Poland’s president promises to review Holocaust bill

28 January 2018, 6:04 pm

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Poland’s president vows to review a new bill that would outlaw the blaming of Poles for crimes committed during the Holocaust following a diplomatic fallout with Israel.

Poland’s rightwing-dominated parliament on Friday adopted legislation that sets fines or a maximum three-year jail term for anyone who refers to Nazi German death camps as being Polish. The measure, intended to apply to both Poles and foreigners, must still pass the Senate before being signed by the president.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left) and his wife, Sara, host Polish President Andrzej Duda (second from right) and his wife, Agata Kornhauser, at the president’s residence in Jerusalem on January 18, 2017. (Kobi Gideon/GPO)

President Andrzej Duda says statement that he would present his “final evaluation of procedural legal provisions after the completion of parliament’s work and a careful analysis of the final shape of the act.”

Apparently addressing the concern that Holocaust survivors could be prosecuted for their testimony should it concern the involvement of Poles in war crimes, Duda says “everyone whose personal memory or historical research speaks the truth about the crimes and shameful behavior that occurred in the past with the participation of Poles has full right to this truth.”

— with AFP