Lawmakers ‘aye’ to draft Holocaust law in Poland

Penalties on suggestions of complicity in WWII included in Bill

WARSAW/ WASHINGTON: Polish lawmakers approved draft legislation penalising suggestions of any complicity by Poland in the Nazi Holocaust on its soil during World War II, defying criticism by Israel and the United States.

The proposal has triggered a diplomatic spat between Israel and Warsaw’s conservative government since its initial approval in the lower house of parliament last week, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu comparing it to an effort to change history.

The US State Department urged Poland on Wednesday to re-evaluate the draft law, expressing concern about consequences on Warsaw’s relations with the United States and Israel if the draft becomes law.

Under the proposed legislation, violators would face three years in prison for a mention of “Polish death camps”, although scientific research into World War II would not be constrained.

Poland has fought against the use of the phrase in some Western media for years, arguing it suggested the Polish state was at least partly responsible for the camps, where millions of people, mostly Jews, were killed by Nazi Germany.

The camps were built and operated by the Nazis after the 1939 invasion of Poland, home to

We won’t allow for Poland to continue being insulted. Patryk Jaki

Europe’s largest Jewish community at the time.

“We have to send a clear signal to the world that we won’t allow for Poland to continue being insulted,” Patryk Jaki, a deputy justice minister, said in parliament.

The Senate voted on the draft Bill in the early hours yesterday and it will now be sent to President Andrzej Duda for a final signature.

Poland’s PAP news agency reported 57 senators voted for the draft Bill, with 23 against and two abstentions.

The Polish government has said the legislation aims to stop the Polish people or state being blamed for Nazi crimes.

The United States said, however, “We believe open debate, scholarship, and education are the best means of countering inaccurate and hurtful speech,” State Department spokesman Heather Nauert said in a statement.