Andrzej Leszek Szcześniak (November 29, 1932 – March 15, 2003) was a controversial Polish doctor of historical sciences, author of over thirty historical books and school textbooks. While he was praised for his research of the

Katyn massacre The Katyn massacre, "Katyń crime"; russian: link=yes, Катынская резня ''Katynskaya reznya'', "Katyn massacre", or russian: link=no, Катынский расстрел, ''Katynsky rasstrel'', "Katyn execution" was a series of m ...

, he was also accused of

anti-Semitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

Research in Katyń massacre

Szcześniak was among the first who raised the issue of the

Katyń massacre The Katyn massacre, "Katyń crime"; russian: link=yes, Катынская резня ''Katynskaya reznya'', "Katyn massacre", or russian: link=no, Катынский расстрел, ''Katynsky rasstrel'', "Katyn execution" was a series of m ...

in the mid-1980s and published several books on the subject. In 2004, the , whose statute goal is the commemoration of the victims of the massacre, awarded him posthumously the "Golgotha of the East - Katyń 1940" Medal (Medal Golgoty Wschodu – Katyń 1940).

Accusations of anti-Semitism

Szcześniak is known for reviving the conspiracy theory of

Judeopolonia Judeopolonia, also Judeo-Polonia, is an antisemitic conspiracy theory positing future Jewish domination of Poland.Michlic, Joanna Beata (2006). ''Poland's Threatening Other: The Image of the Jew from 1880 to the Present'', pp. 48, 55–56. Univers ...

, authoring two volumes under this title, which present Jews as "informers and spies for the

tsar Tsar ( or ), also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar'', is a title used by East and South Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word ''caesar'', which was intended to mean "emperor" in the European medieval sense of the ter ...

, tightfisted hyenas and arrogant sassy people who oppress the Polish people." . Polish journalist Anna Bikont writes that during the Communist times he had a near-monopoly on the history textbooks, but with the

fall of Communism The Revolutions of 1989, also known as the Fall of Communism, was a revolutionary wave that resulted in the end of most communist states in the world. Sometimes this revolutionary wave is also called the Fall of Nations or the Autumn of Nat ...

he switched the rhetoric in the textbooks from Communist to nationalist. She writes that she raised the issue of

in his textbooks in her articles ''

Gazeta Wyborcza ''Gazeta Wyborcza'' (; ''The Electoral Gazette'' in English) is a Polish daily newspaper based in Warsaw, Poland. It is the first Polish daily newspaper after the era of " real socialism" and one of Poland's newspapers of record, covering the ...

'', which caused public protests by over 200 prominent people against using these textbooks in education, but an equally large group defended his textbooks for the "Polish values" in them. Anna Bikont, She cites him saying on the occasion of Jedwabne Massacre that "The hysteria around Jedwabne is aimed at shocking Poles and extracting sixty-five billion dollars from our people in the framework of the Holocaust business".

Books

* ''Katyń: lista ofiar i zaginionych jeńców obozów Kozielsk, Ostaszków, Starobielsk'', Alfa, Warsaw, 1989, . * ''Katyń: relacje, wspomnienia, publicystyka'', Alfa, Warsaw, 1989, . * ''Katyń. Tło historyczne, fakty, dokumenty'', Alfa, Warsaw, 1989, . * ''Wojna polsko-radziecka 1918-1920'', Wyd. Ośrodka Dokumentacji i Studiów Społecznych, Warsaw, 1989, . * ''Zmowa. IV rozbiór Polski'', Alfa, Warsaw, 1990, . * ''

. Żydowskie państwo w państwie polskim'', , Radom, 2001, . * ''Plan zagłady Słowian –

Generalplan Ost The ''Generalplan Ost'' (; en, Master Plan for the East), abbreviated GPO, was the Nazi German government's plan for the genocide and ethnic cleansing on a vast scale, and colonization of Central and Eastern Europe by Germans. It was to be under ...

'', Polskie Wydawnictwo Encyklopedyczne, Radom, 2001,. * ''Holokaust''. Wyd. Polskie Wydawnictwo Encyklopedyczne, Radom, 2001, . * ''Judeopolonia II - Anatomia Zniewolenia Polski'', Polskie Wydawnictwo Encyklopedyczne, Radom, 2002, . * ''Deportacje w XX wieku'', Polskie Wydawnictwo Encyklopedyczne, Radom, 2002, . * ''Katyńska zbrodnia'', Polskie Wydawnictwo Encyklopedyczne Polwen, Radom, 2004,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Szczesniak, Andrzej Leszek 1932 births 2003 deaths 20th-century Polish historians Polish male non-fiction writers Antisemitism in Poland Katyn massacre investigators