the Holocaust. Jan Grabowski's excellent book explains why this is the country where the Holocaust took place." -- Joanna S. Tokarska-Bakir, Professor at the Institute of Slavic Studies, Polish Academy of SciencesMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Canada
Publishing group
University of Toronto Press
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Dimensions
Height: 218 mm
Width: 135 mm
Thickness: 13 mm
Weight
218 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4875-6682-1 (9781487566821)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Jan Grabowski is a distinguished professor of history at the University of Ottawa and a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.
Content
Whitewash
Index
Index