The issue follows a meeting at the ministry with Israel’s ambassador to Poland, Jaakow Finkelstein, who was summoned to discuss the matter.
Polish Deputy FM criticises Yad Vashem post over historical inaccuracies
Bartoszewski reminded that Yad Vashem had shared a post stating that Poland was the first country where Jews were forced to wear a distinctive yellow badge.
The diplomat emphasised that in November 1939, Poland was under Nazi German occupation.
“Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people check constantly for news from Yad Vashem about what was and was not happening during the war,” he added.
“It is shocking for me as a Pole and as a Polish historian involved in Polish-Jewish matters to see that Yad Vashem publishes information which is blatantly untrue,” he stressed.
“There was no Poland in November 1939. Poland was divided between the Germans and the Soviets, and the Polish areas occupied by Germany were split into territories incorporated directly into the Reich and the part called the Generalgouvernement, which was not a state but a province run by Hans Frank, who was a Nazi officer,” Bartoszewski pointed out.
“Therefore, saying that Poland was the first country to impose distinctive badges on Jews is a lie. It was done by the Nazi authorities,” he said firmly.
“The statement published by Yad Vashem further notes that the part of the Polish city of Łódź introduced those badges later because it was not in the Generalgouvernement but in Warthegau – a territory incorporated directly into the Reich. Nowhere does it mention that these areas were occupied by the Germans and not administered by Polish authorities,” Bartoszewski added.
“I am shocked that this information comes from Yad Vashem, which is run by Dani Dayan – chairman of the organisation and vice-chairman of the International Auschwitz Council, which was founded by my father 24 years ago,” he said, referring to Władysław Bartoszewski, a Holocaust survivor who died in 2015.
“Dani Dayan just received a Jan Karski Eagle Award for his work in Poland, and during the presentation he said – I quote – ‘Poland was a key partner in remembering the Holocaust,’” he continued, before adding:
“No, Dani, we do not remember the Holocaust the same way, because nobody in Poland would dare to say that we were not occupied and not controlled and not subjugated by the Nazis, by the Germans.”
“The message to the world is: Poland is the country where the Jews were stigmatized on 23 November 1939. Dani, shame on you,” Bartoszewski concluded.
Earlier, Dayan responded on social media, stressing that Yad Vashem’s materials accurately reflect the historical reality of Nazi occupation in Poland during World War II and rejecting any suggestion that its work misrepresents the facts.
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Source: X/@PolandMFA/@AmbDaniDayan