US welcomes changes to Polish anti-defamation law

The US Department of State released a statement after Poland’s parliament on Wednesday moved to soften the contested law, which, in its original wording, criminalised blaming Poland as a nation for Nazi German atrocities during World War II.

“The United States welcomes the Polish Parliament’s passage of amendments to its Institute of National Remembrance Law,” the US State Department said in its statement.

"This action underscores Poland’s commitment to open debate, freedom of speech and academic inquiry,” it added.

The amendments, which were fast-tracked through both houses of Poland’s legislature on Wednesday and subsequently signed into effect by the country's president, removed the threat of prison terms for those using the historically inaccurate term “Polish death camps” or suggesting that Poland was complicit in the Holocaust.

The US State Department said in its statement that “the Holocaust and the crimes of the Nazis are an unspeakable tragedy in the history of Poland and mankind.”

The US State Department added: “We agree that phrases attributing responsibility to the Polish state for crimes committed by the Nazis on occupied Polish territory, such as ‘Polish death camps,’ are inaccurate and hurtful. Such misrepresentations are best confronted through free and open dialogue.”

The prime ministers of Poland and Israel on Wednesday signed a joint declaration to end a months-long dispute over the divisive regulations, which could see a jail term imposed on anyone who accused Poland of being complicit in Nazi German crimes during World War II.

The United States in early February voiced its disappointment after the Polish president signed new anti-defamation rules into law.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told a news conference in Warsaw on Wedenesday that the anti-defamation law was designed to protect the country’s reputation abroad and set the record straight on its role in the Holocaust.

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Source: IAR, state.gov