NEW YORK – The World Jewish Congress welcomes Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki’s decision to recommend to parliament that it reopen discussions on its new Holocaust Law so as to rescind criminal penalty for suggesting that Poles bore some responsibility for the destruction of Polish Jewry, WJC President Ronald S. Lauder said Wednesday.
“The World Jewish Congress is pleased that the Polish government has recognized the untenable nature of its new Holocaust law, and that it is now taking the appropriate steps to amend one of the most problematic and dangerous clauses and remove the criminal penalties imposed by the law,” Lauder said.
“I have made clear in recent months, including in face-to-face conversations with both President Andrzej Duda and Prime Minister Morawiecki, our profound opposition to this legislation, which leads to an undeniable obfuscation of history and undermines democracy. The law as it stands now stifles any real discussion of the extent to which local Poles were complicit in the annihilation of their Jewish neighbors during the German occupation. It sets a dangerous precedent and is contrary to the values Poland has worked to uphold and promote,” he said.
“Poles are understandably upset when Nazi German annihilation and concentration camps are referred to as ‘Polish’ simply due to their location on German-occupied Polish soil, but it was an egregious mistake to criminalize those who do so, within the framework of a law that in its essence threatens Poland’s good name and international standing,” Lauder said. “To their credit, Polish scholars have not recoiled from researching these painful chapters in the history of their country. Their efforts must not be discredited or hindered.”
“Education, dialogue, and objective research, not criminalization, are the key to understanding history and achieving mutual respect between our two nations which have a relationship dating back 1,000 years. The World Jewish Congress welcomes the moves now being made by Poland’s leaders to rectify this inherently flawed law, and we urge it to carefully examine each of the clauses to ensure that historical integrity and democracy are reflected and respected,” Lauder said.
WJC President Ronald S. Lauder and Polish President Andrzej Duda at the commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising on 19 April 2018. (c) Shahar Azran
