Polish President Signs Holocaust Bill That Punishes Those Who Blame Poland For Holocaust

Poland’s president signed into law on Tuesday a bill that imposes jail terms for suggesting the country was complicit in the Holocaust, prompting sharp criticism from Israel and the United States.

Andrzej Duda said in a televised address the legislation would safeguard Poland’s international reputation, but Israel called for amendments, saying the two countries had a “joint responsibility” to preserve the memory of the Holocaust.

The United States, a close NATO ally of Poland, expressed disappointment at Duda’s decision.

“(This bill) ... protects Polish interests ... our dignity, the historical truth... so that we are not slandered as a state and as a nation,” said Duda, an ally of the ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) which introduced the legislation.

But it also “takes into account the sensitivity of those for whom the issue of historical truth, the memory of the Holocaust is incredibly important”, Duda added.

The Polish law would impose prison sentences of up to three years for using the phrase “Polish death camps” and for suggesting “publicly and against the facts” that the Polish nation or state was complicit in Nazi Germany’s crimes.

PiS, a socially conservative, nationalist party that has clashed with the European Union and human rights groups on a range of issues since taking power in late 2015, says the new law is needed to ensure that Poles are recognized as victims, not perpetrators, of Nazi aggression in World War Two.

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