Canadian Polish Congress responses to letter publish by National Post by Dr.
David Rakowski, “Let’s not repeat the past”

Letters to the Editor
National Post
Letter by Dr. David Rakowski, “Let’s not repeat the past” (Nov. 16, 2019)

Assigning blame to the Poles for Nazi German concentration and death camps
has been categorically refuted by major Holocaust historians.

Yisrael Gutman, the late chief historian at Yad Vashem and survivor of
Auschwitz, stated in blunt and unequivocal terms, “all accusations against
the Poles that they were responsible for what is referred to as the ‘Final
Solution’ are not even worth mentioning. Secondly, there is no validity at
all in the contention that Polish attitudes were the reason for the siting
of the death camps in Poland.”

The notion of Polish responsibility for Nazi German camps has also been
condemned by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) as
“Holocaust distortion”: “Attempts to blur the responsibility for the
establishment of concentration and death camps devised and operated by Nazi
Germany by putting blame on other nations or ethnic groups.”
(https://www.holocaustremembrance.com/working-definition-holocaust-denial-an
d-distortion)

Equally offensive is Dr. Rakowski’s tarring of Poles as “rampant” and
“virulent” anti-Semites. The IHRA’s working definition of “antisemitism” by
necessity applies to other groups as well: “Making mendacious, dehumanizing,
demonizing, or stereotypical allegations about Jews.”
Regards,
John J.Tomczak
President
Canadian Polish Congress