Poland supports Holocaust research, ambassador insists

The ambassador’s comments came after an article by Joseph Croitoru published by Swiss daily Neue Zürcher Zeitung on March 28.

The article reported on a February conference of historians in Paris, Polish public broadcaster TVP Info has reported on its website.

In response to the article in the Swiss daily, Jakub Kumoch, Poland’s ambassador to Switzerland, and Markus Blechner, Poland’s honorary consul in Zurich, were cited by TVP Info as saying: "We and the Polish government were accused of opposing research on the Holocaust and of participating in an organised campaign against historians. That's not true!"

Kumoch and Blechner added in a joint statement that the organisers of the February conference in Paris “accused Polish participants of antisemitism and disrupting the debate. The Polish ambassador to Switzerland has published 4.5 hours of video materials on Facebook showing that these accusations are unfounded.”

They added: “Poland promotes and funds Holocaust research.”

Tensions with Israel

Earlier this year, tensions flared between Poland and Israel over comments made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a conference on the Middle East in Warsaw.

Netanyahu’s comments were seen as suggesting Polish complicity in Nazi Germany’s campaign in World War II to wipe out Jews. Netanyahu’s office said at the time that he had been misquoted.

Polish President Andrzej Duda was cited as saying in an interview that he would “never agree with statements that Poles as a nation participated in the Holocaust or [that] Poland participated in the Holocaust.”

(pk/gs)

Source: tvp.info