Poland Prime Minister Under Fire for Blaming Jewish People for Part in Holocaust

By Derek Welch --
21 Feb 2018 --

The Nazis slaughtered two-thirds of the European Jewish population

Mateusz Morawiecki, the Prime Minister of Poland, has attempted to repair broken bridges after he uttered a few controversial statements[/tweetit] which suggested that many Jews also participated in the Holocaust. Following the resultant uproar, he stressed that he should not be described as a Holocaust Revisionist.

Poland Prime Minister Under Fire for Blaming Jewish People for Part in Holocaust[/tweetthis]

Morawiecki made the controversial statements during the yearly Munich Security Conference held in Germany. The Polish minister was questioned about Poland's new Holocaust complicity bill. This measure will punish any individual who suggests that Poland has collaborated with its Nazi occupiers during the Second World War. The introduction of this law means that even uttering or writing phrases like the historical “Polish death camp” can result in jail time or fines or both. The bill was signed on February 6 by Andrzej Duda, the President of Poland. It is slated to become a law in 2018, despite massive international condemnations.

Powerful #msc2018 question from Israeli journalist to Polish PM. His parents were Polish and faced antisemitism from Poles during WWII. Would recounting this story make him a criminal in Poland given new law banning speech about Polish role in holocaust? [sustained applause]
— Roland Paris (@rolandparis) February 17, 2018

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, has described Morawiecki's comments as unacceptable and “outrageous.” He said that the Polish Minister has effectively denied the occurrence of the Holocaust. The latter describes the slaughter of two-thirds of Europe's Jewish population. The spokeswoman for the Polish Prime Minister said that the PM's remarks should be rightfully interpreted as a kind of sincere call for all open discussions of crimes which are committed against Jews at the time of the Holocaust. This holds true independent of the nationality of the criminal perpetrators. The spokeswoman continued, saying that there should be an individual judgment of each crime. Wicked acts of one person must not be extrapolated on a nation. She reminded the audience that Poland at that time was occupied by Nazi Germany.

Ronen Bergman, an Israeli journalist whose parents survived the Holocaust, told Morawiecki that Polish neighbors of his mother tried to betray the Jewish families who hid from the Nazis. He then asked the PM whether saying the actual course of events will land him in a Polish jail. Morawiecki said that these kinds of actions will not result in prosecutions. The individual can mention there are not only Polish perpetrators, but Russian and Ukrainian perpetrators as well. He also mentioned Jewish prosecutors in the same vein. The PM said that many Polish families helped to hide Jews from the Nazis. The German occupiers killed a number of Polish victims at that time.