ABSTRACT
For a variety of reasons I have high regard for Wladyslaw SilaNowicki. But I disagree with the conclusions to his article ‘A Reply to Jan Blonski’ in Tygodnik Powszechny (chapter 4). I agree with most of the arguments put forward by Jan Blonski in The Poor Poles Look at the Ghetto’ (chapter 2). Speaking with a member of Tygodnik’s editorial board I did not hesitate to describe Professor Blonski’s article as ‘a breakthrough’. Such a breakthrough is nowhere in sight in Sila-Nowicki’s interpretation of the subject: undeniable facts, rational arguments, all lead-in my opinion-to missed points. Missed, because he argues from a standpoint which has little to do with Blonski’s reasoning as I understand it. SilaNowicki argues like a pedigree staff officer who knows that a million people have sometimes to be sacrificed in order for two million to be saved. If, in addition, those million people remain passive and do not seek their own salvation in flight, then why even mention our, Polish, fault? In terms of his own standpoint SilaNowicki is right.
