Universiteit Leiden

nl en

Cleveringa Professor Jan Grabowski about the Polish government and the Holocaust

Grabowski spoke in various media on the occasion of Holocaust Remembrance Day on 27 January 2022.

Jan Grabowski during his inaugural lecture

In Poland the commemoration of acts of resistance is being misused to distort the history of the Holocaust. That is what Cleveringa Professor Jan Grabowski said in his inaugural lecture on 26 November 2021.

In The New York Times, Grabowski addresses the subject in a guest essay entitled 'The New Wave of Holocaust Revisionism'. 'The Polish narrative of wartime heroism and valor is espoused by Poland’s nationalistic government, led by the right-wing Law and Justice Party', Grobowski states. 'In 2019 Ms. Gawin initiated “Called by Name,” a program intended to commemorate Poles who died rescuing Jews. “Called by Name” lives under the auspices of the government-funded Pilecki Institute, itself dedicated to commemorating Poles “who were murdered for providing aid and assistance to Jews during the Second World War.” In the vicinity of Treblinka in the past several years, the Pilecki Institute has erected no fewer than 10 other monuments to celebrate brave Poles who died giving assistance to Jews.'

Grabovski also spoke in an article in the British newspaper The Guardian. Among other things, he speaks about Piotr Cywiński, director of the Auschwitz Museum since 2006. 'Jan Grabowski, a Polish-Canadian historian, said Cywiński had gone too far in his cooperation with government-linked figures and institutions pushing this distorted version of history. “Auschwitz has become part and parcel of Polish history policy, in other words, transforming Auschwitz into part of the Polish feelgood narrative,” he said.'

This website uses cookies.  More information.