“Thepassage yesterday of the Polish bill criminalizing any reference to complicityby the Polish state in Holocaust crimes and outlawing use of the term ‘Polishdeath camps’, is an ill-conceived attempt to whitewash the widespreadparticipation of individual Poles in the persecution and murder of Jews duringthe Holocaust. While the term ‘Polish death camps’ is historically inaccurateand should not be used under any circumstances, the other elements of this billare a crass attempt to silence any discussion of the widespread phenomenon ofcomplicity by individual Poles in Holocaust crimes, as well as the murder ofnumerous Jews by members of the Armia Krajowa, the nationalist military arm ofthe Polish government-in-exile in London.

“Wefully acknowledge the suffering of the Polish under a brutal Nazi occupationand the incredibly courageous efforts of Polish ‘Righteous Among the Nations’,but we will not and the Polish nation must not ignore the widespread complicityof other Poles in the annihilation of Polish Jewry.

“Weurge the Polish authorities to take whatever steps are necessary to bury thisill-conceived bill and ensure the accuracy of the historical narrative of WorldWar II and the Holocaust.

“TheSimon Wiesenthal Center’s senior staff on both sides of the Atlantic arecontacting the US State Department, US Congress, the EU, and all democracieswho just commemorated International Holocaust Day to urge their immediate anddirect condemnation of this outrage.”

For moreinformation, please contact the Center's Public Relations Department,310-553-9036. Join the Center on Facebook, www.facebook.com/simonwiesenthalcenter or follow @simonwiesenthal for news updates sent direct toyour Twitter feed.

The SimonWiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rightsorganizations with over 400,000 member families in the United States. It is anNGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE,the OAS, the Council of Europe and the Latin American Parliament(Parlatino).                                                    

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Marcial Laviña

Assistant Director, PublicRelations

Simon Wiesenthal Center

Museum of Tolerance

P: 310-772-2455

F: 310-533-4521