Truth decayPoland's president to sign Holocaust bill into law
Polish President Andrzej Duda says he will sign a controversial Holocaust bill into law, despite protests from Israel, the United States, and Ukraine. The measure would set fines or a maximum three-year jail term for describing Nazi Germany’s extermination camps in the country as “Polish death camps” or for suggesting “publicly and against the facts” that the Polish nation or state was complicit in the genocide committed by Nazi Germany during World War II. Poland’s right-wing government says the law is necessary to protect the reputation of Poles as victims of Nazi aggression.
Polish President Andrzej Duda says he will sign a controversial Holocaust bill into law, despite protests from Israel, the United States, and Ukraine.
The measure would set fines or a maximum three-year jail term for describing Nazi Germany’s extermination camps in the country as “Polish death camps” or for suggesting “publicly and against the facts” that the Polish nation or state was complicit in the genocide committed by Nazi Germany during World War II.
Poland’s right-wing government says the law is necessary to protect the reputation of Poles as victims of Nazi aggression.
Duda also said he would send the measure to the Constitutional Tribunal for clarifications on whether it conformed with laws on freedom of speech. Those are likely to be issued after the law goes into effect.
Israel has voiced concern that the law would ban true statements about the role that some Poles played in Nazi crimes.
On February 5, Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett said he would travel to Poland to discuss the bill. But a Polish government spokeswoman said Warsaw had canceled Bennet’s visit.
Washington has also criticized the legislation.
“We are also concerned about the repercussions this draft legislation, if enacted, could have on Poland’s strategic interests and relationships — including with the United States and Israel,” U.S. State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said on January 31. “The resulting divisions that may arise among our allies benefit only our rivals.”
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said on February 1 that he was “deeply concerned” by the legislation.
Some historians say a nationalist paramilitary organization, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), committed atrocities during World War II, notably against Poles in Ukraine.
In Poland, UPA fighters are seen as death squads who were responsible for the ethnic cleansing of Poles from what is now western Ukraine.
In 2015, Ukraine’s parliament gave recognition to those who served in the UPA as “Ukrainian independence fighters.”
This article is published courtesy of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
