The Polish Court of Appeal overturned the ruling on the two leading Holocaust historians accused of defamation. A closely watched case This raises questions about the freedom to study Poland’s history of World War II.
The civil case was filed against Professor Barbara Engelking and Professor Jan Grabowski because they co-edited a book about the complicity of Catholic Poles in the genocide of Jews during the Nazi German occupation. Poland.
Several such cases were recorded in the endless night, but the court proceedings were brought by the niece of the wartime mayor Edward Malinowski in the village of Malinovo in northeastern Poland.
The book mentions that he may be involved in the massacre of Jews by German soldiers, but his niece Philomena Leshchinska believes that he actually helped the Jews.
In February, The lower court ordered Engelking and Grabowski to apologize to Leszczyńska, Calling their statement “inaccurate.”
On Monday, a judge of the Polish Court of Appeal overturned the ruling, but she did not clarify the accuracy of the passage in the book.
On the contrary, Joanna Wiśniewska-Sadomska stated that the lawsuit constitutes an “unacceptable violation of the freedom of scientific research and freedom of speech”.
The judge added that “courts are not the right place for historical debates”.
Wiśniewska-Sadomska said that validating research methods or original materials would lead to “an unacceptable form of review and interference with the freedom of research and scientific work.”
Grabowski and Engelking welcomed the ruling, calling it a “great victory” in a Facebook post.
“We are happier and more satisfied with the judgment. This decision has a direct impact on all Polish scholars, especially Polish historians. massacre,” they said.
A Warsaw organization supporting Leszczyńska said it would appeal to the Supreme Court.
The case took place in a tense political atmosphere, with critics accusing the nationalist government of trying to whitewash Polish history and prevent academic investigations into cooperative cases.
The Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum and various Jewish organizations and researchers from both sides of the Atlantic condemned the defamation trial.
Between 1939 and 1945, nearly 6 million Poles (including 3 million Jews) were killed during the Nazi occupation.
Catholic Poles have very different attitudes towards their Jewish neighbors. In that era, even offering Jews a glass of water could be sentenced to death.
Historians have recorded many cases of indifference and sometimes cruelty to Jewish Poles, but there are also many stories of bravery.
More than 7,000 Poles are called “righteous internationals” than any other nationality. This is the honour used by Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews from extinction during the Holocaust.
The topic of Polish crimes against Jews was taboo in the communist era. In recent years, new revelations of illegal acts in Poland have aroused strong opposition.
Poland’s ruling Law and Justice Party has vowed to combat what it considers to be unfair descriptions of Poland’s wrongdoing and is more willing to promote the memorial of heroism and sacrifice. Many researchers and the Israeli government accused the Polish government of whitewashing history.
