Book aims to ‘debunk lies’ by Holocaust survivor and writer Jerzy Kosinski

The book, penned by Polish journalist Joanna Siedlecka and entitled The Ugly Black Bird, challenges the depictions Kosinski, a Polish Jew who survived World War II, offered in his controversial 1965 novel The Painted Bird, Poland’s dorzeczy.pl website reported.

According to Siedlecka, Kosinski created a false picture of German-occupied Poland in his book, which portrays the experiences of a Jewish boy during World War II.

In an interview with the dorzeczy.pl website, Siedlecka argues that her book, which has been translated into English by Chester Kisiel, shows that Kosinski “lied about the Holocaust” and “Polish crimes.”

She told dorzeczy.pl that Jewish groups tend to treat Kosinski as a “Holocaust icon” and are tempted to “play this card” every now and then.

Siedlecka also said the book is appearing in America at a time when a Hollywood production based on Kosinski's The Painted Bird is in the making.

She said the Hollywood film would be a “distorted version” of the real story of wartime Poland. She added that Kosinski "accused Poland of persecuting Jews.”

“Of course, Kosinski was a victim of the Holocaust, a victim of war,” Siedlecka told dorzeczy.pl. “But Poles—a priest and peasants from the Polish countryside—saved him.”

She added: “We have something to be proud of.”

Siedlecka was quoted as saying in the interview that she hoped her book “will debunk the lies ofThe Painted Bird in the West. Because the world believed in the story of [Kosinski's] tormented boy. I must admit I believed it myself until I investigated the matter.”

Jerzy Kosinski was born Józef Lewinkopf to Jewish parents in Łódź, Poland in 1933. He survived World War II and emigrated to the United States in 1957.

He is known for novels including Being There, which was made into a film in 1979.

He died of an apparent suicide in 1991.

(gs/pk)

Source: dorzeczy.pl