Introduction

In January 1987, the Polish Catholic periodical Tygodnik Powszechny (Universal Weekly), opposed to the Communist regime, published an article that provoked a fierce debate among Polish intellectuals. In the piece, entitled “The Poor Poles look at the Ghetto,” Jan Błon´ski, professor of literature at Jagiellonian University, challenged the widespread Polish notion that the local population bore no moral responsibility for the Jewish tragedy in Poland during World War II and criticized Polish indifference to the fate of their fellow countrymen, the Jews.1