Open Search form

×

Live Update arrow right icon

From the Liveblog of Thursday, July 14, 2016

Poland minister pilloried for downplaying Polish role in pogroms

14 July 2016, 5:06 pm

Edit

Poland’s education minister in the conservative government has sparked criticism for remarks she made casting doubt over Polish responsibility for two massacres of Jews in the 1940s.

Poland's President Andrzej Duda speaks during commemorations marking the 70th anniversary of a massacre of Jews in Kielce, Poland, Monday, July 4, 2016 (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski) — Poland’s President Andrzej Duda speaks during commemorations marking the 70th anniversary of a massacre of Jews in Kielce, Poland, Monday, July 4, 2016 (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Anna Zalewska’s comments on Wednesday evening in an interview on the private TVN broadcaster raised questions about the populist government’s commitment both to historical truth and to opposing anti-Semitism.

Zalewska suggested that historical evidence that Poles carried out two massacres of Jews was “biased opinions.”

Michael Schudrich, Poland’s chief rabbi, reciting a prayer for the victims of the Jedwabne massacre at the town’s Jewish cemetery, July 10, 2016. Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO and national director of the Anti-Defamation League, is front row, second from left. (JTA/Cnaan Liphshiz) — Michael Schudrich, Poland’s chief rabbi, reciting a prayer for the victims of the Jedwabne massacre at the town’s Jewish cemetery, July 10, 2016. (JTA/Cnaan Liphshiz)

The comments concerned the Jedwabne massacre of 1941, when Poles burned alive more than 300 Jews in a barn and the Kielce massacre of 1946.

Rafal Pankowski, the head of Never Again, an anti-racism watchdog, says his group is “appalled by those comments which amount to denial of the historical truth about anti-Semitic pogroms.”

— AP

If you’d like to comment, join
The Times of Israel Community.

JOIN THE TOI COMMUNITY