Our Sunday Visitor
July 17, 1983
By Mitch Finley
'To even think Kolbe
was anti-Semitic is ludicrous'
Wiener Tagebuch is an Austrian anticlerical, anti-Catholic German-language
periodical. In the pages of its April 1982 issue there appeared
an article which charged that the then soon to-be-canonized Father
Maximilan Kolbe was the publisher of newspapers which "stood
for rabid racist anti-Semitism." The non-Jewish Wiener Tagebuch
charged that Father Kolbe was "a key figure," who supported
anti-Semitism among the Polish clergy" in the 1930s. The
article states that in August 1938 the Polish government "sent
a memorandum to the Vatican. They complained about the 'beastly
anti-Semitism of many prelates and especially Father Kolbe."
Quotations are attributed to Father Kolbe's newspapers which
reflect anti-Semitic philosophy.
The Wiener Tagebuch article stops short of suggesting that Father
Kolbe ought not to be canonized, but does object to his being
honored for his contribution to modern journalism. The Austrian
article concludes with these words: "It may well be the
case that most of the dignitaries in Rome have no idea at all
what Kolbe's journalism consisted of in reality. But one has
been given to understand that a few Poles are to be found in
Rome."
On June 13, 1982, and June 16, 1982, respectively, the St. Louis
Post-Dispatch and the St. Louis Jewish Light published articles
which reported the accusations against Father Kolbe, along with
comments from Catholic and Jewish researchers who disagreed.
Subsequently, on June 16, 1982, the St. Louis Jewish Light published
a more in-depth article which cast further doubt on the validity
of the charges of anti-Semitism against Father Kolbe.
Nevertheless, the ball was rolling. In a column in The Jewish
Advocate of Nov. 4, 1982, Rabbi Zev K. Nelson wrote: ".
. . it is of grave concern to us when we learn that the sainted
Kolbe was a notorious anti-Semite during the Hitler regime in
Poland. He was a Franciscan monk who organized an invidious anti-Semitic
press. . . ." Rabbi Nelson refers to Kolbe as "this
inveterate anti-Semite" and asks: "How can we possibly
say that Kolbe is kosher when his whole life has been unclean
- seared by the disease of anti-Semitism and sullied by the spewing
of hatred towards human beings of a different faith?"
On Nov. 18, 1982, The New, York Times published an article by
Henry Kamm which reported "The collected works of St. Maximilian
Kolbe contain a number of comments that indicate that the Polish
Priest ... may have shared in the anti-Semitism current in the
Polish Roman Catholic Church in the 1930s" The article went
on to report opposing evidence.
In December 1982, Washington Post syndicated columnist Richard
Cohen published what only appeared to be a balanced account of
the charges against Father Kolbe. Cohen's column concluded: "Father
Kolbe was in most respect s an extraordinary man.... But that
does not erase his (anti-Semitic) writings or make him an appropriate
choice for sainthood. The Church meant only to honor the way
he died. Unfortunately, it is also excused the way he lived."
In the December 1982 issue of the Republic, a column by Martin
Peretz was published which included these words:
"Before our eyes there is a revival of anti-Semitism in
the world, and it is being widely denied. On October 10, the
day after a terrorist attack on a Rome synagogue Maximilian Kolbe,
a Polish priest, and, it turns out, a rabid anti-Semite, was
canonized in the Roman Catholic Church." Peretz then rejects
the defense of Father Kolbe reported in the New York Times article
by Henry Kamm.
Patricia Treece (Kolbe authority and author of A Man For Others:
Maximilian Kolbe, Saint of Auschwitz) sent letter to the editor
of The New Republic objecting to Peretz' accusations. The New
Republic has neither published this letter, nor has Peretz retracted
his remarks
In a note to this writer, Patricia Treece remarked: "One
looks in vain in the writings of Father Kolbe's entire lifetime
for a single off-handed smear of a Jew like the one dashed off
by Martin Peretz without a single substantiating fact to support
it."
The finger has continued to be pointed at Father Kolbe. In a
review of A Man For Others in the New York Review of Books (Feb.
17, 1983), John Gross wrote: ". . . Kolbe's papers kept
up a relentless anti-Semitic campaign, including a witchhunt
against liberal-minded Poles who were regarded as unduly pro-Jewish."
Two key defenders of Father Kolbe are St. Louis University history
professor Daniel L. Schlafly, Jr., a Catholic, and Warren P.
Green, director of the St. Louis Center for Holocaust Studies,
who is Jewish. In an 18-page response to Kolbe's critics, Schlafly
and Green present the following factual items:
1. Efforts to locate a copy of the issue of Father Kolbe's newspaper
from which the Wiener Tagebuch article claims to quote have been
unsuccessful. It is highly doubtful that Father Kolbe was responsible
for the issue in question, as he was traveling in Asia at the
time and was not exercising direct editorial control over the
periodicals he had founded.
2. Furthermore, the collected writings of Father Kolbe reveal
no record of the quotations cited by Wiener Tagebuch, nor of
any article having been written by Father Kolbe for the issue
in question.
3. There is no record of Father Kolbe having written any of the
quotations attributed to his periodicals by Wiener Tagebuch.
Again, Father Kolbe was in Japan when the quotations appeared
for which he is said by Wiener Tagebuch to have been responsible.
4. No evidence can be found that Father Kolbe was the object
of a Polish government request that the Vatican restrain clerical
anti-Semitism. Besides, such a request would have been completely
inconsistent with the anti-Semitic Polish government policy of
the time.
5. The Jewish question was a very minor concern to Father Kolbe,
as evidenced by the 938 pages of testimony gathered for the beatification
process, the 1,006 extant letters written by Father Kolbe, and
the 396 extant articles, conferences, notes, radio sermons, etc.
Among all these writings, only 14 comments can be found about
Jews. In the words of Schlafly and Green: "Their content
is overwhelmingly spiritual and apostolic, revealing Father Kolbe
as a man dedicated to God and the Virgin Mary...."
Schlafly and Green acknowledge that "Five of the 14 references
to Jews in Father Kolbe's writings reflect the stereotype of
the Jews depicted in the Protocols of the Learned Elder's of
Zion (an apocryphal Russian book which claimed to describe a
plot by International Jewry to undermine the existing order and
to establish a world state through hatred, sabotage, etc.). One
can find phrases such as "Jewish-Masonic conspiracy,"
"cruel clique of Jews," and "their work (the Talmud)
which breathes hatred against Christ and the Christians."
It is important, say Schlafly and Green, to realize that "Kolbe
saw the Jews as one part of those who were 'prisoners of error,'
not as racially inferior . . . and urged prudence and charity
on an individual level. Thus, in 1934 he wrote 'concerning the
Jews, I am of the opinion that it is necessary to devote oneself
seriously to converting them, too; however, prudently, very prudently.'
Again, in 1935, he wrote, 'Speaking of the Jews, I would devote
great attention not to stir up accidentally nor to intensify
the hatred of our readers against them....'"
The wise observer will not only read Father Kolbe's writings,
but will take seriously accounts of his actions as well. Schlafly
and Green: "Numerous witnesses testified that (In the fall
and winter of 1939-40) Father Kolbe, himself Just released from
two-and-a-half months of German imprisonment and torture, sheltered
all who were in need of aid without distinguishing between Christian
and Jew. The refugees were given food from the friary kitchen,
fuel and clothing. The sick were housed in the friary hospital,
and Father Kolbe personally visited and consoled the refugees,
Jews Included."
Many similar accounts of Father Kolbe's compassion and charity
toward Jews are in the official records. At the same time St.
Maximilian Kolbe was a man of his time. It is unfair to expect
him to reflect a post-Vatican II ecumenism which values the Jewish
tradition as integral to a complete appreciation for Christianity.
In the end, perhaps the most significant witness to Father Kolbe's
attitudes toward Jews come from a man who shared concentration
camp life with him. Sigmund Gorson, now producer of his own television
variety show In Wilmington, Del., knew Father Kolbe well in Auschwitz
where he was imprisoned for his Jewish faith. In a recent letter
to American Jewish leaders, the major broadcasting network and
several Jewish organizations, Gorson wrote "To utter or
to even think for one second that Kolbe was anti-Semitic and
a known Jew-hater is absolutely ludicrous. . . . Kolbe was never.
. . anti-anyone. If there would be more like him, no Jew would
be harmed, no Jew would suffer and no Jew would be killed. He
loved the Jewish people, he suffered with them, he cried when
they cried and smiled with them.... I know, because I lived with
him In Auschwitz-Hell.... He was a shining and indeed a brilliant
example of decency and bravery, a great credit to my beloved
homeland, Poland, and to his Catholic Faith."
Reprinted with Permission from, "Our Sunday Visitor"
(Huntington, IN)
(c) Copyright 1998-2004 The Militia
of the Immaculata. All rights reserved.
| Contact
Us |
MI
HOME
| Back
to top
|