Larry better learn more or read more about Poland under nazi occupation. And how Poles saved your English arse from Hitler because "empire" wasn't in able to protect its own citizens.

You wrote: "this culture was separate from mainstream Polish culture. This was largely due to the anti-semitic environment in which they lived". And what about prohibition of intermarriages with gentiles, what about dietary laws that hindered normal contacts between people, what about speaking language of the nation with which Poles had troubles for centuries? Are you shure that it were only Poles who raised the wall? And one more thing, it is easy now to call every past conflict an act of anti-Semitism. But in every society there are conflicts between groups, minorities etc. And rarely the only one side is to be blamed.

To all the Jew hate geneticists out here, please bring you evidence forward. To all the religious Amalekists please let us know when God himself came down and told you who Amalek is (Germans? Poles? Iranians? Romans?). Please tell us how many generations must pass before the Jew hate gene or Amalek soul passes on to the next enemy of the Jews. How many unborn generations of Poles and Germans are infected with this diabolical Jew hate behavior? Don’t hold back, we have a right to know. Educate us so we know where we stand. Or, is it permanent? Please impart your rational wisdom. I will tell you one thing. I’d rather be a Jew living in Poland than a Jew living in the Jew/Israel loathing UK of today. For me Jew hate roams the globe like a dark cloud looking for a welcoming place to settle. That place may have a lightening rod like Hitler or Ahmadinejad. That place may have a history with Jews or not as in the case of an upsurge of Jew hate books in Japan in the 80s. But just as the dark cloud comes so it blows away. American Protestants could hardly have been called friends of Jews or Israel 20 years ago. Today over 40 million American Christians stand hard, tall and fast behind Israel. Even an evil extreme religious ideology like the Koranic concept of Jews being decedents of monkeys and pigs, or the Christian “Jews killed Christ” can eventually evaporate into thin air. And it is a Jews responsibility to avoid self-destructive genetic and spiritual theories and know when and where the Jew hate clouds are at any given time and place in order to take appropriate action.

I wote "This environment also provided the impetus for a introverted, distrustful element (one that I personally think is outdated nowadays and needs to be shaken off...but that's another story) in Jewish cultural understanding." Those kosher laws and forbidding to eat with non-Jews and general closed character of Jewish life in Poland is what I am referring to here. I'm sorry you misunderstood me. We agree. I just don't think it is appropriate to say the Poles were completely blameless. They weren't.

Touche. Point well made. I tend to agree with you. I was responding more to those who completely wash Polish hands of all anti-semitism

Thanks, I'm glad we came to some agreement. Yes, it's true that those discussions often tend to the extremes - demonising on one side and complete denial on the other ;)