Posted on 06/30/2018 5:29:49 PM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege
Poland has amended its controversial Holocaust law that made it a crime punishable by up to three years in jail to say “Polish concentration camps,” four months after the law went into effect.
Polish lawmakers voted on Wednesday by a vote of 388-25, with five abstentions.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he is pleased that Poland “fully rescinded” clauses in its Holocaust law.
“I’m pleased that the Polish government, the parliament, the senate and the president of Poland decided today to fully rescind the clauses that were signed and caused a storm and consternation in Israel and among the international community."
The statement also stressed that it is erroneous to use the term “Polish death camps” or to in any way diminish the responsibility of the Germans for the crimes. The statement also noted that there were numerous Poles who saved Jews, and that the Polish government in exile attempted to sound the alarms about the atrocities being committed.
Both governments, the statement read, condemn antisemitism in all its forms and anti-Polish sentiments and “call to a return to civil and respectful dialogue in public discourse.”
The unexpected U-turn came as Poland'a ruling Law and Justice Party seeks to bolster security ties with Washington and faces heightened scrutiny from the European Union.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki did not say what precisely had prompted his morning announcement. However, he told parliament that the terms of the existing law had already done their job by raising awareness of Poland’s role in World War II – the government says Poles were the victims of Nazi aggression, not fellow perpetrators.
“The purpose of this law was and still is one fundamental message: Fight for the truth, fight for the truth of World War II and postwar times."
(Excerpt) Read more at jpost.com ...
German concentration camps IN POLAND would certainly be more accurate than “Polish concentration camps”.
The Poles never ran any of those camps.
Exactly.
Good for Poland-——people shouldn’t be jailed or fined for SAYING something.
Political correctness has almost ruined the USA.
.
Germany annexed about half of Poland. The rest they governed as the “General Gouvernement.” The Nazis intended to obliterate the Polish nation.
Poland and Israel reached an accommodation and that’s good for both countries.
Although some of them helped.
Yes, this was one controversy the good guys really didn’t need right now. Two great countries, happy they got it patched up.
As did the Russians.
In particular Stalin targeted veterans of the war from 20 years previous.
Up to three years in jail for merely saying “Polish death camps”? That is ridiculous.
One thing that the Nazi's did was to clear out sections of Poland of all native Poles, put them into the concentration camps and replaced them with people they shipped in from Germany.
They had planned to clear out the entire country, but the end of the war came too soon.
“Nazi concentration camps in Poland” would be a bit less susceptible to misunderstanding, yes... but almost nobody talks that carefully in the real world...people just don’t speak that precisely.....
now, Poland has made its point.. which is good, imho
and
now, Poland has gotten ‘real’ about its laws, which is also good
how in the world this “Politically Correct Speech” issue could have gotten so far....messing up good international relations...... ? it is good this is settled now
True, but so has historical illiteracy unfortunately - but of course that's not the government's job to correct by way of imprisonment. (As history shows us.)
/bingo
Whatever fascist a-holes were behind the 3 years imprisonment for a choice of speech belong in prison themselves. Glad this was repealed.
Himmler regarded Polish Jewry as "the genetic powerhouse of European Jewry" and other than those liberated from the camps, it is likely that "every Polish Jewish individual was liquidated." [Interrogations: The Nazi Elite in Allied Hands, 1945 by Richard Overy]
Yes, there were two incidents of mass-killing of Jews in 6 years in which Poles participated, but you can't blame the whole nation for those two horrendous, despicable crimes
There were some Jews who "helped" the Nazis in the same way (read about the Lodz ghetto) - and the reasons were the same - fear of death that made them commit horrible collaboration with the Nazis.
IMHO the Germans already invest a lot and asking for reparations opens up a closed, dusty book. Better for it to remain closed.
From 1939 to 1945 Poland did not exist
This is the map of Europe in 1942 -- note that there is no Poland. When the Nazis and Soviets invaded, they agreed on doing the same thing that the Prussians, Austrians and Russians did in 1791 - wipe the name of Poland off the map.
So Poland did not exist. The camps were on Nazi German land. They were Nazi concentration camps in what was Germany.
Agreed.
Reasonable
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