Russian Jews agree with Putin's opinion on Polish ambassador who supported Hitler
MOSCOW. Dec 25 (Interfax) - Head of the Russian Federation of Jewish Communities Rabbi Alexander Boroda has thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin for harsh words addressed to the Polish ambassador to Nazi Germany, Josef Lipski, who backed Hitler in 1938.
"Vladimir Vladimirovich [Putin] made very sincere and humane statements at the Defense Ministry's board meeting. On behalf of the Russian Jewish community we can express only deep gratitude to such an emotional and truthful response to the publication of new facts regarding Poland's support for Germany's policy in the 1930s and the 1940s," Boroda told Interfax on Tuesday.
The rabbi said that when the Holocaust tragedy, which is "one of the most horrible of the twentieth century," is studied, there is a relative gradation of those guilty: from chiefs to the authors of awful orders to witnesses of the machine of death, who themselves became accomplices of mass assassinations to some extent.
"In this instance, Polish diplomat Lipski not only sympathizes with Hitler's ideas and stands ready to fulfill his orders, but, what's more, he inspires him to make murderous decisions, backs a deadly plan to its very roots, thus giving him strength and energy. Moreover, he says 'we', answering, it would seem, for all Polish people, are willing to perpetuate the memory of the Fuhrer for the genocide of the Jewish people," Boroda said.
The words which the Russian president addressed to the diplomat were highly accurate, he said.
The Jewish Museum and the Tolerance Center pay tremendous attention to keeping the memory of and studying the Second World War, and the exhibition entitled "Righteous people of the nations of the world," which is dedicated to people of all nationalities and religious denominations who risked their life to save the Jews during the war, Boroda said.
"It is an interesting fact that there were multiple 'righteous people of the world,' people who were saving and successfully saved the Jews in Poland, a country which supported the Nazis at the top level, and this was again proven in the archive made public," he said. "The Jewish tradition believes that complete repentance is possible only when we admit to all of our mistakes and root out the slightest seeds of evil from our hearts. I want to believe that the Polish people will draw correct conclusions from the black pages of history," Boroda said.