Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Poland appointed an envoy to repair relations with Jews. Less than 6 months later, he was fired.

(JTA) — Less than six months ago, the Polish government appointed an envoy to improve relations with Polish Jews, after recent years of tensions spurred by a series of laws involving Holocaust rhetoric and restitution.

On Saturday, the envoy was fired.

Jaroslaw Marek Nowak had criticized one of Poland’s Holocaust laws in an interview with the London-based Jewish News last week, calling it “one of the stupidest amendments that were ever done by any law.” The 2018 law, which sparked a diplomatic crisis between Poland and Israel, criminalizes any suggestion that Poles were complicit in the Holocaust.

The Jewish News reported Nowak’s firing on Monday.

Poland’s government is led by the right-wing Law and Justice Party, which has worked to disentangle rhetoric on war crimes by Poles and those committed by the occupying Nazi forces during World War II.

The 2018 law has been criticized by some Holocaust historians, who claim it puts new limits on research and discussion of the genocide. Israel’s former president said that it removes blame from Poles who collaborated with the Nazis and murdered Jews.

In August 2021, a Polish appeals court overturned a verdict that had ordered two historians to publicly apologize for part of their research into an attack on Jews during the Holocaust.

Nowak had commented on the case in his Jewish News interview.

“There is absolutely no role for judges or anybody else in this process. I mean, you cannot really effectively discuss a book publishing theories or research if you have not done your own research and you didn’t find your own opinions about it,” he said.

Also in August, Poland passed another controversial bill that limits Holocaust restitution claims. Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid called it antisemitic.


The post Poland appointed an envoy to repair relations with Jews. Less than 6 months later, he was fired. appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.