Thread by @newsroom

Starting today, it will be a crime in Poland to say the country helped Nazi Germany during the Holocaust.
apnews.com/2a09f2c3d4ef49…

The measure, part of a strategy by Poland’s nationalist administration to “defend the country’s honor and pride,” is aimed to prevent younger generations from believing that Poland had any role in the Holocaust.

The legislation establishes fines or prison sentences of up to three years for anyone intentionally attributing Nazi crimes against humanity to Poland. Referring to “Polish death camps” is an example of what could put a person in jail now.

The law is intended to portray anyone who claims there were Polish collaborators during the Nazi ruling as enemies of the Polish people, says Mateusz Mazzini at the @washingtonpost.
washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-ca…

Behind the controversial law are the Law and Justice party, a right-wing, conservative, Catholic political force that put President Andrzej Duda into office in 2015.

Here’s President Duda in a televised interview several days ago, saying that the Holocaust “had Polish perpetrators and also Jewish perpetrators”

Israel’s government reacted harshly to Poland’s new Holocaust law and President Duda’s remarks. Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu recently said that Poland’s move fosters anti-Semitism.
haaretz.com/israel-news/mk…

Human Rights Watch’s director expressed concerns over the negative effect it will have on free expression in a country that is already cracking down on a free press.

https://twitter.com/KenRoth/status/962283959932645377

Nationalism is a strong force in Poland. Last year, more than 60,000 people took to the streets to commemorate the country’s Independence Day.

The event also had several calls for Jewish citizens to “leave” Poland, according to reports.
timesofisrael.com/israel-protest…

Historical revisionism is a pretty big obsession of the Law and Justice Party. Last year they took over a WWII museum to refocus its exhibitions on Polish suffering during the years of the Nazi occupation.
politico.eu/article/poland…

The Law and Justice Party earned some backlash from Russia after they also kicked off a so-called “decommunization program” to eliminate the “monuments of gratitude” to the Red Army soldiers who liberated the country from the Nazis. codastory.com/disinformation…

Last year, Polish government officials started speaking about requesting new reparations from Germany. German Foreign Affairs Minister Sigmar Gabriel said in January that his country would consider forming a commission to explore the subject.
reuters.com/article/us-ger…

Poland is not alone in its pursuit to alter history and try to be perceived as an innocent victim of the Nazi’s aggression despite the active collaboration of some of their government officials. Hungary and Lithuania also did it recently.
foreignaffairs.com/articles/hunga…

Today, a delegation of Polish officials went to Israel to try to ease the tension between both countries.

https://twitter.com/Yuval_Rotem/status/969215228213907456

Poland’s deputy foreign minister also went to Washington to assure that “nothing” negative will happen, according to @bloomberg.
bloomberg.com/news/articles/…