Warsaw has summoned the Israeli ambassador following a controversy over a social media post concerning the Holocaust. The dispute centers on a statement made by Yad Vashem, an Israeli institution dedicated to Holocaust remembrance, regarding the introduction of identifying badges for Jewish people during World War II.
The Polish government took issue with the post, arguing it failed to adequately clarify that the imposition of these badges occurred under the authority of Nazi German occupiers, not the Polish authorities. During World War II, Poland was under occupation by both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.
Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski expressed his dissatisfaction with Yad Vashem’s original post, which stated that Poland was the first country to force Jewish people to wear “distinctive badges to isolate them from the surrounding population.” Sikorski emphasized that the post, published last Sunday, should have specified that Poland was under German occupation at the time. He conveyed his concerns via social media platform X, stating, “Due to the failure to amend this misleading post, I have decided to summon the Israeli ambassador to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.”
During World War II, more than 3 million of Poland’s 3.2 million Jewish citizens were murdered by Nazi Germany, representing approximately half of all Jewish people killed in Europe during the Holocaust. Poland consistently emphasizes that atrocities committed on its soil, such as those at the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp, were the responsibility of the Nazi German occupiers. Warsaw seeks to ensure historical accuracy regarding the events of World War II and the Holocaust.
