Anti-Defamation League chief apologises for Holocaust comment

Ambassador Piotr Wilczek said on Saturday he was satisfied with a letter of apology sent to him by the League’s CEO, Jonathan Greenblatt, who had reportedly alleged that Poland refuses to publicly acknowledge Adolf Hitler's attempt to exterminate Jews.

American broadcaster CNN last week published comments attributed to Greenblatt, citing him as saying that many countries – Iran, Russia, Poland, and Hungary, for example – specifically refuse to acknowledge Hitler’s attempt to exterminate Jews.

CNN quoted Greenblatt as saying that those countries opted “instead to talk about generic suffering rather than recognising this catastrophic incident for what it was: the intended genocide of the Jewish people”.

In the letter to the Polish ambassador, Greenblatt admitted that he had made a mistake by including Poland among such countries.

He said he regretted his remarks and stressed he had not intended to offend the Polish government or society.

He also said that the ADL had given support to the Polish government’s campaign to rectify inaccurate expressions such as "Polish death camps", recurring in Western media outlets.

Both Wilczek and Greenblatt expressed hope for continuing dialogue between Warsaw and the Jewish rights organisation.

(mo/pk)