In a post on X on Sunday, Yad Vashem wrote that “Poland was the first country where Jews were forced to wear a distinctive badge in order to isolate them from the surrounding population.”
It added: “On 23 November 1939 Hans Frank, the governor of the Generalgouvernement, issued an order that all Jews aged 10 and above must wear a white cloth armband 10 cm wide marked with a blue Star of David on their right arm,” encouraging readers to consult an article analysing the anti-Jewish decree.
Poland’s Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski responded by asking Yad Vashem to clarify that at the time Poland was under German occupation: “Please specify that it was ‘German-occupied’ Poland,” he wrote on X.
Later the same evening Yad Vashem noted on the platform that the linked article explicitly states the requirement was imposed by German authorities: “As noted by many users and specified explicitly in the linked article, it was done by order of the German authorities.”
POLIN: social media requires exceptional precision
On Monday the POLIN Museum issued a statement titled “On writing responsibly about the past.”
Jakub Woźniak, the museum’s head of communications and marketing, wrote that while Yad Vashem’s message was “undoubtedly clear” to specialists in Holocaust studies, experts were not the main audience for social-media posts.
“Social media can reach millions around the world in an instant. A short message can spread rapidly and be taken out of context. This places even greater responsibility on institutions whose mission is to convey history,” Woźniak said.
He stressed that even well-intentioned posts can lose nuance when phrased too briefly: “Simplifications and omissions may distort meaning. Every communications team in a historical museum has learned this the hard way.”
Woźniak added that drafting a short post may take longer than writing a full article, and argued that speed should never replace accuracy: “Let us all remember this, and exercise restraint when formulating judgments and accusations,” he appealed.
In its commentary on the Yad Vashem post - which Poland's Foreign Ministry criticised as misleading - the POLIN Museum in Warsaw included a photograph of the discriminatory armband (image: Shutterstock/POLIN)
Yad Vashem reiterates commitment to accuracy
Dani Dayan, chairman of Yad Vashem, wrote on Monday that the institution presents the full historical realities of Nazism and the Second World War, including the context of countries under German occupation:
“Poland was indeed under German occupation. This is clearly reflected in our material. Any other interpretation misreads our commitment to accuracy.”
Diplomatic response to Yad Vashem's misleading post
Later that afternoon Sikorski announced that, because the original post had not been amended, he had decided to summon Israel’s ambassador to the Polish Foreign Ministry.
A ministry spokesperson confirmed that Ambassador Jaakow Finkelstein will meet Sikorski on Tuesday.
The issue has drawn comment from senior officials, including Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Deputy Prime Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski, as well as institutions such as the Institute of National Remembrance and the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum.
Read more about this topic:
(mp)
Source: POLIN/PAP/X/@yadvashem/@sikorskiradek/@AuschwitzMuseum