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Fears for Polish Holocaust research as historians ordered to apologise
Source: The Guardian
Fears for Polish Holocaust research as historians ordered to apologise
Court tells professors to apologise to 81-year-old woman who claims they defamed her late uncle
Jon Henley Europe correspondent
@jonhenley
Tue 9 Feb 2021 15.52 GMT
A court has ordered two prominent historians to apologise to an elderly woman who claimed they had defamed her late uncle over his wartime actions, in a case seen as critical to independent Holocaust research in Poland.
Prof Jan Grabowski of the University of Ottawa and Prof Barbara Engelking of the Polish Center for Holocaust Research were accused of defaming Edward Malinowski by suggesting in a book that he gave up Jews to Nazi Germans.
In a civil case condemned by Jewish organisations and historians as an attack on free academic inquiry, the researchers were told to apologise for a passage in Night Without End: The Fate of Jews in Selected Counties of Occupied Poland, a 1,600-page work they co-edited, which the court said “violated Malinowski’s honour” by “providing inaccurate information”.
The court did not demand the historians pay compensation, but ordered them to write to Malinowski’s niece, Filomena Leszczyńska, who brought the case, publish a statement on the website of the Center for Holocaust Research, and correct the passage in any future edition.
Research shows thousands of Poles risked their lives to help Jews, but thousands also participated in the Holocaust. Poland’s ruling nationalist Law and Justice party (PiS) party has said it views allegations of Polish complicity as dishonouring the country.
-snip-
Court tells professors to apologise to 81-year-old woman who claims they defamed her late uncle
Jon Henley Europe correspondent
@jonhenley
Tue 9 Feb 2021 15.52 GMT
A court has ordered two prominent historians to apologise to an elderly woman who claimed they had defamed her late uncle over his wartime actions, in a case seen as critical to independent Holocaust research in Poland.
Prof Jan Grabowski of the University of Ottawa and Prof Barbara Engelking of the Polish Center for Holocaust Research were accused of defaming Edward Malinowski by suggesting in a book that he gave up Jews to Nazi Germans.
In a civil case condemned by Jewish organisations and historians as an attack on free academic inquiry, the researchers were told to apologise for a passage in Night Without End: The Fate of Jews in Selected Counties of Occupied Poland, a 1,600-page work they co-edited, which the court said “violated Malinowski’s honour” by “providing inaccurate information”.
The court did not demand the historians pay compensation, but ordered them to write to Malinowski’s niece, Filomena Leszczyńska, who brought the case, publish a statement on the website of the Center for Holocaust Research, and correct the passage in any future edition.
Research shows thousands of Poles risked their lives to help Jews, but thousands also participated in the Holocaust. Poland’s ruling nationalist Law and Justice party (PiS) party has said it views allegations of Polish complicity as dishonouring the country.
-snip-
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/09/fears-polish-holocaust-research-historians-ordered-apologise
