 |
Auschwitz - Nazi death camp in Poland |
JERUSALEM, Jan 28 — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Poland yesterday of denying history with a bill outlawing any reference to the Nazi death camps in the country as being Polish.
“The law is baseless. I strongly oppose it. One cannot change history and the Holocaust cannot be denied,” the premier said in a statement.
As a diplomatic row brewed on the day the world marked International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Poland's charge d'affaires to Israel has been summoned to the foreign ministry today, the ministry said.
A foreign ministry official told AFP the Polish bill was “an attempt to rewrite and falsify history, something that the Jewish people and Israel will never accept.”
Poland's rightwing-dominated parliament on Friday adopted legislation that sets fines of a maximum three-year jail term for anyone who refers to Nazi German death camps as being Polish.
The measure is intended to apply to both Polish citizens and foreigners. It is expected to easily pass in the Senate before being signed by the president.
Japanese ultra conservative elements attempt to revise their school history text books to eliminate any records of its invasion and occupation of Asia during the period just prior to and during WWII, and its draconian military rule and oppression of those nations such as Korea, China, SE Asia, etc.
“The law is baseless. I strongly oppose it. One cannot change history and the Holocaust cannot be denied,” the premier said in a statement.
As a diplomatic row brewed on the day the world marked International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Poland's charge d'affaires to Israel has been summoned to the foreign ministry today, the ministry said.
A foreign ministry official told AFP the Polish bill was “an attempt to rewrite and falsify history, something that the Jewish people and Israel will never accept.”
Poland's rightwing-dominated parliament on Friday adopted legislation that sets fines of a maximum three-year jail term for anyone who refers to Nazi German death camps as being Polish.
The measure is intended to apply to both Polish citizens and foreigners. It is expected to easily pass in the Senate before being signed by the president.
How the West responds to this tiff will be a measure of its hypocrisy vis-a-vis the East.
The Japanese right wing elements have been notorious in their pursuit of historical revisionism.
Wikipedia says: Historical revisionism identifies the re-interpretation of the historical record. It usually means challenging the orthodox views held by professional scholars about a historical event, or introducing new evidence, or of restating the motivations and decisions of the participant people.
The revision of the historical record reflects the new discoveries of fact, evidence, and interpretation, which produce a revised history. In dramatic cases, revisionism involves a reversal of older moral judgments about heroes and villains. [...]
 |
Comfort woman' statue in Roxas Blvd, Philippines |
Much more controversial is the reversal of moral findings, which the heroes, good guys, or positive forces are depicted as villains, bad guys, or negative forces. This revisionism is quickly challenged by the supporters of the old view, often in heated terms.
It becomes historical negationism, a form of historical revisionism that presents a re-interpretation of the moral meaning of the historical record. The term "revisionism" is used pejoratively by people who charge that revisionists are distorting the true historical record.
What the Poles are doing at least have some though not complete justification for its wish to disassociate Poland and Poles from the Nazi death camps which were located in German-occupied Poland during WWII.
 |
Translation: "The Japanese forces who taught them [Western colonial powers] a lesson deserve applause [from colonized countries]!" |
If the West criticise Poland as Israel has done, and which the USA will no doubt kuai-kuai follow Israel like a slave, then they are a bunch of hypocrites in their avoidance of severely criticising Japanese historical revisionism.
What 's good for the goose should be too for the gander.
All countries look after their foreign policy priorities.
ReplyDeleteJapanese atrocities during WWII stand forever condemned.
ReplyDeleteHowever The PRC China moral standing speaking on this issue has been tainted in recent years by the PRC government's weaponising the issue to whip up the populace anti-Japanese mobs over the PRC's current foreign policy and territorial disputes with Japan, that have nothing to do with Nanjing.
It's no different from Israel's manipulative use of the Holocaust tragedy to further current Israeli objectives.
The Final Solution , the sheer industrial scale of the Evil operations in Eastern Europe could not have happened without the connivance and support of many local people.
ReplyDeleteMany were those who betrayed their neighbours, friends, colleagues, employers and employees.
To be fair, Some had no choice, else they become victims themselves, but others happily acted as Quislings.
Post War, most Jews were willing to let the old issues sleep- Poland has been a NATO ally for 20 years now, face to face with the Russian border.
But the latest Polish law reopened old scars.