Poland summons Israeli ambassador in Warsaw

Poland - On November 24, the Polish Foreign Minister announced the summoning of the Israeli ambassador. This followed an article published by the Israeli Holocaust Memorial Museum (Yad Vashem) on its "X" platform, which drew criticism from Warsaw. The article attributed the act of forcing Polish Jews to wear the six-pointed star badge during the Nazi occupation of 1939 to Poland.

In the article posted on Sunday, the Israeli Holocaust Memorial Museum did not explicitly state that Poland was under Nazi German occupation at the time, but it stated: "Poland was the first country to force Jews to wear a six-pointed star badge in order to isolate them from the rest of the Polish population."

Polish Foreign Minister Sikorski wrote on the "X" platform: "Despite strong protests from Polish leaders, this misleading statement has not been changed. I have decided to summon the Israeli ambassador to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs."

The text did not mention that Poland forced Jews to wear the six-pointed star badge (yellow in France, blue in Poland), but many people in Poland criticized the museum for at least some inaccuracies. Polish Prime Minister Tusk even suggested that this "may not be an error, but an intentional act."

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maciej Wiewiór also expressed concern about this possible intention, as "the Jewish Holocaust Memorial Museum (Yad Vashem) plans to open a branch in Germany soon." He added: "We sincerely hope that this false and distorted historical information is unrelated to this." In other words, establishing this memorial seems to attempt to downplay the responsibility of Nazi Germany at the expense of Poland's interests. Similarly, on X platform, the Auschwitz Concentration Camp Memorial (a concentration camp and extermination camp established by the Nazis in occupied Poland, where one million European Jews perished between 1940 and 1945) recalled: "It was Germany that issued and imposed these anti-Jewish laws."

On Monday, the director of the Jewish Holocaust Memorial Museum, Danny Dayan, responded on the same social media platform: "Poland was indeed under German occupation at the time. This is clearly recorded in our documents. Any other explanation regarding our commitment to ensuring accuracy is incorrect." In fact, the text of the Holocaust Memorial Museum also added: "On November 23, 1939, the General Governor of Poland, Hans Frank, issued an order requiring all Jews over the age of ten to wear a 10-centimeter wide white cloth armband with a blue Star of David on their right arm."

In Warsaw, the public institution responsible for documenting the crimes committed by Nazi and Communist regimes in Poland - the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) - called the publication released online by the Jewish Holocaust Memorial Museum on Sunday "unacceptable." The Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), led by nationalist historian Karol Nawrocki, whose term ran from 2021 to 2025 until he was elected President of the Republic last June, has its own office of prosecutors and prosecutorial powers. In 2019, it passed a law making any public statement that blames Poland or the Polish nation for the Holocaust a crime.

Sources: rfi

Original: www.toutiao.com/article/1849715646522444/

Statement: This article represents the views of the author.