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Gross was questioned after multiple complaints were filed with prosecutors by Polish citizens over an article published last year in which Gross said Poles killed more Jews during the German occupation than they killed Germans — a claim that challenges a widespread conviction in Poland that the Polish response to the German terror was almost exclusively honourable.

Gross made the comparison in an article published by Project Syndicate in September critical of how Poland and other Eastern European countries have reacted to the migrant crisis. He decried the region’s opposition to accepting refugees as “heartless” and argued that the attitude is rooted in the region’s “murderous past.”

In the most controversial section, Gross wrote: “Consider the Poles, who, deservedly proud of their society’s anti-Nazi resistance, actually killed more Jews than Germans during the war.”

The prosecutor’s office told the AP that it could not divulge what was said during the questioning, citing the secrecy of the investigation. However, Gross said he was asked to provide information backing up that historical assertion and was also asked if he had intended to insult Poles.

“I told him straight that I was not trying to insult the Polish nation. I was trying to raise awareness about the problem of refugees in Europe,” he said. “I am just telling the truth and the truth sometimes has a shocking effect on people who are not aware of what the truth is.”