The bill’s many critics had argued that it violates freedom of expression by essentially banning accusations that some Poles were complicit in Nazi crimes committed on Polish soil<\/b>
\nWhen the Polish government pushed ahead with a controversial Holocaust speech law at the beginning of the year, the outcry was so swift and intense that even Polish lawmakers themselves appeared surprised. Besides Israel\u2019s strong rejection of the Polish legislation, U. S. condemnations hit Warsaw policymakers especially hard.
And yet, for months, there were few signs of backtracking, even as the issue emerged as a key obstacle to Poland\u2019s desire to bolster its security ties to the United States. But after an unexpected intervention by Poland\u2019s prime minister on Wednesday, the law that was never enforced is now being largely walked back.
After the country\u2019s right-wing governing party submitted a new draft, the lower house of parliament voted to remove criminal provisions Wednesday morning. This would stop courts from being able to use the law to impose prison terms of up to three years.
In caving in to international and domestic pressure, Poland\u2019s right-wing Law and Justice party is taking a political gamble. While the changes are meant to soothe tensions with strategically important allies such as the United States and the European Union, Law and Justice also appeared eager to limit the political fallout among the party\u2019s more extreme right-wing supporters.
Those who say that Poland may be responsible for the crimes of World War II deserve jail terms
At least rhetorically, the Polish government stood by its arguments that led to the law\u2019s passage earlier this year.
\u201cThose who say that Poland may be responsible for the crimes of World War II deserve jail terms,\u201d Prime Minister said Wednesday. \u201cBut we operate in an international context, and we take that into account.\u201d
The Polish government, Morawiecki emphasized, would continue its \u201cfight for the truth\u201d about the Holocaust regardless of possible changes to the legislation.
The bill\u2019s international critics had long argued that it violates freedom of expression by essentially banning accusations that some Poles were complicit in Nazi crimes committed on Polish soil, including in the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp, where more than 1.1 million people died. Germany operated six camps in Poland where Jews and others whom the Nazis considered enemies were killed.
Polish officials emphasized early on that artistic and historical research work would not be affected by the ban, but critics cautioned that the law provided courts with too much room for interpretation and may silence debates on the issue, even though some scholars agreed that the Polish government was right in emphasizing that crimes were committed by individuals rather than the Polish state and that the term \u201cPolish death camps\u201d was wrong.
Poland was invaded and occupied by Nazi Germany in 1939, but unlike in other European countries, there was no collaborationist Polish government. About 6 million Polish citizens were killed during the Second World War, about half of them Jews.
Throughout years of Nazi occupation between 1939 and 1945, a number of Polish underground movements resisted the Nazis. It is that chapter of history that the Law and Justice Party wants to emphasize.
But historians have long argued that it is not the full story: Some Poles, they say, were complicit in the Nazi crimes. Historians have pointed to incidents, including a 1941 atrocity in the town of Jedwabne, in which Poles rounded up and killed their Jewish neighbors. Critics also said that the legislation was mainly intended to fuel nationalistic sentiments in the country.
In an early response to the law in February, the State Department similarly said that the phrase \u201cPolish death camps\u201d was \u201cinaccurate, misleading, and hurtful.\u201d But it also cautioned that the bill \u201ccould undermine free speech and academic discourse.\u201d
In Israel, the reaction was even fiercer. \u201cOne cannot change history, and the Holocaust cannot be denied,\u201d Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement in February. Other Israeli officials even compared the legislation to Holocaust denial.
The strong reactions eventually resulted in less outspoken Polish defences of the law itself, even as the government has stood by its reasoning to pass it.<\/p>\n

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