Teachers Issue an Open Letter Against the Latest Manipulation of Polish History

Redakcja, 16 November 2016
Over recent days, publicly proclaimed polemics have triggered responses from senior public officials regarding the anti-Jewish pogroms in Jedwabne in 1941 and in Kielce in 1946. The controversy was sparked by National Education Minister Anna Zalewska during her TV interview on "Kropka nad i” with journalist Monika Olejnik (broadcast 13/07/2016).

In addition, new President of the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), Dr Jarosław Szarek, during his appointment ratification hearing at the Sejm's Justice and Human Rights Commission on 19/07/2016,  also undermined accepted historical findings regarding the murders in Jedwabne - he later retracted part of his statements.

Teachers throughout Poland have protested against those statements. They include experienced educators and those who have, for many years, specialised in teaching young people about the Holocaust. They have issued "An Open Letter Against the Latest Manipulation of Polish History”. It reads:

 "Sound knowledge and human respect are the most important aspects of educating and shaping our young people, History education plays a large role in this process, in particular knowledge of events which were turning points in the history of the world and which still have an effect on the present. Such an event was the holocaust of the Jews. It was without precedent and its tragedy demands special thought and deliberation when formulating statements on this subject.

"We teachers, whom the community entrust to practise our profession, are disturbed and deeply alarmed by public statements, made by senior public officials, about wartime and post-war events in the history of Poland.

"In a public statement, National Education Minister Anna Zalewska avoided clearly replying to a question regarding the committing of crimes against Polish Jews in Jedwabne and in Kielce, thereby undermining the findings of historians and public prosecutors.

"We are also amazed at the words of Dr Jarosław Szarek, current President of the Institute of National Remembrance (an institution desirous of playing an important role in history education), who charged the Germans as being exclusively responsible for the Jedwabne murders.

"As teachers, for many years, both in this country and abroad, we have broadened our knowledge and improved our educating methods in the teaching of the Holocaust, so that our students can become responsible and aware citizens of Poland, of Europe and of the world. Our work has been recognised and admired by many of the world's institutions and centres of education. Even greater surprise was aroused in us by the public statements of history teacher and candidate for the IPN presidency, Dr Marek Chrzanowski, in which he admitted to be ignorant and helpless with regards to teaching about the mass murder of Polish Jews.

"We perceive statements such as these to be attempts at manipulating historical knowledge.Guided as we are, in our work as teachers, by a sense of responsibility in the passing on of historical truths, we declare that we have no doubt as to the perpetration and complicity of the Polish populace in the crimes committed in Jedwabne and Kielce. We have consciously taken on the duty of working, with our students, through these difficult and painful chapters in our history.

"We stand against all actions which contradict substantiated knowledge and which attempt to manipulate historical facts. We appeal for factual content and deliberation in statements on this subject, and not to squander the achievements of researchers and teachers in this field.”

Signed by: 

  • Adam Musiał, English language and cultural studies teacher, Kraków
  • Małgorzata Rusiłowicz, Polish language teacher, Białystok
  • Barbara Subko, Polish language teacher, Warsaw
  • Bożenna Sucharska, Polish language and cultural studies teacher, Gdańsk
  • Robert Szuchta, history teacher, Warsaw
  • Agnieszka Wozowicz, art history teacher, Kraków

This letter is also available in the form of a petition here: http://www.petycjeonline.com/list_otwarty_nauczycieli

On the 75th anniversary of the Jedwabne murders, the POLIN Museum prepared a selection of educational materials on the subject. They can be viewed here: www.sztetl.org.pl/pl/cms/aktualnosci/5268,75-rocznica-pogromu-w-jedwabnem-10-lipca-1941-r-/.

A history of the Kielce murders by Dr Martyna Rusiniak-Karwat can be read here: www.sztetl.org.pl/pl/article/kielce/13,miejsca-martyrologii/403,budynek-przy-ul-planty-7-miejsce-pogromu-kieleckiego/.