"Fear" did not invite public deliberation on Polish anti-semitism, but was a conscious act of shock therapy, applied by the author. The book's reception did not result in a revaluation of the Polish collective remembrance. On the contrary, Gross' work had a polarising effect on its readers. The mechanism of the "spiral of silence" relates to the fact that an allegedly minority-oriented opinion under the pressure of the media may become that of the actual majority