MUNICH, Feb. 18, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- AJC
criticized Polish Prime Minister Mateusz
Morawiecki's remarks asserting that Jews were among the
"perpetrators" of the Holocaust. He was speaking at the Munich
Security Conference.
AJC Berlin Director Deidre
Berger, who was in attendance, said Morawiecki's comment "is
an unwelcome sign that Polish leaders have yet to understand the
tremendous concerns unleashed by the new Polish law criminalizing
statements that implicate Polish collaborators in the
Holocaust."
AJC opened its Central Europe Office in Warsaw last March, reflecting decades of
engagement with Poland and a
unique role in seeking to write a promising new chapter in
Polish-Jewish relations.
At the same time, the global Jewish advocacy organization has
been clear in opposing the new law and simultaneously determined to
help defuse the crisis, if possible, between the Polish government
and world Jewry.
The prime minister's remarks suggesting Jewish complicity, as
well as his decision to visit the graves in Munich of Polish fighters who collaborated
with Nazi Germany during World War
II and lay a wreath, are further complicating an already tense
situation.
"Poland's suffering at the
hands of the Nazi regime was enormous, its bravery in resistance is
unquestionable. There were also Poles who risked their lives to
save Jewish neighbors. Still, it is undeniable that Jews
before, during, and after WWII died due to collaboration and
anti-Semitism," said Berger.
"It was disquieting to hear the lack of sensitivity of the prime
minister to the emotional question of a child of Holocaust
survivors from Poland whose family
was betrayed by Polish neighbors. But accusing Jews themselves of
allegedly being perpetrators in the Holocaust was a stunning
reversal of responsibility for the Holocaust, turning victims into
perpetrators."
An AJC leadership delegation, led by AJC CEO David Harris, was in Warsaw last month and met with the Prime
Minister. The discussion was friendly and productive, but it
occurred when there was no hint of the forthcoming legislation in
the Parliament that would stir such a global debate and trigger
such strong criticism from the American and Israeli
governments.
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SOURCE American Jewish Committee