In a statement this evening, Rabbi Menachem Margolin, the chairman of the European Jewish Association that organises regular conferences and delegations to Auschwitz for high ranking politicians, diplomats and figures such as Elon Musk, responded to former Polish Prime Minister Morawiecki’s efforts to deny polish involvement in the Holocaust:
“Whilst we honour and hold dear to our hearts the memory of the many heroic Poles who saved Jews in the Holocaust, we will never forget that Poland is the largest cemetery in the world for Jews who were tortured, murdered and burned alive with the support of too many Poles, many of whom continued to exploit the victims and their descendants after the Holocaust. Indeed some are still continuing to this day to falsify history.
It is for these reasons that the former Polish prime minister comments are not only wrong, but are also extremely dangerous.
Trying to distort and wash away any Polish involvement in the Holocaust is a cynical attempt to distort its full picture. It insults its victims, and undermines its legacy. From jedwabne to Kielce, the evidence is clear. Mr Moriawecki’s comments are therefore Orwellian, sinister and cannot stand unchallenged. The holocaust will never be rewritten. I say to the former Prime Minister: You cannot control the past. You must live with it, and learn from it. Go and learn.”