Downloaded from Pubfactory at 09/25/2021 08:42:17PM Via Free Access 216 Chapter IV
Chapter IV “Fear” after Jedwabne. The debate that almost didn’t happen. 1. “Fear” in Poland and in the eyes of historians. In January 2008, almost eight years after the release of “Neighbors”, Jan T. Gross’s new book, “Strach. Antysemityzm w Polsce tuż po wojnie. Historia mo- ralnej zapaści” [English: “Fear; Anti-Semitism in Poland just After the War. The History of Moral Collapse”] appeared on the Polish book market.735 Unlike “Neighbors”, which was first released to Polish readers, “Fear” was originally published in the USA and with a slightly different title: “Fear; Anti-Semitism in Poland after Auschwitz: An Essay in Historical Interpretation”.736 Thus, due to the author’s decision, his critics were prevented from formulating concerns of what could happen to the good name of Poland and Poles after foreigners read the book – concerns which had already been manifested in the debate over the massacre in Jedwabne. Jan Tomasz Gross’s new book started a debate in the Polish media at the time of its publication in the USA. As a result, before it was released in Poland, “Fear” had already been “promoted”, particularly by the national-Catholic press, reporting the ‘deceitful’ and ‘anti-Polish’ contents of the book. However, other comments and reviews also appeared, including academic texts. Therefore, in the first days of January 2008, when various newspapers announced Jan T. Gross’s new book, “Fear”, to be published by “Znak”, the title was already fa- miliar to many readers and the author’s name well known, particularly after the controversy over the Jedwabne pogrom.
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