JKRUK 20130210 JERZY ROBERT NOWAK KRAKOW IMG 8048

Jerzy Robert Nowak (born 8 September 1940) is a Polish historian, and former columnist in right-wing Catholic media outlets including Nasz Dziennik, Telewizja Trwam,

Radio Maryja Radio Maryja is a religious and political socially conservative Polish radio station. It was founded in Toruń, Poland, on 9 December 1991, by the Redemptorist Tadeusz Rydzyk. The name "Maryja" is a traditional Polish form of the name "Mary ...

.Törnquist-Plewa, Barbara. "The Jedwabne Killings–A Challenge for Polish Collective Memory." Echoes of the Holocaust. Historical Cultures in Contemporary Europe, Lund (2003).

Biography

Nowak was born on 8 September 1940 in

Terespol Terespol (; ) is a border town in eastern Poland on the border with Belarus. It lies on the border river Bug, directly opposite the city of Brest, Belarus. It has 5,794 inhabitants as of 2014. Overview Since 1999 Terespol has been within Bia� ...

. He worked in

Polish Institute of International Affairs The Polish Institute of International Affairs (PISM, ) is a Polish think tank based in Warsaw which carries out research and training in international relations. In this field, it ranks as one of the most influential think tanks not just in Ce ...

, he was an expert in Hungarian matters, has published a number of books about Hungary. He worked in embassy of Poland in Budapest. He was an activist of

Alliance of Democrats (Poland) The Alliance of Democrats (, SD), also known as the Democratic Party, is a Polish centre-left party. Initially formed in 1937, the party underwent a revival in 2009, when it was joined by liberal politician Paweł Piskorski, formerly a membe ...

. He criticized ''The X-s'', a historical novel by

György Spiró György (George) Spiró (born 4 April 1946 in Budapest) is a dramatist, novelist and essayist who has emerged as one of post-war Hungary's most prominent literary figures. He is a member of the Széchenyi Academy of Literature and Arts. Life ...

. He has been accused of

antisemitism Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

by various intellectuals as well as by the Polish Club of Catholic Intelligentsia and some Catholic clerics (including Archbishop Józef Życiński). In lectures to Catholic parishes throughout Poland, Nowak as spoken on the "threat of the Jews and masons". In his writings, Nowak has promoted the

Judeopolonia Judeopolonia, also Judeo-Polonia, is an antisemitic conspiracy theory positing future Jewish domination of Poland.Michlic, Joanna Beata (2006). ''Poland's Threatening Other: The Image of the Jew from 1880 to the Present'', pp. 48, 55–56. Univer ...

conspiracy theory. During the debate in Poland on the Polish role in the Jedwabne pogrom, Nowak, writing in ''Nasz Dziennik'', dismissed

Jan T. Gross Jan Tomasz Gross (born 1947) is a Polish-American sociologist and historian. He is the Norman B. Tomlinson '16 and '48 Professor of War and Society emeritus and professor of history emeritus at Princeton University. Gross is the author of se ...

as "the usual propaganda to get out of the Polish government money for the crimes committed in Poland by Germans, Soviets and criminals". Nowak argued against any acceptance of guilt by Poles, and expressed his (extreme) view that Jews should ask Poles for forgiveness over their "anti-Polish lies" and other "misdeeds". He wrote a book in Polish "100 kłamstw J.T. Grossa o żydowskich sąsiadach i Jedwabnem" ("100 lies of J.T. Gross about Jewish neighbors and Jedwabne.") Following the publication of Gross's Fear: Anti-Semitism in Poland after Auschwitz, Nowak went on a lecture tour to focusing on what he referred to as Gross's "lies" and wrote aggressive newspaper columns.European Cultural Memory Post-89
edited by Conny Mithander, John Sundholm, Adrian Velicu, p. 139

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nowak, Jerzy Robert 1940 births Living people People from Biała Podlaska County Polish Roman Catholics Alliance of Democrats (Poland) politicians Centre Agreement politicians 20th-century Polish historians Polish male non-fiction writers Polish publicists University of Warsaw alumni Knights of the Order of Polonia Restituta Recipients of the Silver Cross of Merit (Poland) Antisemitism in Poland Historians of Poland