Poland summoned Israel’s ambassador on Monday over a tweet by the Holocaust Memorial Institute, which Warsaw said did not specify that Jews were forced to wear “Stars of David” insignia during World War II by Nazi forces, not Polish authorities.
Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski protested a post on social media in which Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial institution, wrote that Poland was the first country where Jews had to wear “a special mark to isolate them from the rest of the population.”
Sikorski stated that the post, published on Sunday, should have made it clear that Poland was then “under German occupation”.
– Since the misleading announcement was not changed, I decided to invite the ambassador of Israel to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs – wrote Sikorski on X.
Israel’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Yad Vashem reposted the original tweet, stating, “As many users have noted and as the linked article makes clear, this was done at the behest of the German authorities.”
Poland was occupied by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union during World War II, which lasted from 1939 to 1945. Warsaw especially points out that the persecution of Jews on its territory, including the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, was the work of the German occupiers.
More than three million of Poland’s 3.2 million Jews were killed by Nazi Germany, accounting for about half of the Jews in Europe who died during the Holocaust.
– Yad Vashem depicts the historical realities of Nazism and World War II, including countries under German occupation, control or influence. Poland was indeed under German occupation, Dani Dayan, president of Yad Vashem, wrote on X on Monday.
– This is clearly shown in our material. Any other interpretation misconstrues our commitment to accuracy – he emphasized.
(Vijesti.ba)
