‘Polocaust’ museum would antagonize Jews, Polish government minister says

A “Polocaust” museum dedicated to non-Jewish Polish victims of the Nazis will not be built, as it would antagonize Jews, a Polish government minister who supported the idea says.

Deputy Culture Minister Jaroslaw Sellin walks back his support of the idea floated last week by writer and scholar Marek Kochan in the Polish daily Rzeczpospolita, according to Reuters.

“Using the concept of ‘Polokaust’ in a way I understand it would hurt Jewish sensitivity and unnecessarily provoke more tension between our nations. The Polokaust museum will not be built,” Sellin says in an interview with Rzeczpospolita published today.

The Nazis murdered nearly 2 million Poles during World War II and about 3 million Polish Jews.

Critics from many circles slammed the idea when it was published last week.

The suggestion comes on the heels of Poland’s recently passed Holocaust law criminalizing claims that the Polish nation or state is responsible for Nazi crimes. The new law has triggered protests from Holocaust survivors and Israeli leaders, as well as researchers, historians, journalists and Jews around the world.

The term Polokaust has been used on some Polish Twitter accounts since at least 2012. Poland already runs a Museum of World War II.

— JTA