Perhaps our over-stretched editor Stephen Pollard was far too busy defending a prominent Polish political personality who praises General Pinochet and insults gays to have even noted, in today's paper, the passing of a true hero of the Polish and Jewish people – one of the commanders of the Warsaw ghetto uprising, Marek Edelman. Heartfelt obituaries of Marek Edelman appeared in the mainstream press throughout this week, and yet in the JC today, seven days after Edelman's death, not a mention.
As far as Pollard's beloved Kaminski goes, all is forgiven, it seems, because of his “friendliness to Israel”. Yet Edelman remained unnoticed, his heroism unacknowledged in this week's JC.
Could it have anything to do with the fact that although he was (or even because he was) a principled fighter against fascism and antisemitism and extreme nationalism, Edelman was never a Zionist? Instead, he maintained his allegiance to the Bund - a Jewish political party in inter-war Poland that promoted the possibility of a common future for humanity across boundaries of culture, ethnicity or nation.
Edelman even had the temerity to regard Poland, the place of his birth, as his homeland instead of Israel. Indeed, after the war, Edelman stayed in Poland and continued his valiant efforts at saving lives through his work as a cardiologist for several decades. He remained politically active in post-war Poland too, coming to the fore in the 1980s as a brave and outspoken opponent of Jaruzelski's Stalinist regime.
Unlike "Friend of Israel" Kaminski, Edelman was the most steadfast fighter on behalf of the oppressed for human rights, democracy and equality. And I suspect that Edelman will be remembered long after the likes of Kaminski are forgotten.
Who knows? He might even get a mention in the JC next week!