CATHOLIC BREAKS WITH
POLISH-JEWISH DIALOGUE GROUP

New York (PMN)--On May 5, 2003, Bozenna Urbanowicz Gilbride delivered her resignation to the National Polish American-Jewish American Council (NPAJAC), of which she had been a member for about seven years. She stated, “I can no longer serve as a member of an organization that excludes five million people as victims of the Holocaust.”

On March 18, 2003, Urbanowicz Gilbride received a letter from the above Council stating: "That definition [of the Holocaust], in its specificity, recognizes the reality of the differences between the treatment of Jews and non-Jews under the Nazi occupation of Poland.” It adds, “This definition is a critical and central part of the belief system of the Jewish community and the Council has always and still does accept it.”

That letter was in response to a November 18, 2003, presentation “Teaching the Holocaust in U.S.A.” given by Urbanowicz Gilbride and referring to herself as a Polish Catholic Holocaust survivor and what she had learned in the past 13 years of teaching about the Holocaust in schools, temples, churches and universities in U.S. and abroad. It was signed by the two co-chairs, John Pikarski and Martin Bresler.

Urbanowicz Gilbride says, “The body of my presentation was dismissed as if my saying that I am a Catholic Holocaust survivor, everything I said is invalid.”

After reading her resignation at the Council meeting, Rev. John Pawlikowski, NPAJAC member of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM), responded to her “That the USHMM recognizes only the six million Jews as victims of the Holocaust. The five million others have a ‘special place’ in the Museum.”

Urbanowicz Gilbride responds, “I know that special place. It is in back of the room, where you are to sit quietly and speak only when you are spoken to. As a Polish Catholic Holocaust survivor, I do not wish to be separated from my fellow co-victims, be they Jew or Gentile.”

She recalls that the Council spent much time on Father Jankowski’s homily given in Poland, but discussion of Rabbi Friedman, who called the Pope a “dumb Pollack” and advised “do not hire Poles as maids, do not patronize Polish doctors, lawyers ...” barely took two minutes. She says that the differentiation was not fair.

States Urbanowicz Gilbride, “Jedwabne took up much time, many e-mails, a trip to Poland, and a booklet by American Jewish Committee member Alvin Rosenfeld, still insisting that 1,600 Jews perished at the hands of Poles in 1941 as per the poorly researched and flawed book written by Jan T Gross. The truth was estimated at about 300. Poland published ‘Thou Shall Not Kill’ with a contrite summation of the event. Polish President Kwasniewski apologized (some say too quickly) for Jedwabne. But an apology is only as good as the people receiving it. No acknowledgement or acceptance came from the Jews.”

She adds that Polish NPAJAC members tried to bring up the story of Koniuchy, where Jews killed Poles during the war, but it was quickly dismissed by other members.

In 1998, David Harris of American Jewish Committee, NPAJAC’s organization, wrote an emotional essay about Polish youth who were laughing as March of the Living students walked the streets near Auschwitz. He was also offended at Polish shops displaying holy pictures “deliberately,” instead of “welcome” signs. Harris wrote that this constitutes a sort of “holy war.” Urbanowicz Gilbride responded in a prepared statement at the next NPAJAC meeting in Chicago that Harris is quite conceited to want people to stop everything and “Welcome” him with signs when he passes by the window.

Urbanowicz Gilbride states that “Copies of any article that appears in e-mails from the Council to praise Poles always seems to include ‘even though Poles are anti-Semites’ or ‘Poland is the most anti-Semitic country.’ We Poles could not write anything but compliments about Jews. Anything else would constitute anti-Semitism. Is that fair?”

But what angered Urbanowicz Gilbride most was NPAJAC’s refusal to acknowledge Poles and others as co-victims of the Holocaust. She calls it “the final blow to any human being who wants unity, peace, and acknowledgement in history.”

Urbanowicz Gilbride was burn in Leonowka, Poland in 1934, the oldest of four children. She was interned in two slave labor camps. Her mother was also in two concentration camps. Her father and four children came to America in 1947.

In 1989 she became a member of the Nassau County Holocaust Commission and served on its Educational Committee. In 1991 Urbanowicz Gilbride collected an “Oral History” of Polish Holocaust Survivors in Poland and the U.S. and donated the work to the U.S. Holocaust Museum. She received the “Woman of the Year” award from the Town of Hempstead, Pathfinders Organization for Humanitarian Contribution in 1992 and the prestigious Louis E. Yavner Award from the New York State Education Department, Board of Regents in 1993.

Other Honors she has received included the Cross of Merit from Polish President Lech Walesa (1994); Ellis Island Medal of Honor (1995); placed the Zegota monument in Warsaw, Poland (1995); Honorary Righteous Gentile medal from Poland (1995); plus thirteen awards, certificates and commendations from senators, congressmen and local leaders.

In 1997 she joined the National Polish American-Jewish American Council of the American Jewish Committee (AJC). She became production associate for the documentary film about rescuers, “Zegota: Council for Aid to Jews in Occupied Poland 1942-45.” She has lectured on her life during the Holocaust since 1989 to the present.

[Editor’s Note: Since Urbanowicz Gilbride’s resignation, a Committee has been formed to decide “who is” and “who is not” a holocaust victim. Fourteen members of the National Polish American-Jewish American Council (NPAJAC) have been called to serve in a telephone conference meeting.]