Holocaust researchers forced to apologize struggle with Poland's engineering of consciousness - Walla! news

2021-02-12T19:52:22.159Z

Barbara Engelking and Jan Grabowski see the ruling as an excuse for them to apologize for their research on the involvement of Poles in the murder of Jews, another step in the National Party's war on the truly historic. "This paves the way for questioning the testimony of Jewish survivors," they said in an interview with Walla! NEWS

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Holocaust researchers who were forced to apologize are struggling with the engineering of consciousness in Poland

"This paves the way for questioning the testimony of Jewish survivors," they said in an interview with Walla!

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"Young Polish historians will stay away from the 'difficult' issues."

Grabowski (Photo: Reuters)

"In any case, courts should not engage in the work of historians"

The libel suit against the historians was submitted to Szczynska with the help of the Polish League Against Defamation, a nationalist organization working to clear Poland's name from any involvement in crimes against the Jews during the Holocaust.

In their ruling, the judges ruled that the two historians should publish an apology for the allegations that Malinowski collaborated with the Nazis, but rejected his niece's request for compensation in the amount of 100,000 zlotys.

"The court's ruling should not have an effect on academic research, and a claim for compensation in the amount of 100,000 zlotys will have such an effect," the judges wrote in the ruling.

The lawyer representing Leszczynska, Monica Bezuzowska-Pesika, said the plaintiff accepted the ruling with satisfaction even though her claim for compensation was denied.

"The writers violated Philomena's rights to Szczynska by portraying her aunt as a collaborator, murderer or accomplice in the murder of Jews, as a thief and a soulless person. The lawyer argued.

This defamation lawsuit has aroused great interest in Poland and also among Jewish organizations and institutions engaged in the study and preservation of Holocaust remembrance, as the fear was that a ruling against historians would infringe on future freedom of research on the Holocaust, effectively preventing scholars and historians from publishing free research.

Grabowski and Angling, who have already announced that they will appeal the ruling, agree with this claim.

"I am very disappointed and worried. I am convinced that the ruling has already had its intended 'freezing' effect," Grabowski said in an interview with Walla!

NEWS.

"One can only speculate how quickly young Polish historians are beginning to move away from all the 'difficult' issues. The ruling poses a clear threat to my work because it seeks to impose legal restrictions on the value of a particular type of historical evidence. More precisely: the ruling opens a way to question the value "The testimony of the Jewish survivors. This is completely unacceptable to me."

Grabowski himself is the son of a Jewish Holocaust survivor and a Christian mother from the Polish aristocratic family.

"Negative impact, especially for young researchers."

Angling (Photo: Official Website, Mikolaj Grynberg)

Angling is also concerned about the impact of court rulings on the future work of scholars and historians.

"I respect the court's decision, even though I do not agree with it. We are awaiting the written verdict and we will prepare the appeal. I fear that this court ruling will have a negative impact, especially on young investigators," Angling told Walla!

NEWS.

Despite the ruling, she insists that all the things written in the book are based on solid facts.

"Of course minor mistakes happen sometimes. No one is free from mistakes. Science uses a system of reviews, internal discussions and conferences, and it helps to avoid mistakes. In any case, courts should not engage in the work of historians," she stressed.

Came to court.

The book "Endless Night: The Fate of the Jews in Selected Districts in Occupied Poland" (Photo: AP)

The ruling of the court in Warsaw has also been widely condemned among Jewish organizations around the world that work to preserve the memory of the Holocaust.

The Yad Vashem Museum expressed "deep concern" and stressed the "importance of academic freedom in comprehensive historical research. Yad Vashem recognizes the court's ruling, but is concerned about it and its implications. Any attempt to determine the boundaries of academic and public discourse by political or legal pressure is invalid. "And constitutes a real violation of free research. Using a means of legal action against researchers and journalists who discuss this issue instead of walking the path of the accepted scientific debate in the entire academic world, constitutes a real threat to academic freedom and freedom of the press."

The Claims Committee and the World Jewish Property Restitution also issued a statement protesting "most strongly against the ruling of the Polish court."

Gideon Taylor, chairman of the Jewish Property Restitution Organization, said that “the story of history must not be blocked or restricted.

This ruling causes damage to a real and honest confrontation with the past. "

Also journalists on target

"The Polish authorities clearly want to see only one side of our history"

But Grabowski and Angling are not alone.

Katrzina Markusz, a 39-year-old journalist, received a phone call from the Warsaw police about two weeks ago in which she was asked to appear for questioning.

When she arrived at the police station, she was told she was accused of "harming the dignity of the Polish nation."

The reason?

Markusz published an article in the Krytyka Polityczna newspaper ("Politics Criticism") and in one of the long lines she wondered "Will we get to see the day when the Polish authorities admit that among the Poles, and conspicuously, there was no sympathy for the Jews, and that the Polish partnership in the Holocaust is a historical fact?" .

For nationalist organizations in Poland this trial was enough to lodge a complaint against her with the police, and soon she too may find herself in court facing an indictment for "insulting the dignity of the Polish nation", an offense that carries a sentence of up to three years in prison.

"The Polish authorities clearly want to see only one side of our history. That we, the Poles, were in the past only good people, Righteous Among the Nations. Until now it was almost impossible to mention that there were also Poles who harmed Jews. Now, it seems, this should not be mentioned at all. "In articles and articles in the media. This is a very dangerous and very strange situation. This is a real threat to freedom of research and expression," Markosh told Walla!

NEWS.

Despite the police investigation, she does not refute the allegations that there were Poles who committed crimes against the Jews during the Holocaust, and claims that the investigation will not deter her from continuing to publish the historical truth as she herself sees it.

"No, no no!", She said in Hebrew, laughing.

"There is no chance. I am not going to change anything. The truth is the most important thing for me as a journalist, historian and citizen of Poland. The partnership of some Poles in the Holocaust is a fact. Why not mention it in an article on World War II history? This is clear information that everyone needs I know, and I don't think anyone really needs to explain it. "

If anyone still had any doubt as to whether the Polish authorities had succeeded in intimidating her, she asked to have him removed.

"The charges against me are the same charges filed against the famous historian Jan Tomasz Gross. I am proud to be charged along with him on the same charges," Markosh said.

Danger to press freedom.

Protest in private newspapers over intention to test advertisements in them (Photo: Reuters)

Markusz's remarks on the current rule in Poland well express the mood among many journalists, historians and scholars in Poland.

Since the National Law and Justice Party came to power in late 2015, it has consistently tried to realize its nationalist platform.

It began with media reform and the appointment of executives on its behalf to all state media, which overnight became the mouthpiece of the ruling party, continued with a court reform that set aside dozens of judges but took tens of thousands of protesters to the streets of Poland in protest, reaching a law almost completely banning abortions in Poland. Who even in these snowy days takes tens of thousands of protesters to the streets of the country.

At the same time, in recent years there has also been a worrying increase in manifestations of anti-Semitism and racism, most of which have passed without any response or condemnation from the authorities and have at best been ridiculed in the courts.

Polish nationalists realized that in the corridors of power in Warsaw there was really no one to come out against them, and again began to raise their heads in public with antisemitic hate demonstrations.

"I can no longer describe Poland as a democracy"

When Grabowski was asked whether in his opinion the ruling was influenced by the current atmosphere in Poland and the nationalism that is also spreading in government and media institutions, he prefers not to answer unequivocally, but in his remarks hinted that there is a close connection between the two.

"I can not answer this question, but we all know that the judicial system in Poland is under siege. Judges are expelled from their seats and the Supreme Courts 'taken' by the nationalists. Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziubro tweeted his enthusiasm for the ruling in my case. "The verdict is not final and an appeal will be made soon. How will the appeals judge react to Minister Ziubro's tweets, I do not know. Overall, the political situation in Poland is rapidly deteriorating for the worse, and I can no longer describe Poland as a democracy," Grabowski said.

Engelking, for her part, also does not spare harsh words against the ruling party and the current situation in Poland.

"What I think of the current atmosphere in Poland under the rule of the Law and Justice Party, it is better not to say out loud," she told Walla!

NEWS.

"Since 2016 I have tried to participate in every possible demonstration, and recently I took part in the women's protest."

So is the future of Holocaust research in jeopardy, and will more historians find themselves on court benches just because they have revealed the truth as they see it?

The near future will provide the answer.

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Source: walla

All news articles on 2021-02-12

Holocaust researchers forced to apologize struggle with Poland's engineering of consciousness - Walla! news

Holocaust researchers who were forced to apologize are struggling with the engineering of consciousness in Poland

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