British MP Alex Sobel attacks Polish legislation – Our rebuttal
PMI regards the idea of the British MP Alex Sobel to discuss anti-Semitism in Poland as totally misplaced. The proposed debate is out of order, as it conflates two independent issues, anti-Semitism and Polish legislation (which is in no way anti-Semitic). It must be stressed that the level of anti-Semitic incidents in the UK is at least ten times higher than in Poland. In addition, Sobel’s Labour Party has itself a huge problem with anti-Semitism. Please read our rebuttal.
Dear Mr. Sobel,
About your misguided and uninformed letter.
https://alexsobel.co.uk/2018/04/18/alex-sobel-calls-on-uk-foreign-secretary-to-denounce-poland-holocaust-law/
It is obvious that you and the other signatories have NOT read what that new Polish legislation actually states. Neither are you aware nor do you understand the principle behind that (impolitic) Polish law.
These statements are incorrect.
“I have delivered a letter to the Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson, calling on him to denounce the Polish government’s ‘anti-defamation’ laws relating to anti-Semitism”
“This new legislation, passed in March, outlawed any reference to Polish complicity or involvement in the Final Solution during the Second World War. It was heavily protested within the country and censured by the European Union. It symbolizes the worrying growth of illiberal authoritarianism in Central Europe,…”
It is factually inaccurate and very misleading of you to try and link the law to anti-Semitism.
The law poses zero threat to the study of the Holocaust since the simple fact is that Poland as a country did not collaborate with Nazi Germany.
Jan Gross is also controversial and his account of certain events has been widely criticised. He was asked to explain his “Poles killed more Jews than Germans” comment since it was oblivious to the historical record and lacked any foundation. His book has a tendentious narrative and totally lacked academic methodologies. Eyewitnesses were not consulted and he grossly overestimated the number of victims by a five-fold factor. Don’t believe everything he writes or said.
For the record, Poland did NOT participate in the Holocaust. It could be considered an act of Holocaust Denial and Distortion to make such an assertion.
“Attempts to blur the responsibility for the establishment of concentration and death camps devised and operated by Nazi Germany by putting blame on other nations or ethnic groups.”
http://www.holocaustremembrance.com/working-definition-holocaust-denial-and-distortion
“There is no doubt that the term” Polish extermination camps “is a historic misrepresentation!” & “The campaign geared to recruit USA Jewry against the Polish Holocaust law contains a number of historical inaccuracies as well as statements such as “Polish Holocaust” deemed unacceptable by Yad Vashem.”
https://www.yadvashem.org/press-release/27-january-2018-18-43.html &
https://twitter.com/yadvashem/status/966681111152742400
IHRA Statement. 29.06.2017.
“In recognition of the Stockholm Declaration (2000) commitment to ‘uphold the terrible truth of the Holocaust’ (defined as the mass murder of Jewry by the Nazis and their allies) against denial and distortion, and in acknowledgement of the extermination of the Jews by the Nazis and their accomplices during World War II, the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) wishes to state that it shares the Polish government’s opposition to the historically unsupportable use of the terms “Polish Death Camps” or “Polish Camps” to refer to the camps and sites of persecution and murder established by Nazi Germany on invaded and occupied Polish soil. We strongly urge our members to stop using this term in discourse and in publications, and we encourage others to stop using it as well.”
Here’s what the GERMAN Foreign Minister, Sigmar Gabriel, stated on February 4, 2018: “There is absolutely no doubt about who bears responsibility for the extermination camps, about who operated them and murdered millions of European Jews there: it was Germans. This organized mass murder was perpetrated by our country and no one else. The actions of individual collaborators do not alter that fact.”
https://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/en/Newsroom/bm-holocaust-legislation-poland/1432942
The Polish legislation is actually under a category of Holocaust Denial. Copy below of the text. The important principle of the law is to prevent incorrect and offensive phrases such as “Polish Death camp”.
If more people understood why phrases such as “Polish death camp” are a complete distortion of history and why such phrases must not be used then perhaps the Polish law may not have been considered necessary. I can’t recall Parliament or a member ever making statements to complain about inaccurate and offensive phrases such as “Polish concentration camp”.
It is the LABOUR party that has the BIG problem with anti-Semitism and not the Polish government. Why not tackle that first before pontificating on laws or history you know little about.
Sincerely,
Chris Jeżewski
What the law actually states:
“…after art. 55, the following art.55a and art. 55b are inserted:
“Art. 55a. 1. Whoever publicly and contrary to the facts attributes to the Polish Nation or to the Polish State responsibility or co-responsibility for the Nazi crimes committed by the German Third Reich, as specified in Article 6 of the Charter of the International Military Tribunal – Annex to the Agreement for the prosecution and punishment of the major war criminals of the European Axis, executed in London on 8 August 1945 (Journal of Laws of 1947, item 367), or for any other offences constituting crimes against peace, humanity or war crimes, or otherwise grossly diminishes the responsibility of the actual perpetrators of these crimes, shall be liable to a fine or deprivation of liberty for up to 3 years. The judgment shall be communicated to the public.
- If the perpetrator of the act specified in section 1 above acts unintentionally, they shall be liable to a fine or restriction of liberty.
- An offense is not committed if the perpetrator of a prohibited act set out in sections 1 and 2 above acted within the framework of artistic or scientific activity.”
https://www.ms.gov.pl/pl/informacje/news,10368,nowelizacja-ustawy-o-ipn–wersja-w-jezyku.html