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Last update - 19:16 12/02/2008 Poland won't sue author of book on post-WWII anti-Semitism By Reuters Tags: Holocaust, Poland, Jan Gross  The author of a book accusing Poles of persecuting Jews in the years immediately after the Holocaust will not face charges of slandering the Polish nation, prosecutors said on Tuesday. Jan Gross's book "Fear", which claims that anti-Semitism remained prevalent in Poland under the communist regime after 1945, was published in Polish last week and immediately sparked a national debate about Polish-Jewish relations. "The prosecutor's office decided there was nothing illegal (in the book)," said Boguslawa Marcinkowska, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office in the southern city of Krakow. Advertisement "Jan Gross presented his own vision of Polish-Jewish relations during war and communist times, choosing historical facts and giving his own interpretation of them," she added. The prosecutor checks controversial publications and decides whether they merit legal action. Gross has already accused Poles of actively assisting the Nazis in persecuting Jews in World War Two. Poland had the biggest Jewish population in Europe in 1939, but nearly all its Jews were among the six million who perished in the Holocaust. Survivors then fled communist anti-Semitic propaganda, leaving only a few thousand Jews in Poland. In "Fear" Gross focuses on a 1946 pogrom in the southern city of Kielce, where the disappearance of an eight-year-old boy led to a bloody attack on the Jewish community. Some Polish historians blame the pogrom on communist security forces, who they say encouraged the killing of some 40 people in Kielce, but the book revived controversy over what happened in Poland during both the Nazi and communist eras. "This book revives unfinished business, it doesn't concentrate on what's going on now. It only says some Jewish Holocaust survivors were occasionally murdered by their neighbors," Piotr Kadlcik, the head of Poland's Jewish community, said. "If we had discussed Poland's past openly after World War Two, people like Gross would not cause any tension. There were Poles who killed Jews, just as there were Poles who risked their lives to save them," he said. "This is obvious." If convicted of slandering the Polish nation, Gross could have been jailed for up to three years. Gross was not immediately available for comment, but in an interview with the daily Rzeczpospolita published on Jan. 11, he rejected charges his book was directed against Poland. "I am convinced anti-Semitism was one of the main poisons that were injected into the Polish identity," he told the daily, holding nationalist and Catholic circles responsible. Related articles: There is a new Poland Krakow church holds service against 'kikes who spit on us' Poland's Senate honors woman who saved 2,500 Jews from Holocaust Pre-war Jewish cemetery found under Polish apartment building More Jewish World news and features Bookmark to del.icio.us   'We lost a great leader' Dignitaries honor the only Holocaust survivor to serve in the U.S. Congress. Deadly incursion A mentally disabled Palestinian dies of wounds sustained in a West Bank IDF arrest raid.   1.   Anti-Semitism in Poland? 19:06  |  Mike A 12/02/08   2.   Jews and Poland 19:08  |  Manfried 12/02/08   3.   Another aspect of this 20:46  |  Colin Wright 12/02/08   4.   Hard to slander the facts 21:09  |  Gee 12/02/08   5.   Anti-semtism 21:51  |  Fnkelstein=Jew Hater 12/02/08   6.   Reminds me of David Irving`s suit against Deborah Lipstadt 22:00  |  bat yam 12/02/08   7.   What`s new? 22:08  |  Sherlock Holmes 12/02/08   8.   riddle 23:34  |  yiddle 12/02/08   9.   Jewish "revival" in Poland 00:07  |  Sam 13/02/08   10.   #5 As Usual Talkback=magnet-for-anti-Semites 00:25  |  Henryk 13/02/08   11.   They don`t sue for it`s the truth POLAND SUX 00:44  |  Petra 13/02/08   12.   Jan Gros 00:45  |  Andrew Arato 13/02/08   13.   The truth hurts. 00:51  |  leo 13/02/08   14.   Of course they do not prosecute 01:13  |  Mark B. 13/02/08   15.   You nationalistic idiots 05:42  |  ole 13/02/08   16.   on 14 talkbacks 8 are 06:49  |  Justine 13/02/08   17.   The biggest diaspora was in Poland 13:34  |  oreal 13/02/08   18.   Holmes @ 7 01:45  |  Greg 15/02/08   19.   Re 8 01:47  |  Greg 15/02/08   20.   Leo @ 13 01:55  |  Greg 15/02/08

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