Since the controversial holocaust bill was signed into law earlier this year, there has been a vast increase in anti-Semitism in Poland.
The law:
….makes it illegal to accuse the Polish nation of complicity in crimes committed by Nazi Germany, including the Holocaust.The law also bans the use of terms such as "Polish death camps" in relation to Auschwitz and other camps in Nazi-occupied Poland and carries a three-year prison sentence.
Tensions were also exacerbated on Saturday when Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki at a security conference in Germany made comments that Jews were among the perpetrators of the Holocaust.
Many know the history of Jews in Poland *during* the holocaust but few people know of their history in 1968.
Many of those who survived and their family members were then deported in 1968 in the midst of an "anti-Zionist" campaign in which the communist government blamed the Jewish community for economic problems. Many lost their jobs, were attacked in the press and had their citizenship revoked, losing the right ever to return to Poland which lasted until the fall of the Berlin Wall in the late 1980s.
Poland's chief rabbi, Michael Schudrich, told CNN on Tuesday that the fallout from the new law has been so fierce it has left many members of the Jewish community wondering if they are still welcome in Poland.
This story should be spread far and wide, especially in these days of growing intolerance. Many people I know who are survivors of Poland during the holocaust are horrified at recent events.