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Poland’s governing party PiS has already formulated law years ago, which came into force recently – and last weekend at Munich Security Conference, it caused controversy. The heads of Government of Israel and Poland clashed. The reason: The new Holocaust Law of Poland forbids, among or things, death camps in Poland occupied by Nazi Germany to call “Polish camps” incorrectly. An Israeli journalist asked Poland’s prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, wher law now prohibits him from talking about those Poles who would have betrayed his family in World War II. Morawiecki (who later down his testimony) pointed out that re were also “Jewish perpetrators” during Shoah; Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called this statement “outrageous.”
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Shimon Stein was Ambassador of Israel in Berlin from 2001 to 2007 and is currently a senior fellow at Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) at Tel Aviv University. Moshe Zimmermann is professor emeritus at Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
The code, also called Lex, bans criticism of Poland’s behaviour in World War II. His name goes back to Polish-American historian Jan Tomasz Gross, who in his book “Neighbors” had described Polish pogroms to Jews. Behind Lex gross is also idea that Germany could feel by such a critique of Poland as a laughing third – Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel, however, dispersed se fears at beginning of month by declaring: “There is not least Doubts about who is responsible for extermination camps, who operated m and murdered millions of European Jews re: Germans. “
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Gabriel’s message was addressed to Polish Government. But it is also relevant to Israel: Since beginning of Israeli youth trips to Poland, impression of complicity of ” Poles” in Holocaust has actually been created. A representative opinion poll showed already ten years ago that 28 percent of Israelis agree with sentence: “The Poles are responsible for Shoah as well as Germans.”
History is an educational tool
About two years ago, in October 2015, German Chancellor felt compelled to respond to an assertion by Benjamin Netanyahu that it was Jerusalem Mufti who would have spurred Adolf Hitler into a “Final Solution”: “We know responsibility of Nazis for Of Shoah, “said Angela Merkel. The Germans had no reason to change ir history, she stressed.
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Why do politicians have to comment on historiographical questions at all? How can we come to situations described above that make a reaction of German politicians inevitable?
The answer is first of all a general one: history is an educational tool – and as such it becomes a political one easily. As view of historical events can influence current policy, it is not surprising that politicians often turn to historical debates. This applies in particular to such a sensitive history chapter as Shoah. Observers n have to question intentions of politicians and follow ir narratives critically. And y must look at and point out limits of political intervention in historical questions.
What Polish government does not want to grasp in case of Holocaust law, Lex Gross, is: it has crossed this line. It is not by law that historical issues are decided, and punitive measures must not prevent people from interpreting historical events. Instead, facts and good arguments are needed. The Polish government defends itself by referring to current laws against denial of Shoah in several countries. But she loses a sense of proportion for subtle difference.
