Far-right protesters called on Polish President Andrzej Duda to sign into law a contested bill making it illegal to blame Poland for complicity in the Nazi drive to exterminate Jews during World War Two.
Dozens of activists chanted anti-Semitic slogans at a rally in front of the presidential palace in central Warsaw late Monday, with one banner reading: “Take off your yarmulke and sign the bill.” Duda is expected to announce his decision on the bill on Tuesday, according to broadcaster TVN24 and radio RMF FM.
Israel and the U. have both called on Poland to halt the so-called Holocaust bill, which they say curbs free speech and may be an attempt to rewrite history. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told visiting Israeli journalists in Warsaw on Monday that it was too late to change the legislation or whitewash the past.
Duda’s options include signing the bill into law, vetoing it or potentially sending it for vetting to the Constitutional Tribunal. The controversy represents the latest conflict for the ruling Law & Justice party, which over its two years in power has also battled partners in the European Union over allegations that it’s backtracking on democratic values.
‘Personally Engaged’
Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz told TVN24 in an interview on Tuesday that protests by radical groups regarding the Holocaust bill “don’t help” Poland’s image and that Duda, who is “personally engaged” in dialog with Israel, will make the “right” decision.
Poles say they’re unfairly held complicit in German Nazi war crimes during a period when their country was occupied and an estimated 2.7 million non-Jewish civilians were killed, including a large number of resistance fighters. The law would impose fines or up to three years in jail for public claims that Poland or the Polish nation bears responsibility for crimes against humanity committed by Nazis on its soil. Works of art and science are exempt from penalties.
Many Holocaust scholars, however, have concluded that some Poles helped the Nazis kill Jews on their territory.
Last week, Israeli legislators drew up a draft amendment defining any attempt to deny or minimize the crimes of Nazi collaborators as Holocaust denial, which carries a five-year prison sentence in the Jewish state. The Israeli legislation would provide state backing for any Holocaust survivor or educator prosecuted under the Polish bill.
— With assistance by Konrad Krasuski.
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