editorials
The Enemy of Our Nemesis
I n our community’s consciousness, Poland, the
site of Auschwitz and the Warsaw Ghetto, is the
graveyard of the Jews. Like so many other places
in Eastern Europe, Jewish life flourished in Poland
until it was crushed by antisemitism, unfiltered hate
and violence.

When World War II broke out, there were 3.3
million Jews in Poland, the second-largest Jewish
community in the world. Eighty-five percent were
murdered in the Holocaust. The pallor of death
and the stories of unimaginable evil haunted our
postwar communal perception of the Polish peo-
ple and their government.

At the end of the Cold War, Poland made a
quick turn toward the West. But even with that
move we saw a disturbing shift in Poland away
from democratic ideals like protection of minori-
ties, and a pronounced move toward populism
and authoritarianism. So, it was disappointing but
not surprising that Poland’s ruling Law and Justice
party eroded the free press, attacked indepen-
dent courts, molested the LGBTQ community and
turned increasingly anti-Europe. And in the pro-
cess, Poland also poured cold water on its rela-
tions will Israel. Just last August, Poland passed
an offensive anti-restitution law that would block
M Jewish property claims from World War II and the
communist era, defying strong opposition from
Israel and the United States. We joined many in
the West who worried where Poland was headed.

Then, in the weeks since Russia invaded
Ukraine, Poland shifted again — taking on the
mantle of “the West” and “Europe,” and rallying
support for Ukraine. Some 2.5 million Ukrainians
have escaped to Poland, more than any other of
Ukraine’s neighbors. And Poland has outpaced
the United States and Western European coun-
tries in sending weapons to Ukraine, in advocat-
ing Ukraine’s immediate admittance to the EU,
in envisioning a permanent American base in
Albright Leaves a Legacy
adeleine Albright, who died last week of
cancer at age 84, left a significant legacy.

She was the first woman to serve as secretary of
state at a time when politics was very much a man’s
game, leaving the door open for Condoleezza Rice
and Hillary Clinton, who both served in the role after
her. She was a refugee and a defender of human
rights and democracy. She also came from a Jewish
family, a history she said she didn’t know until later in
life. It also appears that many of her family members
died in the Holocaust.

Albright was born in Czechoslovakia. When she
was a toddler, her family fled the Nazis. When she
was 11, the family fled the country again, this time
from the communists. They settled in Colorado.

Albright studied political science at Wellesley
College, then got married and started a family.

She earned a Ph.D. in public law and government
at Columbia University, where she studied under
Zbigniew Brzezinski. She later worked as a con-
gressional liaison for Brzezinski, when he was a
national security adviser in the Carter adminis-
tration, and served as a foreign policy adviser for
Rep. Geraldine Ferraro and Gov. Michael Dukakis.

She was also a supporter of Bill Clinton when he
was governor of Arkansas. When Clinton was
16 If any country knows
what it’s like to be sliced
and diced and put out
of business by its larger
neighbors, it’s Poland.

Poland of up to 40,000 troops and transferring
MiG-29 fighter jets to the Ukrainian air force,
something the United States has opposed. Then,
last week, Poland’s prime minister, along with
the prime ministers of the Czech Republic and
Slovenia, rode a train to Kyiv in a very public effort
to bolster Ukraine’s morale.

If any country knows what it’s like to be sliced
and diced and put out of business by its larger
neighbors, it’s Poland. So when Poland sees what
Vladimir Putin is doing in Ukraine, it may have a
genuine fear that it could be next. But no matter
what is driving its actions, Poland now wears a
white hat and has reached a new level of interna-
tional involvement and attention.

Today’s realities force our Jewish memory
through a mind-bending shift in our perception
of Poland — similar in many respects to our
changing perception of Ukraine. But with Poland
it’s different, as we see Prime Minister Mateusz
Morawiecki, himself an illiberal leader, calling for
support against Putin, another illiberal leader. If
not for the enormity of Putin’s threat, we might
ignore the plea. But we can’t. For now, Poland
and Morawiecki are our friends, and enemies of
our nemesis. JE
MARCH 31, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
Regardless of her
complicated Jewish
identity, Albright was
someone the Jewish
community should
be proud of.

elected president, he named Albright ambassa-
dor to the United Nations.

As a diplomat on the world stage — first as
ambassador to the U.N., then as secretary of
state — she wanted the United States to work with
international allies to support human rights. She
opposed Clinton’s decision not to intervene in
the Rwandan genocide. During the Serbian geno-
cide of Bosnian Muslims, she called for airstrikes
against Serbian targets, and was successful in
getting the Clinton administration involved.

She also played a part in Middle East peace
talks. In 1988, when Clinton was leading peace
talks with then-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu and then-Palestinian leader Yasser
Arafat in Wye River, Maryland, Netanyahu ordered
his team to place their suitcases in front of their
cabins as a signal they were leaving. Albright
interceded with Yitzhak Mordechai, the Israeli
defense minister, and the Israeli team decided
to stay. The peace talks led to the Wye River
Memorandum to revive the Israeli-Palestinian
peace process.

When Albright was in her 50s, The Washington
Post uncovered her Jewish past. Her parents,
who had been Jewish, converted to Catholicism,
probably to protect their family from persecution.

Albright was raised Catholic and said she never
knew of her Jewish heritage before the Post dis-
covered it. Many in the Jewish community were
skeptical of her claim and speculated she was hes-
itant to come forward about her history because it
might jeopardize her political aspirations.

Regardless of her complicated Jewish identity,
Albright was someone the Jewish community
should be proud of. She broke a glass ceiling for
women in politics, prioritized human rights on the
world stage and changed the world for the better.

May her memory be a blessing. JE