Polish official Jaroslaw Nowak fired after calling Holocaust law ‘stupid’ , he was the plenipotentiary for contacts with the Jewish diaspora.
A Polish diplomat Jaroslaw Nowak,the plenipotentiary for contacts with the Jewish diaspora, has been fired after he criticized his own government’s approach to regulating Holocaust speech, the Foreign Ministry said Monday the 10th of January 2022, The Associated Press report. Polish official Jaroslaw Nowak fired after calling Holocaust law ‘stupid’ in an interview last week with Jewish News,
Nowak also said Poland should pass a law on property restitution, a statement implying further criticism of the ruling authorities, who recently passed a law cutting off the chances for restitution or compensation for those who had properties seized by the communists. Among those affected are Holocaust survivors and their heirs.
Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau fired Nowak on Saturday the 8th of January, the ministry spokesman, Lukasz Jasina, announced Monday on Twitter. He didn’t give a reason.
Nowak’s dismissal followed him telling Jewish News that he believed legislation passed in 2018 seeking to ban certain statements about Poland and the Holocaust “is one of the stupidest amendments that was ever done by any law.”
The legislation sought to fight back against claims that Poland, a victim of Nazi Germany, bore responsibility for the Holocaust. The law outraged Israel, where many felt it was an attempt to whitewash the fact that some Poles did kill Jews during the German occupation during World War II.
The legislation originally called for prison terms of up to three years for falsely attributing German crimes to Poland. It was later amended to remove the criminal provisions.
Nowak has been involved in Polish-Jewish dialogue since the 1980s. He became the plenipotentiary for contacts with the Jewish diaspora in July.
Photo: www.timesofisrael.com
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