A row between Poland and Israel has been resolved, Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz said on Monday, after the countries adopted a joint declaration on historic accuracy.

The countries’ prime ministers on Wednesday signed the statement after Polish parliament earlier in the day voted to soften a disputed anti-defamation law, which, in its original wording, criminalised blaming Poland as a nation for Nazi German atrocities during World War II.

Czaputowicz said the joint declaration had been met with appreciation around the world.

“The row between Poland and Israel, and indirectly also with the US, has been resolved,” Czaputowicz told public broadcaster Polish Radio on Monday.

He added that Poland would continue to defend historic accuracy.

“We need to show … the historic truth about the Second World War, and especially the Holocaust, as well as the role of Poland as the victim of aggression,” Czaputowicz said.

Meanwhile, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki was quoted by Monday's edition of the weekly Sieci as saying that the joint declaration is “more powerful than the clause about punishments”.

“The Israeli nation attributed blame for the Holocaust exclusively to Germany and rejected ascribing blame for atrocities to Poles,” Morawiecki told the weekly.

He said that the controversy of the anti-defamation law had successfully drawn attention to Poland and the country's campaign to clear its name, but unfortunately attracted a lot of negative sentiment, Sieci reported.

He added that it would have been difficult to enforce punishments on foreign nationals, with 80 instances of the law being broken but not legal action taken since the law was brought into effect in March.

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki was quoted by weekly Sieci as saying that the joint declaration is “more powerful than the clause about punishments”.

“The Israeli nation attributed blame for the Holocaust exclusively to Germany and rejected ascribing blame for atrocities to Poles,” Morawiecki told the weekly.

The row between Poland and Israel started when earlier this year Poland adopted an anti-defamation law which imposed possible fines and even prison sentences for people who accused Poland and Poles of being complicit in the Holocaust.

The Polish government had hoped that the law would fight the use of the phrase “Polish death camps” in reference to German Nazi concentration camps in occupied WWII Poland because such wording “distorted history”.

The US and Israel slammed the law, saying Poland was hitting out at freedom of speech and trying to whitewash its history.

Israeli ambassador to Poland Anna Azari had said that in Israel the law "is seen as creating a possibility of punishment for Holocaust survivors' testimony.”

The law had also been protested in Ukraine because it could see penalties for anyone who denies crimes against Poles committed by Ukrainian nationalists between 1925 and 1950.

Public broadcaster Polish Radio launched a special website, GermanDeathCamps.info, aimed at debunking misconceptions about Poland’s role in the Holocaust. (vb)

Source: IAR