A Polish prosecutor has questioned a Polish-American scholar, Jan Tomasz Gross, to determine if he committed the crime of publicly insulting the nation with a statement on Polish violence against Jews during World War II.
Gross, a professor based at Princeton University, tells The Associated Press he was questioned for five hours Tuesday in Katowice but does not yet know if he will be charged with the alleged offense, which can carry a prison term of up to three years.
Poland’s case against Gross, which also involves a presidential threat to strip him of a state honor, has raised questions about the conservative leadership’s commitment to the freedom of scholarship. Law and Justice, a conservative and nationalistic party that controls both the presidency and parliament, is also centralizing power in a way that has raised concerns about its commitment to democracy more broadly.
Gross is questioned after multiple complaints were filed with prosecutors by Polish citizens over an article published last year in which Gross said Poles killed more Jews during the German occupation than they killed Germans — a claim that challenges a widespread conviction in Poland that the Polish response to the German terror was almost exclusively honorable.
— AP
Polish author Jan Tomasz Gross, author of the 2001 book “Neighbors,” about the murder of Jedwabne’s Jewish community by Polish neighbors (East News)
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