"We will never restrict freedom of debate about the Holocaust. This we owe everyone who experienced it," Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said in a speech dedicated to the law on the Institute of National Remembrance. The Prime Minister explained that Poland is enacting the new law to fight for the truth about the Holocaust.
"The Auschwitz lie is not only the denial of German crimes, but also other ways of falsifying history. We want to fight this lie, in all its forms. This is why we have amended the law on the Institute of National Remembrance," Morawiecki said.
The Prime Minister: Poland wants to fight for the truth
"We understand the emotions from Israel. Much work is needed so that we can tell our shared, often complicated history together," the Prime Minister declared. He emphasized that Poland was the first victim of the Third Reich and lost six million citizens during the war, including three million of Jewish origin. "Death and suffering in German Nazi concentration camps was the shared experience of Jews, Poles and many other peoples," the Prime Minister said, adding that "the Holocaust was an unimaginable crime". "Polish law has long pursued people who try to deny the suffering endured by the victims of Nazi terror. Similar [legal] solutions function in many other countries of Europe and the world," Morawiecki stated. "Our government condemns all the crimes of World War II perpetrated on Polish soil, regardless of the nationality of the perpetrators or the nation to which the victims belonged," the Prime Minister said. He declared that his government is convinced that "there is no place for hatred or the falsification of history."
"Spreading the truth about the Holocaust is not only Israel’s task, but also Poland’s. It’s a struggle for a universal truth that is a warning to the entire world," Morawiecki concluded.
Crisis against the backdrop of history
Parliament adopted amendments to the law on the Institute of National Remembrance last Friday, a day prior to the 73rd anniversary of the liberation of the German Auschwitz camp. The Senate passed the bill without further amendments late Wednesday night. Now the new law awaits the signature of President Andrzej Duda. The law provides for a fine or up to three years’ imprisonment for attributing responsibility or co-responsibility to the Polish nation or state for crimes perpetrated by the Third Reich or other crimes against humanity. The new provisions are to be applicable to Polish citizens and foreigners. The government of Israel and numerous Jewish groups have reacted critically to the new provisions.
Full text of the Prime Minister’s speech
Dear compatriots, ladies and gentlemen,
Our nation was scarred by enormous suffering during World War II. The entire country was under German and Soviet occupation. Practically every Polish family mourned the loss of loved ones.
Poland was the first victim of the Third Reich. Death and suffering in German Nazi concentration camps was the shared experience of Jews, Poles and many other peoples.
The Holocaust was an unimaginable crime. Attempts to deny it should always be met with unequivocal condemnation. Polish law has long pursued people who try to deny the suffering endured by the victims of Nazi terror. Similar [legal] solutions function in many other countries of Europe and the world.
The Auschwitz lie is not only the denial of German crimes, but also other ways of falsifying history. One of this lie’s worst forms is diminishing the responsibility of the true perpetrators and attributing this responsibility to their victims.
We want to fight this lie, in all its forms. This is why we have amended the law on the Institute of National Remembrance.
The camps in which millions of Jews were murdered were not Polish. This truth must be protected, because it is part of the truth about the Holocaust.
Ladies and Gentlemen!
Our government condemns all the crimes of World War II perpetrated on Polish soil, regardless of the nationality of the perpetrators or the nation to which the victims belonged.
We will never restrict freedom of debate about the Holocaust. This we owe everyone who experienced it.
We have long done much to be guardians of the memory of the crimes perpetrated by totalitarian regimes, both on the territory of our country and beyond its borders.
Mauthausen-Gusen was one of many German concentration camps. It was one of the places, next to Soviet Katyń, where the mass murder of the Polish intelligentsia took place. Jews and representatives of other nations also died there.
The camp was destroyed after the war, and a villa was built where its entrance gate had stood. However, thanks to efforts by Poles, memory of the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp’s horrific past has been saved.
The Polish state and Poles have ensured the preservation of German concentration camps as testimony to the martyrdom of nations – in memorial to the dead and as a caution to the living.
By fighting false allegations about the complicity of the Polish state in the German criminal machine, Poland stands on the side of truth.
Dear Compatriots,
The holocaust was also an unimaginable Polish tragedy. Among the six million Polish citizens who died during the Second World War, three million came from the community of Polish Jews. For this reason, Poland – like no other country in Europe – has a duty to uphold the truth about the crimes of the Holocaus.
This is why we unceasingly remind the world about the mission of Captain Witold Pilecki (a Polish officer who voluntarily entered Auschwitz as a prisoner in order to get word to the West about what was happening there), the courageous Polish organization Żegota (formed to save as many Jewish lives as possible), or the determination of the Polish underground state to severely punish (by death) anyone who reported Jews to the German Nazis or murdered them.
Poles who hid Jews were sentenced to death – this is proof the German Nazis knew that Poles would help their Jewish compatriots.
Our countryman, Jan Karski, tried in vain to awaken the conscience of Western public opinion by informing about German crimes.
We understand the emotions from Israel. Much work is needed so that we can tell our shared, often complicated history together. The culture of Polish Jews is an inseparable part of our own Polish heritage.
Today, when the world is struggling with the problem of antisemitism once again, the Polish government clearly states: there is no room for hatred or the falsification of history.
Spreading the truth about the Holocaust is not only Israel’s task, but also Poland’s. It’s a struggle for a universal truth that is a warning to the entire world.
Thank you.
Źródło: tvn24.pl/tłumaczenie Intertext.com.pl
Źródło zdjęcia głównego: KPRM