WARSAW, Poland (AP) – Relatives of former Polish prisoners of Auschwitz protest the appointment of a prominent member of the country’s right-wing government as a member of an advisory council at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Public Museum in Poland.
They argue that former Prime Minister Beata Szydlo tolerated “openly fascist” teams and supported attempts to quell Holocaust research, among other complaints.
Szydlo appointed in April the Council of the State Museum of Auschwitz-Birkenau, a framework of experts advising the director of the museum. This led 3 panel members of nine members to resign, followed by a fourth reported resignation this week.
On Friday night, the News Portal Onet published a signed letter through young men and grandchildren of former Polish prisoners, as well as an Auschwitz survivor, addressed to Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.
They did not need Szydlo because of her and strong opposition from the ruling Law and Justice party to settle for refugees and Conservative party attempts in the past to convince far-right voters.
“We do not forget the statements that excluded refugees, the undermining of the achievements of Holocaust investigators, the tolerance of openly fascist organizations and, nevertheless, the rejection of European Union alliances,” they wrote to Morawiecki, according to the letter quoted through Onet. “We don’t agree with that. “
At the beginning of World War II, German forces operated Auschwitz as a camp for Polish prisoners, adding Catholic clerics and members of the resistance; later, they created Birkenau nearby for the Jewish blood bath across Europe. millions more people were killed in southern Poland today.
Among those who signed the letter to Morawiecki were the son and the two granddaughters of Captain Witold Pilecki, one of the top notable heroes of the Polish resistance, who volunteered to be an Auschwitz detainee and smuggled reports of atrocities before fleeing. executed an exhibition trial through the communists after the war.
There was no prompt reaction from the Polish government on Friday night.
Culture Minister Piotr Glinski, who appointed Szydlo to the council, reacted after the first three resignations by reporting them.
Glinski said it is an honor for the museum to have Szydlo on the board and said resignations threaten to “politicize the discussion around the ultimate vital museum of martyrdom in Poland, a World Heritage site. “
Szydlo is now a member of the European Parliament for the Law and Justice party, studied ethnography and history and is from the Oswiecim region, the Polish city where the former Auschwitz death camp is located.