Poland’s envoy offers rebuttal

Re: Scholar sues over claims he ‘slandered’ Poland, Nov. 17

I would like to express my disappointment with an inaccurate statement in this article.

Let me quote just one paragraph, that appears after Prof. Jan Grabowski’s citation: “Official efforts under the Law and Justice government have included promoting the memory of the Polish gentiles who sheltered Jews during the war. Scholars who research Polish violence against Jews have faced censure and prosecution.”

The author of the article blamed Polish authorities for censuring and prosecuting scholars whose research about Holocaust included villainous acts committed by Poles against Jews.

Nothing is more inaccurate. Moreover, I believe it is unacceptable for one of the most respected papers in Canada to present such unfounded conclusion. The freedom of thought and the freedom of speech are fundamental rights in Poland. There is an open space for discussion and carrying out research or publishing its outcomes. Scholarly research about the Holocaust flourishes in Poland, with dozens of books and articles being published every year.

The Polish Center for Holocaust Research, established in 2003, a section of the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, carries out a free, interdisciplinary research on the Holocaust. One of its members is the aforementioned Prof. Jan Grabowski of the University of Ottawa, who conducts research in Poland and publishes its results. Polish readers are also acquainted with the scholarly research about the Holocaust abroad. The Polish translation of “The Polish Underground and the Jews, 1939 – 1945” by Joshua Zimmerman, professor at Yeshiva University in the U.S., and edited by one of the most prestigious Polish publishers, the PWN, is one of the newest examples.

Having those and many other examples in mind, I can only disagree with your statement about censure and prosecution of scholarly research about the Holocaust in Poland.

Andrzej Kurnicki, Ambassador of the Republic of Poland