Publisher defends book on Polish plunder of Jews

A Polish publishing house defended its decision Tuesday to publish a book that has sparked controversy with its argument that Poles actively profited from Jewish suffering during the Holocaust.

"Golden Harvest," by Jan Gross and Irena Grudzinska Gross, argues that rural Poles sometimes sought financial gain from Jewish misfortune in a variety of ways, from plundering Jewish mass graves to ferreting out Jews in hiding for reward.

Gross said the starting point of the book is a photograph showing Polish peasants digging up human remains at the Treblinka death camp just after the war in a search for gold or other treasures that Nazi executioners might have overlooked. Scattered in front of the group are skulls and bones.......

Publisher defends book on Polish plunder of Jews