A NEW LAW IN POLAND THAT THREATENS those who say that Poles played any part in the Holocaust with up to three years in prison, will create an atmosphere of “inner censorship” for the country’s historians, reminiscent of its communist past, critics have warned. Poland has been internationally condemned over the law, which some historians say attempts to whitewash broad swathes of Polish history.
It’s the latest example of creeping historical censorship in Eastern Europe, where rising nationalist tensions are leading to fresh rows over the past, particularly about the Second World War. In Poland, the major clash is between historians who have uncovered evidence of Polish complicity in atrocities against Jews and the government line that Poles were victims, who nevertheless helped to shelter Jews from Nazi persecution. The Warsaw-based Polish Centre for Holocaust Research describes the law as an “unprecedented (and unknown in a democratic nation) intrusion into the debate about Polish history”, but said its work won’t be stopped by the legislation.
The law contains an exemption for academic and artistic work, explains Jakub Petelewicz, academic secretary at the centre. “However, the problem is with a lack of definitions,” he says. Confusion could arise over an MA thesis, for example, he says. Dr. Petelewicz also fears that the law will prevent Holocaust scholars working with schools and pupils; stop them discussing their findings publicly; and strip out from school curricula incidents that cast Poles in bad light. Overall, it could lead to “frozen” research and public debate about the Holocaust in Poland, he warns.
Debate about Poles’ role in the Second World War had shown signs of opening up: the publication of a book in 2000 about a massacre of Jews by their neighbours in a Polish town led to the erection of a memorial and a public acknowledgement by the president that Poles had been among the perpetrators. But since then, the narrative has turned to emphasise Polish victimhood and heroism. A Museum of Poles Saving Jews in World War II was opened in 2016, and it was visited by Poland’s prime minister in February.
The Polish law is the latest sign of an apparent uptick in historical censorship across the region. In 2016, Ukraine forbade books from Russia that contained “anti-Ukrainian” content — leading to the banning of a Russian translation of British historian Antony Beevor’s Stalingrad in January this year for recounting the shooting of 90 Jewish children by Ukrainian militia.