→Academics: Kopstein is a professor and Wittenberg an associate professor |
Lembit Staan (talk | contribs) →Academics: rm misguided opinion. The law is not "criminalizing discussion of any Polish crimes relating to the Holocaust.", as the cited source say |
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[[Yad Vashem]] condemned the Polish bill, saying that, while "Polish death camps" as a phrase is a historic misrepresentation, the legislation is "liable to blur the historical truths regarding the assistance the Germans received from the Polish population during the Holocaust".<ref name="TOI20180127">[https://www.timesofisrael.com/decrying-new-bill-yad-vashem-says-polish-death-camps-a-misrepresentation/ Yad Vashem: Poland Holocaust law risks ‘serious distortion’ of Polish complicity], Times of Israel, 27 January 2018</ref><ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/27/israel-criticises-poland-over-draft-holocaust-legislation Israel criticises Poland over draft Holocaust legislation], Guardian, 27 January 2018</ref> Others have pointed out that, beyond mere complicity, Poles themselves massacred Jews in the 1941 [[Jedwabne pogrom]] and in the post-war 1946 [[Kielce pogrom]], among other incidents, and that the law would outlaw mention of these events as well.<ref>[https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-poland-leave-the-history-writing-to-historians-1.5768084 Analysis Poland Needs to Leave the Holocaust History Writing to Actual Historians], Haaretz, 28 January 2018</ref><ref>[https://www.jta.org/2018/01/27/news-opinion/world/poland-wants-to-ban-the-term-polish-death-camps-there-are-historical-inaccuracies-on-both-sides-of-the-debate Poland wants to ban the term ‘Polish death camps.’ There are historical inaccuracies on both sides of the debate.], JTA, 27 January 2018</ref><ref name="TOI20160818">[https://www.timesofisrael.com/is-new-polish-law-an-attempt-to-whitewash-its-citizens-roles-in-the-holocaust/ Is new Polish law an attempt to whitewash its citizens’ roles in the Holocaust?], Times of Israel, 18 August 2016</ref> According to Israeli education minister [[Naftali Bennett]], "It is a historic fact that many Poles aided in the murder of Jews, handed them in, abused them, and even killed Jews during and after the Holocaust", and "It is also a historic fact that the Germans initiated, planned, and built the work and death camps in Poland. That is the truth, and no law will rewrite it." Bennett instructed schools to teach about the Polish role in the Holocaust.<ref>[https://www.timesofisrael.com/bennett-orders-more-holocaust-study-in-schools-including-polish-role-in-wwii/ Bennett orders more Holocaust study in schools, including Polish role in WWII], Times of Israel, 28 January 2018</ref> |
[[Yad Vashem]] condemned the Polish bill, saying that, while "Polish death camps" as a phrase is a historic misrepresentation, the legislation is "liable to blur the historical truths regarding the assistance the Germans received from the Polish population during the Holocaust".<ref name="TOI20180127">[https://www.timesofisrael.com/decrying-new-bill-yad-vashem-says-polish-death-camps-a-misrepresentation/ Yad Vashem: Poland Holocaust law risks ‘serious distortion’ of Polish complicity], Times of Israel, 27 January 2018</ref><ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/27/israel-criticises-poland-over-draft-holocaust-legislation Israel criticises Poland over draft Holocaust legislation], Guardian, 27 January 2018</ref> Others have pointed out that, beyond mere complicity, Poles themselves massacred Jews in the 1941 [[Jedwabne pogrom]] and in the post-war 1946 [[Kielce pogrom]], among other incidents, and that the law would outlaw mention of these events as well.<ref>[https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-poland-leave-the-history-writing-to-historians-1.5768084 Analysis Poland Needs to Leave the Holocaust History Writing to Actual Historians], Haaretz, 28 January 2018</ref><ref>[https://www.jta.org/2018/01/27/news-opinion/world/poland-wants-to-ban-the-term-polish-death-camps-there-are-historical-inaccuracies-on-both-sides-of-the-debate Poland wants to ban the term ‘Polish death camps.’ There are historical inaccuracies on both sides of the debate.], JTA, 27 January 2018</ref><ref name="TOI20160818">[https://www.timesofisrael.com/is-new-polish-law-an-attempt-to-whitewash-its-citizens-roles-in-the-holocaust/ Is new Polish law an attempt to whitewash its citizens’ roles in the Holocaust?], Times of Israel, 18 August 2016</ref> According to Israeli education minister [[Naftali Bennett]], "It is a historic fact that many Poles aided in the murder of Jews, handed them in, abused them, and even killed Jews during and after the Holocaust", and "It is also a historic fact that the Germans initiated, planned, and built the work and death camps in Poland. That is the truth, and no law will rewrite it." Bennett instructed schools to teach about the Polish role in the Holocaust.<ref>[https://www.timesofisrael.com/bennett-orders-more-holocaust-study-in-schools-including-polish-role-in-wwii/ Bennett orders more Holocaust study in schools, including Polish role in WWII], Times of Israel, 28 January 2018</ref> |
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=== Academics === |
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Jeffrey Kopstein of the [[University of Toronto]] and Jason Wittenberg of [[University of California, Berkeley]] reacted to the legislation by describing their book "Intimate Violence: Anti-Jewish Pogroms on the Eve of the Holocaust". They claimed that their book presents documentary evidence that among 2304 places in eastern Poland where Jews and non-Jews lived together, 219 pogroms in which local non-Jewish Poles and other non-Jews "beat, robbed, raped and murdered their Jewish neighbors" took place during the weeks after German troops arrived in 22 June 1941.<ref name="KopsteinWittenberg" /> Kopstein and Wittenberg gave an example of [[Szczuczyn]], where they refer to eyewitness testimony that "many Poles fanned out to kill their Jewish neighbors".<ref name="KopsteinWittenberg" /> Kopstein and Wittenberg claim that the purpose of the Polish law of 26 January 2018 "is clear: to restrict discussion of Polish complicity."<ref name="KopsteinWittenberg" /> |
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==See also== |
==See also== |
Revision as of 21:41, 2 February 2018
An Amendment to the Act on the Institute of National Remembrance (Polish: "nowelizacja ustawy o Instytucie Pamięci Narodowej"), proposed in Poland's national legislature "to eliminate public [mis]attribut[ion] to the Polish Nation or the Polish State [of] responsibility or co-responsibility for Nazi crimes committed by the German Third Reich",[1] was adopted on 26 January 2018 by the lower chamber, the Sejm, and on 1 February 2018 by the Senate. It still requires the signature of President Andrzej Duda in order to become law.
The legislation has caused international controversy[2] and has been referred to variously as the "Polish Holocaust bill", the "Poland Holocaust law", etc.
Bill summary
According to a communiqué of the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, an example of such misattribution is the use of expressions such as "Polish death camps". The communiqué further states:[1]
The amended act provides for a penalty, in precisely defined [circumstance]s, for the purpose of preventing intentional defamation of Poland. The final determination of a specific case will rest with the courts.
The provisions of the amended act [shall] not limit freedom of research, discussions of history, or artistic activity.
The proposed law modifies a previous law relating to the Institute of National Remembrance. It adds to the previous law Article 55a:
1. [Anyone w]ho, in public and against [the] facts, ascribes to the Polish People or to the Polish State, responsibility or co-responsibility for... Nazi crimes committed by the Third Reich, [as] defined in Article 6 of the Charter of the International Military Tribunal, attached to the International Agreement on the prosecution and punishment of major war criminals of the Axis Powers, signed in London on August 8, 1945 [...] or for other crimes which which are crimes against peace, humanity, or [the laws of] war... or who otherwise grossly reduces the responsibility of the actual perpetrators of [said] crimes, is subject to... fine or [to] imprisonment [for] up to 3 years. [Such] judgment [shall] be made public.
2. If a perpetrator of the act referenced in paragraph 1 [has] act[ed] unintentionally, [such person shall not be] subject to a fine or restriction of freedom.
3. [No] offense, referenced in paragraphs 1 and 2, [shall have been committed] if the act was [performed] as part of [an] artistic or scientific activity.
and Article 55b, which states that Articles 55 and 55a apply to both Polish and non-Polish citizens.[3]
History of the legislation
In August 2016 Poland's Council of Ministers, led by Prime Minister Beata Szydło and her Law and Justice party, approved a legislative bill that would outlaw use of the phrase "Polish death camp". The bill was expected to pass by a wide margin in the Polish Parliament, which was dominated by the Law and Justice Party.
Under the law, a person who uses a phrase such as "Polish death camp" may be sentenced for up to three years in prison. However prison terms are reserved for only the most egregious cases. A typical punishment is expected to be a fine.[4][5]
Journalist Jerzy Haszczyński, writing in the Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita, observed that, when the phrase appears in foreign media, it "insidiously suggests that our state and our people were responsible for German crimes", but he was not sure whom the proposed law would target. "Almost every use of the phrase that I can recall ended with a profuse apology."[6][7]
In January 2018 the Polish Parliament's lower chamber, the Sejm, approved a bill [3]: Art. 1 that would apply to Poles as well as to foreigners. On 1 February 2018 the upper chamber, the Senate, passed the bill without amendment.
The bill was interpreted across Israel's political spectrum as denial of historic facts.[8]
Reactions
Israel
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Poland of Holocaust denial.[9] Yair Lapid, a member of the Israeli Parliament, wrote on Twitter:
I utterly condemn the new Polish law which tries to deny Polish complicity in the Holocaust. It was conceived in Germany but hundreds of thousands of Jews were murdered without ever meeting a German soldier. There were Polish death camps and no law can ever change that.[10]
Dr. Efraim Zuroff, head of the Israel office of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, stated that, though he opposes the bill, Lapid's remarks were not factually correct:
His words were a gut reaction and they were filled with passion, but unfortunately he does not know the facts and his remarks were absurd.[11][12]
Yad Vashem condemned the Polish bill, saying that, while "Polish death camps" as a phrase is a historic misrepresentation, the legislation is "liable to blur the historical truths regarding the assistance the Germans received from the Polish population during the Holocaust".[13][14] Others have pointed out that, beyond mere complicity, Poles themselves massacred Jews in the 1941 Jedwabne pogrom and in the post-war 1946 Kielce pogrom, among other incidents, and that the law would outlaw mention of these events as well.[15][16][17] According to Israeli education minister Naftali Bennett, "It is a historic fact that many Poles aided in the murder of Jews, handed them in, abused them, and even killed Jews during and after the Holocaust", and "It is also a historic fact that the Germans initiated, planned, and built the work and death camps in Poland. That is the truth, and no law will rewrite it." Bennett instructed schools to teach about the Polish role in the Holocaust.[18]
See also
References
- ^ a b "Communique of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on amendment of the Act on the Institute of National Remembrance"
- ^ Noack, Rick (2018-02-01). "Poland's Senate passes Holocaust complicity bill despite concerns from U.S., Israel". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2018-02-02.
- ^ a b Parliament of Poland (2018-01-29). "Ustawa z dnia 26 stycznia 2018 r. o zmianie ustawy o Instytucie Pamięci Narodowej – Komisji Ścigania Zbrodni przeciwko Narodowi Polskiemu, ustawy o grobach i cmentarzach wojennych, ustawy o muzeach oraz ustawy o odpowiedzialności podmiotów zbiorowych za czyny zabronione pod groźbą kary]". Parliament of Poland. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-02-02. Retrieved 2018-02-02.
{{cite web}}
: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=
(help); Unknown parameter|deadurl=
ignored (|url-status=
suggested) (help) - ^ "Poland approves bill outlawing phrase 'Polish death camps'". The Guardian. Associated Press. 16 August 2016. Retrieved 4 September 2016.
- ^ Noack, Rick (17 August 2016). "Obama once referred to a 'Polish death camp.' In Poland, that could soon be punishable by 3 years in prison". The Washington Post. Retrieved 4 September 2016.
- ^ Haszczyński, Jerzy (2 September 2016). "We didn't build the death camps". The Week. Retrieved 4 September 2016.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|subscription=
ignored (|url-access=
suggested) (help) - ^ Haszczyński, Jerzy (16 August 2016). "Wątpliwa kara za 'polskie obozy'" [Questionable Punishment for 'Polish Camps']. Rzeczpospolita (in Polish). Retrieved 4 September 2016.
- ^ https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/27/world/middleeast/poland-holocaust-law-israel.html?mtrref=www.google.pl&gwh=60D27DE29453356F59B959F3E1193EEF&gwt=pay
- ^ Selk, Avi (2018-01-27). "Analysis | It could soon be a crime to blame Poland for Nazi atrocities, and Israel is appalled". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2018-01-28.
- ^ לפיד, יאיר (2018-01-27). "I utterly condemn the new Polish law which tries to deny Polish complicity in the Holocaust. It was conceived in Germany but hundreds of thousands of Jews were murdered without ever meeting a German soldier. There were Polish death camps and no law can ever change that". @yairlapid. Retrieved 2018-01-28.
- ^ https://worldisraelnews.com/israeli-holocaust-experts-denounce-polish-law-whitewash-culpability/
- ^ https://www.timesofisrael.com/its-complicated-inaccuracies-plague-both-sides-of-polish-death-camps-debate/
- ^ Yad Vashem: Poland Holocaust law risks ‘serious distortion’ of Polish complicity, Times of Israel, 27 January 2018
- ^ Israel criticises Poland over draft Holocaust legislation, Guardian, 27 January 2018
- ^ Analysis Poland Needs to Leave the Holocaust History Writing to Actual Historians, Haaretz, 28 January 2018
- ^ Poland wants to ban the term ‘Polish death camps.’ There are historical inaccuracies on both sides of the debate., JTA, 27 January 2018
- ^ Is new Polish law an attempt to whitewash its citizens’ roles in the Holocaust?, Times of Israel, 18 August 2016
- ^ Bennett orders more Holocaust study in schools, including Polish role in WWII, Times of Israel, 28 January 2018
External links
- Act on the Institute of National Remembrance, the December 18, 1998 version
- April 29, 2016 amendment of the Act
- Tracking of the draft of the amendment, 2016
- Tracking of the draft of the amendment, 2016-2018
- Text of the amendment by January 26, 2018 as passed by the Sejm to the Senate