Comments for Poland: Crucified Between Two Thieves at http://www.thecatholicthing.org , comment 1 to 15 out of 15 comments http://www.thecatholicthing.org Fri, 24 May 2013 21:16:49 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/poland-crucified-between-two-thieves.html#comment-6216 Stalin said to his PolitBureau that conquered Poland was their greatest asset... during the war of 1920 young Jewish commissars burnt synagogues with Jewish villagers inside... Soviets POW and slave-labourers in concentration camps were raped and executed on the spot following their "liberation". NKVD tried to replace [sometimes successfully] Poles from Siberia with their agents nad install them as "residents" after wiping out the whole families. GRU sent young officers into catholic seminaries aiming to exploit information gathered by them as priest even during confessions! - Andrew Sat, 05 Mar 2011 04:25:08 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/poland-crucified-between-two-thieves.html#comment-5706 My wife and I went on a tour of Poland last fall and we were impressed with the beauty of Poland and were introduced to its history. One bit of history new to me was the war Poland won against Lenin in 1920. A short, but informative, read is Adam Zamoyski’s “Warsaw 1920: Lenin’s Failed Conquest of Europe". - Gary Fleming Fri, 14 Jan 2011 08:59:26 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/poland-crucified-between-two-thieves.html#comment-5694 Has no one found it a bit creepy that cultural profiling and demographics and race are now the central obsessions of our schools and workplaces and professional colleges. Talk to an admissions officer or human resources manager or marketer. There's a point where "scientific marketing," "diversity," and "inclusion" become stereotyping (I hesistate to point to this week's media squalor). I joked recently with a fellow Catholic that I may well be the ultimate "minority" in the Church -- a "hillbilly Catholic." Both my parents grew up in the impoverished hills of eastern Kentucky. Either I should be given "special consideration" or obversely I don't really fit the profile and should be discouraged from consuming the Catholic product. Robert Royal's THE NEW MARTYRS is not as alien as some might think. Although in America we marginalize -- or elevate -- in a genteel nonviolent fashion: labeling, court decisions, executive orders, public service campaigns, and congressional acts. - Graham Combs Thu, 13 Jan 2011 17:33:11 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/poland-crucified-between-two-thieves.html#comment-5682 Wow, that was an eye opener. Because of this article, I think Im going to go buy the book. Its a sad fact today, that whenever the bloody history of the 20th century is taught, the Nazis take most of the blame, when the Soviets deserve equal blame as well. In fact, the U.S.S.R killed more people than even the Nazis did. What's worse, there really are people out there who think a lot of the devastation of that time period was played up by the West, and not how it really was. I know people who think like this. And hey, even the former prime minister of Russia, Vladimir Putin, said something to the effect of the old Soviet empire as "the evil empire" (Ronald Reagan said that) was a bit much, that the Soviets were not really that bad. REALLY??? (Also, I have to agree with what The Moz suggested Poland do.) And lastly Jacob Ford makes some great points, especially towards the end of his post. I have to say that I have the same fears as he does, fears that, I think, are more future realities than just fears. - Aeneas Wed, 12 Jan 2011 11:18:10 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/poland-crucified-between-two-thieves.html#comment-5681 If you read Jerzy Kosinski's novel, "The Painted Bird," often cited as authentic Holocaust history, you'd think all Polish non-Jews were bad people at that time. "What is history but a fable agreed upon" -- Napoleon. - James Wed, 12 Jan 2011 11:05:21 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/poland-crucified-between-two-thieves.html#comment-5680 Fellow readers: May I beg your indulgence and return to the original point I was attempting to make? Thank you for your comments. I apologize for mentioning the term "Palestinians" as it only confused the issue. "Unless people repent and amend their lives, Russia will become a great power and spread its errors throughout the world" These words were said to three shepherd children in Portugal in 1917 by the Mother of God. She also promised a war (WW II) worse than this war (WW I)if Her Son's Will was not obeyed. All of Mr. Marlin's piece above, the fifty million abortions in the U.S. since Roe v. Wade, the enforcement of aberrosexual marriage in the world today, ALL reflect the beginning of a punishment which no one can imagine in its broadness and horror. For fifty years we have been living through the Third Secret of Fatima and it continues. Mr. Marlin's piece was a brilliant snapshot of one phase of the punishment - Bill Wed, 12 Jan 2011 10:23:34 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/poland-crucified-between-two-thieves.html#comment-5679 Bill May I suggest that you approach things logically. Nobody enjoys the hardships placed on the Palestinians as a result of the Israeli security measures. But the Polish, the Sudanese, and the Rwandans were not firing tens of thousands of rockets at their opponents for more than a decade and they were never given free food, water, and shelter EVER. No one is claiming that the Israelis are perfect angels, far from it, but it's not a matter of opinion as to whether the Palestinians have suffered as much as those other victims of real genocide (in fact the Palestinians themselves are debatably more at fault for the hardships and less responsible for the blessings of common Palestinians. As to your other question I'm not sure what point you would be able to see if you cant understand Mr. Marlin's purpose in recounting how what we would call leftist ideologies became in a few short decades responsible for more deaths than any other entity in history--even including those which are thousands of years old and far less closely knit than the Soviets were. As for me I don't see what point is more pressing. Christians are under threat of extinction in the lion's share of non Christian majority lands. Given past realities, it seems quite wise to me to worry about what are certainly existential threats to Christians everywhere. I see many parallels between the targeted destruction of the Polish Catholic educated class and the current leftist-atheist-hyper secularist alliance's attempted soft destruction of Christian and especially Catholic educated classes worldwide. In Canada they're already putting us in jail. In the US threats are being made about opposition to homosexuality becoming a criminally punishable offense. I'm a novice on this subject but I'm willing to bet that Stalin didn't start with reigns of terror and gulags, he worked into them after warming up by doing things like making religious belief a criminal offense (and of course they often don't make laws like "being Catholic is illegal" but instead target particular beliefs they know are inseparable from the whole) . - Jacob Ford Wed, 12 Jan 2011 07:06:21 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/poland-crucified-between-two-thieves.html#comment-5677 Bill, all: I think that the main point is made by title - these dead are part of The Body... - chris in maryland Wed, 12 Jan 2011 06:23:56 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/poland-crucified-between-two-thieves.html#comment-5674 "Lest we forget ... lest we forget". - Bangwell Putt Wed, 12 Jan 2011 04:48:57 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/poland-crucified-between-two-thieves.html#comment-5673 If Palestine were 1 one hundredth what Poland was for one weekend in the early 40s it would have disappeared in the 60s. Sadly many people in the West have forgotten the brutality of the two great atheistic ideologies of the 20th century and today believe that that could never have really happened. Idiots like the New Atheists don't help matters either. Perhaps Poland should issue an International Arrest Warrant for them for inciting hatred and for attempting to re-write history. - The Moz Wed, 12 Jan 2011 04:46:16 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/poland-crucified-between-two-thieves.html#comment-5672 Bill, I think Mr. Marlin's point was right there at the end: "Modern currents of similar pedigrees are still with us, and it’s a good reminder of their murderous potential to read Snyder’s remarkable book," i.e. the author recently published this book, and Mr. Marlin is showing how this recent historical work can highlight the "murderous potential" existing today so that we can better understand today for having better understood the past. - Trish Wed, 12 Jan 2011 04:10:14 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/poland-crucified-between-two-thieves.html#comment-5670 The head murderer and commanding the killing of the Polish officers, NKVD Major Genral Vasili Blokhin, was also the executioner at the Lubyanka. He has the dubious distinction of being the record holding executioner in the 20th century. During his career he is credited with personally killing over 7000 condemned. The good news is that most of them were communists and old Bolsheviks, and even unfortunate NKVD collegues, purged during the stalinist era, including my namesake, Nick Yezhov,who is referred to above. After Stalin's death Blokhin was purged, demoted, kicked out on the street, and died from the ravages of alcohol. - Yezhov Wed, 12 Jan 2011 04:03:28 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/poland-crucified-between-two-thieves.html#comment-5669 Interesting comment, Jason. May I suggest you look up Philip Weiss, Adam Horowitz and their site Mondoweiss, spend a half hour reading it, and then make a comment? - Bill Wed, 12 Jan 2011 03:45:33 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/poland-crucified-between-two-thieves.html#comment-5668 If Palestine were anything close to Rwanda, or Sudan, or Poland for that matter there wouldn't be anymore Palestinians, Bill. - jason taylor Wed, 12 Jan 2011 02:56:22 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2011/poland-crucified-between-two-thieves.html#comment-5667 Thank you for this fine report, Mr. Marlin, but I am somewhat lost as to its point. When I was in high school my father took me to Catholic lectures where the Spanish Civil War was discussed as well as the terrors of Naziism and Communism were enumerated as above. Would you want to be a Rwandan, Sudanese or Palestinian today? Now, if your intent was to describe what will be happening in THIS country over the next decade(s), then I understand your point. - Bill Wed, 12 Jan 2011 02:16:33 +0100