Miami Student

Issue date: 3/23/07 Section: Campus

Princeton professor Jan Gross discusses the continuing war of discrimination against the Jewish people Monday night in Peabody Hall.

Although Miami University's holocaust awareness and remembrance program doesn't officially start until April 13, Princeton professor Jan Gross's talk Monday night about post-World War II hostility and violence in Poland began a dialogue about the anti-Semitism that has outlived the war.

Gross discussed how once the war ended, Jews returned home to find that a war of different sorts was continuing inside the countries.

Gross said during a lecture in Peabody Hall that much of the violence and many of the atrocities committed during WWII happened in Poland, as opposed to all over Europe, so Poles were somewhat desensitized to what was going on. He said that when the Jews returned home, the native Poles viewed them in the light that the Nazi's had created.

"Nazi's were not the only ones to kill Jews," Gross said. "Jews were being killed by their fellow citizens."

As a result, anti-Semitism drove a portion of the Jewish community out of Poland.

"The war left unfinished business," Gross said. "Finally Jews had to flee westward to Germany."

Gross questioned how people who once were neighbors could harbor such hatred toward the returning Jews, recognizing that at one time Jews made up one-third of the Polish population.

Gross said anti-Semitism and issues of tolerance still play a role in current society.

"Violence amongst people living in the same community is a problem that continues today," he said.

Gross' talk was the first of many events that will happen in the Miami University community in remembrance of the millions killed during the Holocaust.

Miami junior Jennifer Jacob, chair of the committee that is coordinating and organizing the remembrance week events, said the program is an appropriate way to honor survivors. Jacob explained that the grouping of events are planned to coincide with the worldwide holocaust remembrance day, which is April 15.

"Three of my four grandparents are Holocaust survivors," Jacob said. "It's a personal experience (for me)."

Jacob said she hopes to help educate the Miami and Oxford community not only about what happened in the past, but also about anti-Semitism in the present. Having personally been the victim of slurs and comments, Jacob wants people to be aware of their surroundings.

Continued...

Page 1 of 2 next >

Article Tools