Poland’s senate has passed a law which makes it illegal to accuse Poles of being complicit in the Holocaust or describe concentration camps in the country as Polish.
Jewish groups say the law tries to rewrite history by denying that some Poles assisted the Nazis.
The bill, which must be signed into law by the President, has caused a major diplomatic row with Israel, with one Israeli minister calling it a ‘spit in the face.’
Poland’s senate has passed a bill making it illegal to accuse Poles of being complicit in the Holocaust. Pictured: Auschwitz concentration camp
The upper house of parliament on Wednesday voted 57-23, with two abstentions, to approve the bill which sets fines or maximum three-year jail terms.
The lower house of parliament, which like the senate is controlled by the governing right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party, had passed the bill last Friday – triggering the protest from abroad.
Israel called for the bill to be dropped, seeing one of its provisions as an attempt to deny Polish involvement in Nazi Germany’s extermination of Jews.
Israeli lawmakers penned a proposed bill of their own Wednesday amending Israel’s law regarding Holocaust denial, so that diminishing or denying the role of those who aided the Nazis in crimes against Jews would be punishable with jail.
The upper house of parliament voted 57-23, with two abstentions, to approve the bill on Wednesday. Auschwitz concentration camp
Before the vote on the Polish bill, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert expressed ‘concern’ that ‘if enacted this draft legislation could undermine free speech and academic discourse’.
‘We are also concerned about the repercussions this draft legislation… could have on Poland’s strategic interests and relationships – including with the United States and Israel,’ she added.
To take effect, the legislation still needs to be signed by Polish President Andrzej Duda, who on Monday had said he was ‘flabbergasted’ by Israel’s ‘violent and very unfavourable reaction’.
‘We absolutely can’t back down, we have the right to defend the historical truth,’ he added.
Poland was attacked and occupied by Nazi Germany in World War II, losing six million of its citizens including three million Jews.
Helping Jews, even offering them a glass of water, was punishable by death in occupied Poland.
Helping Jews, even offering them a glass of water, was punishable by death in occupied Poland. Pictured: Auschwitz
More than 6,700 Poles – outnumbering any other nationality – have been honoured as ‘Righteous Among the Nations’, a title given to non-Jews who stood up to the Nazis, by Jerusalem’s Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem.
Yad Vashem said it opposes the Polish bill, as it ‘is liable to blur the historical truths regarding the assistance the Germans received from the Polish population during the Holocaust’.
But it added that to refer to the extermination camps the Nazis built in Poland as Polish is ‘a historical misrepresentation’.
American Jewish Committee CEO David Harris urged Polish leaders ‘to withdraw the legislation and focus on education, not criminalisation, about inaccurate and harmful speech’.
Poland has gone through a painful public debate in recent years about guilt and reconciliation over the Holocaust.
Research showing some Poles had participated in the Nazi German atrocities shook the belief of many that the nation was only a victim of World War Two and had conducted itself honourably. Many still refuse to accept the findings.
Poland was home to some 3.2 million Jews before the war. Pictured: Auschwitz
Poland was home to some 3.2 million Jews before the war. Germany attacked and occupied Poland in 1939 and later built death camps, including Auschwitz and Treblinka, on Polish soil. Most of the Jews who lived in Poland were killed by the Nazi occupiers.
According to figures from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Germans also killed at least 1.9 million non-Jewish Polish civilians during World War Two.
The ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, a socially conservative grouping with a nationalist agenda, has reignited debate on the issue as part of a campaign to fuel patriotism since sweeping into power in 2015.
‘We, the Poles, were victims, as were the Jews,’ former PiS prime minister Beata Szydlo said on Wednesday. ‘It is a duty of every Pole to defend the good name of Poland. Just as the Jews, we were victims.’
The Israeli Foreign Ministry summoned Poland’s charge d’affaires on Sunday to object to the bill.