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Polish Memory Law

Polish Memory Law, officially called the Amendment to the Act on the Institute of National Remembrance[a] of 2018 in Poland, is a partly repealed law that would have made it criminal to claim that Poland was responsible for the Holocaust. The terms that made such speech criminal were removed after international protests.[1]

Overview

Scholars worldwide see the Law as part of the Law and Justice[b] party-led government's policy to present ethnic Poles as the only victims and heroes in Nazi-occupied Poland,[2][3] and a violation of freedom of speech due to its potential of suppressing discussions on Polish collaboration in Nazi-occupied Poland.[2][3]

Bill

The proposed law changes a previous law known as the Act of 18 December 1998 on the Institute of National Remembrance – Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation (Dz.U. 1998 nr 155 poz. 1016).[4] Articles added in February 2018 included:

  • Article 53o:[5]

Protecting the reputation of the Republic of Poland and the Polish Nation shall be governed by the provisions of the Civil Code Act of 23 April 1964 (Polish Journal of Laws of 2016, items 380, 585 and 1579) on the protection of personal rights. A court action aimed at protecting the Republic of Poland’s or the Polish Nation’s reputation may be brought by a non-governmental organisation within the remit of its statutory activities. Any resulting compensation or damages shall be awarded to the State Treasury.

  • Article 53p:[5]

A court action aimed at protecting the Republic of Poland’s or the Polish Nation’s reputation may also be brought by the Institute of National Remembrance. In such cases, the Institute of National Remembrance shall have the capacity to be a party to court proceedings.

1. Whoever claims, publicly and contrary to the facts, that the Polish Nation or the Republic of Poland is responsible or co-responsible for Nazi crimes committed by the Third Reich, as specified in Article 6 of the Charter of the International Military Tribunal enclosed to the International agreement for the prosecution and punishment of the major war criminals of the European Axis, signed in London on 8 August 1945 (Polish Journal of Laws of 1947, item 367), or for other felonies that constitute crimes against peace, crimes against humanity or war crimes, or whoever otherwise grossly diminishes the responsibility of the true perpetrators of said crimes—shall be liable to a fine or imprisonment for up to 3 years. The sentence shall be made public.

2. If the act specified in clause 1 is committed unintentionally, the perpetrator shall be liable to a fine or a restriction of liberty.

3. No offence is committed if the criminal act specified in clauses 1 and 2 is committed in the course of one's artistic or academic activity.'

The crimes of Ukrainian nationalists and members of Ukrainian organizations collaborating with the Third German Reich, as defined in the Act, are acts committed by Ukrainian nationalists in the years 1925–1950, involving the use of violence, terror or other forms of violation of human rights, against individuals or ethnic groups. One of the crimes of Ukrainian nationalists and members of Ukrainian organizations collaborating with the Third German Reich is their involvement in the extermination of the Jewish population and genocide on citizens of the Second Polish Republic in Volhynia and Eastern Lesser Poland."

Amendment

The US Department of State opposed the bill, and the Polish government removed Articles 55a and 55b from the bill, meaning that it would not become criminal to claim that Poland was responsible for the Holocaust.[8] In June 2018, the Polish parliament took merely 8.5 hours to pass the bill.[9] The bill's passage makes it a civil offence for someone associated with Poland to make the said claim.[9]

Reactions

Poland

According to a survey from February 2018, 40% of Poles supported the criminal penalties in the bill, while 51% believed that the issue should be handled differently.[10] Research showed that the Law had the opposite effect of raising global searches for the phrase "Polish death camps" ninefold, while increasing antisemitic speech on social media.[11]

Scholars

In his book Intimate Violence: Anti-Jewish Pogroms on the Eve of the Holocaust, Jeffrey Kopstein of the University of Toronto[c] said:[12]

[Their goal] is clear: to restrict discussion of Polish complicity [...] Poland's current government will likely face the unpalatable prospect of enforcing an unenforceable law and denying what the mainstream scholarly community has increasingly shown to be true: Some Poles were complicit in the Holocaust.

Religious groups

The Polish Bishops' Conference noted a rise in antisemitism after the bill was passed, declaring the phenomenon "contrary to the Christian tenet of loving one's neighbor".[13] The Union of Jewish Religious Communities in Poland said the bill had led to a "growing wave of intolerance, xenophobia, and anti-Semitism", making many members fearful for their safety.[14][15]

United States

Government

The law damaged Israel–Poland relations. Israel's Foreign Ministry director-general Yuval Rotem said that preserving the memory of the Holocaust takes priority over international relations, saying:[16]

“ Preserving the memory of the Holocaust is a matter beyond the bilateral relationship between Israel and Poland. It is a core issue cutting to the essence of the Jewish people. ”

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Poland of Holocaust denial.[17] Israel's Education and Diaspora Affairs Minister Naftali Bennett said:[18]

“ This is a shameful disregard of the truth. It is a historic fact that many Poles aided in the murder of Jews, handed them in, abused them, and even killed Jews during and after the Holocaust. ”

Israel's ambassador to Poland opposed the bill, saying that antisemitism in Poland was rising.[19] In response, Jan Żaryn, then a Polish Senator and nationalist historian who made controversial claims about Polish-Jewish history,[20][21] called for the Israeli ambassador's expulsion.[19]

Advocacy groups

The American Jewish Committee (AJC) said:[22][23]

[w]hile we remember the brave Poles who saved Jews, the role of some Poles in murdering Jews cannot be ignored [... we are] firmly opposed to legislation that would penalize claims that Poland or Polish citizens bear responsibility for any Holocaust crimes.

Canada

Israel

Holocaust museums

Yad Vashem condemned the bill:[24]

“ While "Polish death camps" as a phrase is a historic misrepresentation [... the law is] liable to blur the historical truths regarding the assistance the Germans received from the Polish population during the Holocaust. ”

International

The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) expressed regret over Polish President Andrzej Duda's signing of the Law into power, adding that the Law would harm the right to free and open research.[25]

Subsequent events

Repeal of Article 2a

In January 2019, the Constitutional Tribunal of Poland ruled the Article 2a void and non-binding.[26]

Related pages

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Polish: Instytut Pamięci Narodowej (IPN)
  2. ↑ Polish: Prawo i Sprawiedliwość (PiS)
  3. ↑ Co-author of the book: Jason Wittenberg of the University of California, Berkeley

References

  1. ↑ "Poland Holocaust law: Government U-turn on jail threat" (in en-GB). BBC News. 2018-06-27. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-44627129. Retrieved 2023-06-04. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 . https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2018/02/01/polands-senate-passes-holocaust-complicity-bill-despite-concerns-from-u-s-israel. Retrieved 2018-02-02. 
    • Hackmann, Jörg. Defending the "Good Name" of the Polish Nation: Politics of History as a Battlefield in Poland, 2015–18. Journal of Genocide Research 20 (4) (2018). p. 587–606. doi:10.1080/14623528.2018.1528742.
    • Robert Rozett, “Competitive Victimhood and Holocaust Distortion,” The Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs, XVI (2022); “Distorting the Holocaust and Whitewashing History: Toward a Typology,” XIII: 1 (2019); Yehuda Bauer, “Creating a “Usable” Past: On Holocaust Denial and Distortion,” XIV: 2 (2022); and Jan Grabowski, “The Holocaust and Poland's 'History Policy'” X: 3 (2016).
    • Joanna Beata Michlic, “The Politics of the Memorialisation of the Holocaust in Poland: Reflections on the Current Misuses of the History of Rescue,” Jewish Historical Studies—Transactions of the Jewish Historical Society of England, LIII: 1 (2022); Piotr Forecki, Po Jedwabnem: Anatomia pamięci funkcjonalnej (Kraków, 2018); Jan Gross, Neighbors: The Destruction of the Jewish Community in Jedwabne (Princeton, 2001).
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1
    • Ray, Larry. Introduction to the special issue – disputed Holocaust memory in Poland. Holocaust Studies 25 (3) (2019). p. 209–219. doi:10.1080/17504902.2019.1567657.
    • Cherviatsova, Alina. Memory as a battlefield: European memorial laws and freedom of speech. The International Journal of Human Rights 25 (4) (2020). p. 675–694. doi:10.1080/13642987.2020.1791826.
    • Piotr Forecki, “Domestic ‘Assassins of Memory’: Various Faces of Holocaust Revisionism in Contemporary Poland,” presentation at a symposium in honor of Professor Antony Polonsky called “The Holocaust in Eastern Europe: sources, memory, politics,” March 16, 2021, UCL, London.
  4. ↑ "Ustawa z dnia 18 grudnia 1998 r. o Instytucie Pamięci Narodowej — Komisji Ścigania Zbrodni przeciwko Narodowi Polskiemu" (in pl). Dziennik Ustaw (155): 1016. December 19, 1998. http://dziennikustaw.gov.pl/du/1998/s/155/1016/D1998155101601.pdf. Retrieved 2019-05-16. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Full text of Poland's controversial Holocaust legislation. February 1, 2018. https://www.timesofisrael.com/full-text-of-polands-controversial-holocaust-legislation. Retrieved January 2, 2021. 
  6. ↑ Kanika, Gauba. The Indian Yearbook of Comparative Law 2018 (July 11, 2019). p. 233–249. Retrieved May 31, 2025.
  7. ↑ Ustawa z dnia 26 stycznia 2018 r. o zmianie ustawy o Instytucie Pamięci Narodowej – Komisji Ścigania Zbrodni przeciwko Narodowi Polskiemu, ustawy o grobach i cmentarzach wojennych, ustawy o muzeach oraz ustawy o odpowiedzialności podmiotów zbiorowych za czyny zabronione pod groźbą kary (in pl). orka.sejm.gov.pl (January 29, 2018)Sejm of the Republic of Poland. Retrieved 2018-02-02.
  8. ↑ Szklarski, Bohdan, and Piotr Ilowski. "Searching for Solid Ground in Polish-American Relations in the Second Year of the Trump Administration." (2019): 65-82.. Retrieved 2019-08-27.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Jaraczewski, Jakub (July 23, 2018). "Fast Random-Access Memory (Laws) – The June 2018 Amendments to the Polish "Holocaust Law"". Verfassungsblog. https://verfassungsblog.de/fast-random-access-memory-laws-the-june-2018-amendments-to-the-polish-holocaust-law/. Retrieved January 2, 2021. 
  10. ↑ The amendment to the Institute of National Remembrance act Centre for Public Opinion Research
  11. ↑ Analiza skutków noweli ustawy o IPN: wzmożenie antysemickie w debacie publicznej (in pl). Rzecznik Praw Obywatelskich (June 13, 2018). Retrieved January 2, 2021.
  12. ↑ Wittenberg, Jason; Kopstein, Jeffrey (2 February 2018). Yes, some Poles were Nazi collaborators. The Polish Parliament is trying to legislate that away.. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2018/02/02/yes-some-poles-were-nazi-collaborators-the-polish-parliament-is-trying-to-legislate-that-away/. Retrieved 2018-02-02. 
  13. ↑ Catholic, Jewish leaders in Poland seek to reduce tensions. 15 March 2018. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/catholic-jewish-leaders-in-poland-seek-to-reduce-tensions/2018/03/15/90237fb4-2874-11e8-a227-fd2b009466bc_story.html. 
  14. ↑ Masters, James. Poland's Jewish groups say Jews feel unsafe since new Holocaust law. CNN (February 20, 2018). Retrieved November 11, 2018.
  15. ↑ Oświadczenie organizacji żydowskich do opinii publicznej / Open statement of Polish Jewish organizations to the public opinion (in pl). Jewish.org.pl. Retrieved March 13, 2018.
  16. ↑ Halon, Eytan (March 3, 2018). "Argentina newspaper first target of controversial Polish Holocaust law". The Jerusalem Post. http://www.jpost.com/International/Argentina-newspaper-first-target-of-controversial-Polish-Holocaust-law-544098. Retrieved 2019-05-16. 
  17. ↑ Eglash, Ruth; Selk, Avi (January 28, 2018). Israel and Poland try to tamp down tensions after Poland's 'death camp' law sparks Israeli outrage. ISSN 0190-8286 . https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2018/01/27/it-could-soon-be-a-crime-to-blame-poland-for-nazi-atrocities-and-israel-is-appalled. Retrieved 2018-01-28. 
  18. ↑ Israel criticises Poland over draft Holocaust legislation. January 27, 2018. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/27/israel-criticises-poland-over-draft-holocaust-legislation. Retrieved 2019-05-16. 
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 "Polish senator calls for Israeli ambassador’s expulsion". Jewish News. March 11, 2018. https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/polish-senator-calls-for-israeli-ambassadors-expulsion. Retrieved May 29, 2025. "A Polish senator for the ruling party said he would not shake hands with Israel’s ambassador and that he favors her expulsion from Poland for saying anti-Semitism was on the rise there [. ...] The crisis began with the passing of a law in January that criminalises blaming Poland for Nazi crimes. Several Jewish groups said the law impedes open debate and risks censoring research. Some critics of the law said it whitewashes what they called Polish complicity.". 
  20. ↑ Grabowski, Jan. Wikipedia’s Intentional Distortion of the History of the Holocaust. The Journal of Holocaust Research 37 (2) (February 9, 2023). p. 133–190. doi:10.1080/25785648.2023.2168939. Retrieved October 24, 2024.
  21. ↑ "How Ewa Kurek, the Favorite Historian of the Polish Far Right, Promotes Her Distorted Account of the Holocaust". Tablet. May 3, 2018. https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/ewa-kurek-favorite-historian-of-the-polish-far-right. Retrieved May 29, 2025. "[Ewa] Kurek was not the only participant in the Smolensk commemoration with a history of problematic statements about Jews [. ...] Jan Zaryn, who was also listed as attending the event, is a far-right parliamentarian who introduced a resolution denying most Polish responsibility for the 1968 purges, and has called for the prosecution of the Princeton Holocaust historian Jan Tomasz Gross.". 
  22. ↑ AJC Opposes Polish Effort to Criminalize Claims of Holocaust Responsibility. American Jewish Committee (January 27, 2018). Retrieved November 11, 2018.
  23. ↑ Tibon, Amir (January 27, 2018). As Poland's New Holocaust Law Causes Storm, U.S. Urges 'Never Again' on Holocaust Remembrance Day. https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/as-poland-s-holocaust-law-causes-storm-tillerson-says-never-again-1.5767938. Retrieved November 11, 2018. 
  24. ↑ "Yad Vashem: Poland Holocaust law risks 'serious distortion' of Polish complicity". The Times of Israel. January 27, 2018. https://www.timesofisrael.com/decrying-new-bill-yad-vashem-says-polish-death-camps-a-misrepresentation. Retrieved 2019-05-16. 
  25. ↑ Statement on President Duda’s decision to sign law. International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (2018). Retrieved June 1, 2025.
  26. ↑ (in pl) Ekspert: orzeczenie Trybunału Konstytucyjnego ws. nowelizacji ustawy o IPN może otworzyć drogę do dyskusji. Polskie Radio 24. January 17, 2019. https://www.polskieradio24.pl/5/1222/Artykul/2247655,Ekspert-orzeczenie-Trybunalu-Konstytucyjnego-ws-nowelizacji-ustawy-o-IPN-moze-otworzyc-droge-do-dyskusji. Retrieved 2019-05-16. 
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