User:Gitz6666/ArbCom

Postwar Property Restitution

Prolonged edit war at History of the Jews in Poland between Feb-June 2019. Evidence of misrepresentation of sources, tendentious editing (WP:BATTLEGROUND) and disruptive editing (WP:IDIDNTHEARTHAT).

• 16:37, 22 February 2019 Tatzref adds text on restitution of abandoned property to Jews in postwar Poland reporting that a simplified procedure was set in place, entailing minimal costs, the return of property proceeded smoothly, thousands of claims were succesful, there were cases of Jews advancing fraudulent claims. Sources are hard to verify (on paper, in Polish) or fail verification (Icewhiz claims the passage misrepresented a volume edited by Grabowski&Libionka to the point it was libelous in t/p discussion).
• 23-25 Feb. First edit war between Icewhiz and Yaniv (removing) and Piotrus, Volunteer Marek (VM) and Galassi (restoring) [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6], [7]. Notable points:

1. uncivil edit summary by Yaniv (rv antisemitic vandalism)
2. despite the explicit request [8], the sources were made available on the t/p by Tatzref two months later, on the 21 April 2019, and the analysis by Piotrus and Icewhiz highlighted serious shortcomings, such as misrepresentation of sources (Grabowski-Libionka, eds., Klucze i Kasa, generally, spec. Skibińska, ivi), undue generalization of local microhistory's findings (Krzyżanowski, ivi), use of primary sources ("American Jewish Year Book", 1947-48) and (from 7 May 2019 onwards) extensive reliance on a low-quality (biased or fringe, possibly SPS) source, Golden Harvest or Hearts of Gold? (Leopolis Press, 2012).

• 22:49, 25 February 2019 TonyBallioni protects.
• 25 Feb-1 March 2019. AE request against Tatzref (Icewhiz filer). No action taken. VM is T-banned for six months, François Robere is blocked for a week. T-ban for VM is immediately overturned on 4 March
• 12:23, 12 March 2019 Icewhiz Remove content as it failed verification vs. the cited sources, misused a primary source, and was contradicted by available English RSes. Replace with content cited to academic English-language sources available online. Text reports that Polish gov. placed new limitations on inheritance, de facto preventing restitution to Jews, property of killed Jews and "unproductive and parasite factors" was devolved to the state, lenghty proceedings when Jewish property was occupied by Poles, Jewish heirs often murdered when attempting to reclaim property, extremly small numbers of Jews got property back. Based on high-quality, easily verifiable sources: essay in "Jewish Culture and History" [9], books by CUP [10], Palgrave [11], OUP [12], Harvard UP [13].
• 04:28, 7 May 2019 Tatzref reverts Icewhiz and restores an expanded version of their own text, now extensively based on Golden Harvest .
• 7-20 May. Second edit war between Icewhiz, François Robere (FR) and K.e.coffman (reverting), and Piotrus, VM and My very best wishes (restoring) [14], [15], [16] and [17], [18], [19], [20] (incorporating/merging some of the two competing texts), [21], [22], [23], [24], [25]‎, [26], [27], [28] and [29], [30], [31]‎, [32], [33]‎, [34], [35]. Notable points:

1. Five reverts by VM and FR, four by Icewhiz, three by Piotrus.
2. The analysis of texts and t/p discussion proves conclusively that Icewhiz's text is far better than Tatzref's "improved" text. See also François Robere's a few more sources in the collapsable box at 17:39, 12 May 2019 in the t/p discussion.
3. Dubious allegation of BLP vio in Tatzref's text made by FR and Icewhiz here, conclusive evidence of misrepresentation of source Krzyżanowski here and misrepresentation of source Skibińska here.
4. After Icewhiz and FR on 15-16 May published 3,500 words demolishing Tatzref's sources (misrepresentation of Krzyzanowski and Skibińska), the first to reply in the t/p is VM with This is a general level article. All kinds of details and speculations and academic arguments belong in dedicated article on the subject, not here[36] (WP:IDIDNTHEARTHAT).
5. 17 May-6 June, RSN thread on Golden Harvest or Hearts of Gold?, opened by Piotrus (see also here on t/p), followed by RfC opened by FR (result: not an RS, 9 July). Notable point: Piotrus's OP mentioning the relatively uncontroversial Polish scholar Wojciech Muszyński.

• 03:37, 20 May 2019 El C protects This edit war has gone on for long enough. 30-31 May AE request against VM (Icewhiz filer) referred to the ArbCom.
• 3-4 June. Final skirmish: 19:03, 3 June 2019‎ FR Discussion concluded with a consensus to remove the MJC's book [Golden Harvest], so I'm restoring the previous, well-sourced version; 20:26, 3 June 2019‎ VM I'm sorry, but no such consensus was achieved. Can you please provide a link where this consensus you claim exists was formed? At RSN, the discussion tended to the opposite conclusion. Furthermore EVEN IF there are issues with one particular source that does not justify making OTHER mass deletions of sourced text or unsupported changes; 02:51, 4 June 2019‎ K.e.coffman No consensus to include this source / content -- pls see Talk:History_of_the_Jews_in_Poland#Edit_break" (pointing to this discussion). Notable points: this and this comment by VM (WP:IDIDNTHEARTHAT and WP:BATTLEGROUND).