I include this story in my blog on Contemporary Catholicism because it involves Poland, a country known for its overwhelming Catholicity in both character and culture.
Poland's conservative ruling Law and Justice Party has authored a bill, which imposes up to three years of prison for any intentional attempt to falsely attribute the crimes of Nazi Germany to the Polish state or people.
Law and Justice Party officials explain that the bill is an attempt to fight against phrases like "Polish death camps" to refer to death camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland during World War II.
The State of Israel, however, sees the move an attempt to whitewash the role some Poles played in the killing of Jews during the war.
The dispute, which erupted over the weekend, has elicited bitter recriminations on both sides.
Some Israelis have accused the mostly Catholic Poles of being driven by anti-Semitism and of trying to deny the Holocaust.
Poles, for their part, believe that they are being defamed by being linked to Nazi crimes of which they were one of the largest group of victims.
A U.S. Congressional taskforce on combatting anti-Semitism said it was "alarmed" by the legislation and called on Polish President Andrzej Duda to veto it. "We are deeply concerned that this legislation could have a chilling effect on dialogue, scholarship, and accountability in Poland about the Holocaust, should this legislation become law," the bipartisan Congressional group said.
The lower house of the Polish parliament approved the bill on Friday, a day before International Holocaust Remembrance Day, timing that has also been criticized as insensitive.
I find the actions of the Polish government deeply disturbing in the face of historical evidence which indicates that Polish citizens collaborated with the Nazi occupying forces in identifying Jewish Poles who were then targeted for deportation to the forced labor camps where millions were exterminated in keeping with Hitler's Final Solution.
Certainly, the Catholic leadership in Poland needs to rise up and condemn the Polish parliament's recent censorship attempt.
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