Whitewash: Poland and the Jews

Deeply personal and brutally honest, this extended analysis intertwines Grabowski’s experiences and those of his family in Poland with a sharp critique of the state’s long-standing policy of Holocaust distortion. Carried out over decades by successive political parties, this campaign has become a powerful unifying force in Polish society. To protect the narrative of “political innocence” during the Holocaust, Poland has enacted criminal and civil laws designed to silence independent scholars, including Grabowski, who was sued for defamation in Polish court. In Whitewash, Grabowski examines Holocaust envy, distortion, denial, and de-Judaization in a searing call to protect the integrity of Holocaust memory.

Whitewash effectively weaves together the history and politics of Holocaust distortion, grounding them in Grabowski’s own lived experience to underscore the immediate need for collective reckoning and action.