April 27, 2023 | News
Opinions on Polish-Jewish relations, as well as the statement that Poles are committing a falsification of history, presented by Prof. Barbara Engelking on the air of the commercial TVN channel, have been recognized by many prominent experts as untrue, falsifying historical truth, as well as harming thousands of Poles who, during World War II, regardless of the mandatory death penalty introduced by the Germans, risked their lives to save the Jewish population from extermination at the hands of German torturers – the only ones responsible for the crimes of the Holocaust.
Experts were not the only ones to express their opinions on Prof. Engelking’s statement. A large part of the public was also moved by the opinions propounded by Prof. Engelking, considering them untrue and insulting to the Polish nation.
The first significant reaction from state authorities was a post by Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.
The public outcry and disagreement with the words spoken also resulted in numerous complaints to the National Broadcasting Council. The reaction of the responsible authorities was practically immediate – the Chairman of the National Broadcasting Council, Maciej Swirski, announced on Twitter that an investigation had been launched:
„I have initiated an investigation. Here it should be added that in Poland, anyone using freedom of speech can say any nonsense and lie. The role of journalists is to react to lies because the press law requires them to give reliable information. If a guest on the program lies then the journalist is supposed to tell the audience that it is a lie. And finally – if the Poles had not helped the Jews, the Germans would not have introduced the death penalty for helping them. History has been turned into a cargo cult.”
The President of the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) also took action – Karol Nawrocki sent a letter to the owner of TVN television, pointing out that „Barbara Engelking’s claims are shameful; it is a slap in the face to the victims of Germany’s criminal extermination policies: Jews and Poles, as well as their Relatives, who to this day carry the burden of that barbaric reality in their hearts,” he also stressed that „scandalous and unworthy of a scientist statements” were made during the conversation, as well as stating that „by the way – including by means of silences and directing attention to false tropes – she consistently, necessarily, diminishes the scale of the German state’s responsibility for the Holocaust. This is one method of falsifying history.”
For many years, the Polish League Against Defamation has been taking action to counter the spread of falsified and manipulated Polish history and the history of the Holocaust. Unfortunately, untrue opinions are widely spread by some researchers, including Prof. Barbara Engelking, Prof. Jan Grabowski or Tomasz Gross.
As you may recall, the RDI’s reaction to the untruths propagated by some scientists was the support we gave to the late Mrs. Filomena Leszczynski, who decided to defend the good name of her uncle Edward Malinowski in court. Ms. Filomena believed that Prof. Barbara Engelking, as the author of the text, and Prof. Jan Grabowski, as the scientific editor of the book „Further is the Night,” not only omitted important sources, but also merged several different people with the surname Malinowski into one „Malinowski.” The result of this „methodological error” was the imputation to Edward Malinowski of collaboration with the Germans, with which the professors violated the good memory of his late uncle and the personal rights of Mrs. Filomena Leszczynska. In addition, Barbara Engelking, as the author of the chapter of the book „Further is the Night,” omitted important sources – the testimony of Jewish witnesses – indicating Edward Malinowski’s innocence.
During her testimony before the District Court in Warsaw, Prof. Barbara Engelking admitted that she made a mistake, confusing the two Malinowskis with the same name. As she stated, she did not realize that there were many people with the surname Malinowski in Malinow. When asked why she omitted the testimony of Jews testifying in favor of Edward Malinowski, she replied that she was not interested in the person of Malinowski. It should be recalled that the court of first instance issued a judgment ordering Professors Engelking and Grabowski to apologize to Filomena Leszczynska for the inaccurate information in the book. In the justification for the verdict, the court indicated, among other things, „The very right to scientific freedom, including the conduct of historical research and the publication of its results, is subject to legal protection, but this protection does not extend to such statements that do not submit to the rule of accuracy.”
A completely different verdict was announced by the Court of Appeals in Warsaw, which ruled that more important than the reliability of historical research was the issue of the so-called freedom of researchers to conduct research and the conclusions they draw – without going into whether they have a source basis or not. It turned out that the court was less concerned with historical truth and the harm done by Barbara Engelking and Jan Grabowski to a particular individual than with whether researchers would enjoy what it called „freedom of scientific research,” which in our view is a self-righteousness of scientific research – consisting of arbitrary compilation of sources, omitting those that do not fit the research thesis, with no concern for the probability of the conclusions drawn.
The opinion expressed by Prof. Barbara Engelking regarding both Polish-Jewish relations and the accusation that Poles falsified the history of World War II, particularly the crimes of the Holocaust, is the aftermath of, among other things, the verdict in the case brought by the late Filomena Leszczynska in the Court of Appeals. After the announcement of this verdict, Mrs. Filomena’s wish was to continue the case in the Supreme Court, but unfortunately her sudden death ended the battle for justice.
It is worth recalling that the Polish League Against Defamation is also in the midst of a lawsuit brought against us by Prof. Jan Grabowski in connection with the publication of a letter by 135 scientists expressing their opposition to Prof. Jan Grabowski’s activities and who called on him to maintain scientific integrity. The letter was published by the Polish League Against Defamation in 2017, and Prof. Jan Grabowski in 2018. (a year and a half later) decided to sue us. Read more about the case on our website https://rdi.org.pl/sprawa-jana-grabowskiego-przeciwko-fundacji-reduta-dobrego-imienia/
Dear Sirs,
We agree with the position taken by the President of the IPN in his letter to the TVN station’s rabble. Prof. Engelking’s presentation of Polish history, which we have heard, also contains untrue claims, holding the Polish nation co-responsible for the Holocaust, but also imputes to the general Polish public the falsification of history, which is an obvious untruth that unfortunately damages the image and good name of the country and the nation that was the greatest victim of German crimes.
With regard to this particular case – Prof. Barbara Engelking’s statements, Polish League Against Defamation as an organization is not legally empowered to file a lawsuit against Prof. Barbara Engelking in court. The legal limitations are due to the fact that organizations, such as RDI, do not have what is called „active legitimacy,” which means the authority to initiate and conduct a lawsuit. In a nutshell, as an organization we cannot bring a lawsuit to court.
Being aware of the legal constraints, we fortunately have evidence of the functioning of state institutions in this case, which have the competence and tools to deal with this issue. We hope to see a fair settlement that will uphold the defense of historical truth.
Yours sincerely,
The team of the Polish League Against Defamation
