Poland asks Yad Vashem to correct misleading social media post
Poland has asked Yad Vashem, Israel's memorial institution to the victims of the Holocaust, to issue a correction to its social media post suggesting Poland had introduced anti-Jewish measures during WWII but failing to provide a proper historical context.
The post, published on the X platform on Sunday read: "Poland was the first country where Jews were forced to wear a distinctive badge in order to isolate them from the surrounding population."
It linked to an article describing the antisemitic regulation introduced in 1939. According to Yad Vashem, the decree was issued by Hans Frank, governor of the German-occupied General Government, and required all Jews over the age of 10 to wear an armband bearing the Star of David.
The wording prompted a response from Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, who, on Monday, urged Yad Vashem to "specify that it was 'German-occupied' Poland."
The Auschwitz Memorial Museum also criticised the Yad Vashem post, expressing astonishment that Yad Vashem would present the facts inaccurately. "They should be fully aware that Poland at that time was occupied by Germany, and that it was Germany that introduced and enforced this antisemitic law," the museum wrote.
Yad Vashem later wrote: "As noted by many users and specified explicitly in the linked article, it was done by order of the German authorities." (PAP)
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