Poland does not share responsibility for the Holocaust, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has said during a visit to Markowa, the southeastern Polish hometown of the Ulma family which was murdered because they tried to rescue Jews during World War II.
Morawiecki said it was “very sad” that some people lacked understanding about the perpetrators of crimes during World War II, adding: “On the other hand, it is extremely important to explain it”.
Morawiecki went to Markowa amid tensions between Israel and Poland over a new law passed by the Polish parliament which could mean a jail term for anyone who accuses the Polish nation of being complicit in Nazi German crimes during World War II.
Warsaw says Poland as a country and nation should not be implicated in crimes perpetrated by the Nazi German regime.
But Israel fears the bill will censor Holocaust survivors and educators.
On March 24, 1944, Germans shot eight Jews who were being sheltered by Józef and Wiktoria Ulma. The couple and their six children were also killed.
A museum in their memory was set up in Markowa in 2016.
In 1995, Israel’s Yad Vashem institute posthumously named the Ulma family Righteous Among the Nations.
GermanDeathCamps.info, a new educational website aimed at debunking misconceptions about Poland’s role in the Holocaust, has been launched by Polish Radio.(vb/pk)
Source: The News Poland , PAP
