Historian Yad Vashem: "We can live with" Israeli-Polish Declaration on the Holocaust



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The Chief Historian of the Famous Holocaust Memorial Israel Yad Vashem defended his role in an Israeli-Polish statement on the Holocaust that caused a firestorm in Israel when he was published in major newspapers last week.

In an interview with the public broadcaster Kan – her first public comments since the beginning of the fury – Professor Dina Porat insisted that "we can live with" many of the claims of the controversial statement on the subject. ;Holocaust.

She also acknowledged that clarification might be needed, saying, "If it is possible, I would correct, I would add, there is no doubt. But not in the atmosphere that was created "surrounding the statement." That's why I have not answered until now; you could not open your mouth in all the noise. "


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The statement was made public on 27 June by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Polish counterpart, Mateusz Morawiecki, as part of an agreement signed by both men that ended the conflict between Israel and the United States. Poland. the Polish nation being "responsible or co-responsible for the Nazi crimes committed by the Third Reich."

The joint statement was issued a few minutes after the Polish parliament pbaded a law to remove troubling pbadages and President Anderzej Duda signed it. 19659008] Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki visits the Museum of the Ulma Family of Poles who saved Jews during the Second World War in Markowa, Poland, on February 2, 2018. (AP Photo / Alik Keplicz)

he. He stated that the phrase "Polish death camps" was "manifestly wrong" and stated that the Polish government in exile "was trying to stop this Nazi activity by trying to sensitize Western allies to systematic murder. Polish Jews. He also rejected anti-Semitism and "anti-Polonism".

The most controversial, he condemned "every case of cruelty to Jews perpetrated by the Poles during the Second World War," but noted "the heroic deeds of many Poles, especially the righteous among the nations, who risked their lives to save the Jewish people. "

On Thursday, Yad Vashem, Israel's national center for Holocaust memory and research, published a scathing badysis of the amended law and joint statement.The joint statement issued by Warsaw and Jerusalem" contains very problematic formulations that contradict existing and accepted historical knowledge in this area, "said the institution in a press release

An NGO with links to the Polish government decided to publish its content, translated into local languages, in newspapers from Israel, Poland, Germany, the United States and elsewhere

which led to the agreement insisted on the fact that Porat, a renowned historian of anti-Semitism and the Holocaust, had accompanied the talks throughout the negotiation process, and that "the historical statements contained in the declaration were approved by her. "Benjamin Netanyahu at a press conference at the Ministry of Defense in Tel Aviv on June 27, 2018, to discuss the amended Holocaust Law in Poland. (Tomer Neuberg / Flash90)

Porat denied this request on Sunday, stating that she had actually been consulted on the talks, but only on a "voluntary, personal and confidential" basis, and not as a representative of Yad Vashem. [19659003Ellen] apasnonplus "approved" each statement "People is committed to trade whenever I have been asked" to be exchanged "

The Times of Israel reported last week that Porat had not seen the final version of the declaration before it is made public. But, she insisted Sunday, the text nevertheless reflects a legitimate demand of the Poles.

"I do not think you can accuse the entire Polish nation of systematically targeting [Jews] systematically" during the Holocaust, she said. "The Poles were really victims" of the Nazis.

She accepted the criticism that the statement included a language that seemed to amplify Polish help to the Jews while appearing to downplay the complicity of the Poles in the Nazi persecution. [19659003] "They do not want their crimes to be at the center of their conscience or identity, they want a different identity," she said

. Illustrative: Jews dug a trench in which they were buried after being shot in Ponary, Poland. (Courtesy of Yad Vashem)

Asked about the apparent equivalence of anti-Semitism and "anti-Polonism", she tried to offer Polish opinion [19659003] "The Poles protested that we had forgiven the Germans, because of reparations, and therefore we did not mean the Germans as badmouthing us as the Poles.They claim that Germany has bought our pardon with Money, while they say, "We are a poor people." That's what the Polish side means when it complains of "anti-Polonism." Porat was agree with Yad Vashem's criticism on a particular sentence of the statement that drew the most ferocious opprobrium in Israel.He said: "Some people, regardless of their origin, religion, or vision of world, have revealed their darkest side at this time. "

Yad Vashem termed the phrase" insinuation " scandalous that the Jews also revealed their darkest side ". "

It was a" very bad phrase, poorly worded, "said Porat, and those who revealed their" darkest side, "she insisted," were Poles and they were Catholics.

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