The newly appointed United States Ambassador to Poland, Thomas Rose, has publicly expressed support for Poland in the ongoing dispute over historical narratives related to World War II. He stressed that Poland was a victim of German aggression and that attempts to attribute co-responsibility for the Holocaust to Poland constitute a distortion of history.
Speaking at an international conference in Warsaw titled “Antisemitism and the Jewish Nation in Light of the Legal Consequences of the Events of October 7,” organised by the International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists, Ambassador Rose addressed issues concerning Polish–Jewish relations. He emphasised that for decades Poland has struggled against what he described as an unjust narrative that has burdened it with a “moral stain it never possessed.” Rose openly challenged defamatory claims circulating in public discourse, particularly those suggesting Polish complicity in the Holocaust.
“It’s a grotesque falsehood and the equivalent of a blood libel against the Polish people and Polish nation,” added the ambassador as reported by Polish Radio and other sources.
“There is a well-known narrative that Poles were co-responsible, that they were accomplices, that they were at best passive observers, and even that they participated in the murder of Jews. This narrative is false from a historical perspective. It is also false from a moral perspective. It is a slander against the Polish nation,” the American ambassador said.
“The true history of Poland during the Holocaust is a history of heroism and sacrifice,” the ambassador told the audience, composed largely of Jewish guests. “The Polish nation does not deserve this stain on its history. It deserves respect for what it was: the greatest victim of Nazi barbarism and at the same time the greatest rescuer of Jews in occupied Europe,” he emphasised during his address.
He concluded his remarks with a powerful declaration: “As the United States Ambassador to Poland, I state this truth loudly and clearly: Poland was not complicit in the Holocaust. Poland was its greatest victim and its biggest opponent.”
https://x.com/sikorskiradek/status/1993940384620183707?s=20
In response, Poland’s Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski expressed his gratitude, reminding that the Holocaust was carried out by German occupiers, not by Polish society or the Polish state.
“Thank you, ambassador @USAmbPoland, for your moral clarity. It’s important to remember that the Holocaust was a state action, conceived and executed by Nazi Germany on occupied Polish soil. The Polish government was in exile in London at the time and begged allies for help in stopping it,” Sikorski wrote on X.
“Every fact I referenced is indisputable. The world must hear the truth about your great country!” Thomas Rose replied.
It is worth noting that the American ambassador’s stance in Poland has received mixed reactions within Jewish communities.
“U.S. Ambassador to Poland Tom Rose said something true, necessary and long overdue: Poland did not perpetrate the Holocaust. Nazi Germany did,” wrote Rabbi Shmuley Boteach. He also stressed that “Poland—unlike France, Norway, Hungary and so many others—never collaborated at the national or governmental level with Hitler’s regime. There was no Polish Vichy. No Polish Quisling. No initial alliance with the Reich, like Russia. Poland fought the Nazis from the first day of the war until the last.”
However, Rabbi Boteach also stressed that: “the Holocaust was a German Nazi project, but some Poles added to the suffering, and their victims’ memories demand recognition.”
“What Rose got absolutely right is that the state of Poland and the Polish Nation did not choose, design or execute the Final Solution. Poland was Hitler’s first victim, not his partner. But to defend that truth credibly, we also have to acknowledge another truth: Some Poles, thousands of them, did participate in the destruction of their Jewish neighbours. Acknowledging that reality does not undermine Poland’s heroism. It strengthens it—because historical courage includes moral honesty,” Shmuley Boteach wrote.
“Yes, some Poles committed crimes against Jews. Yes, we must acknowledge this fully. Yes, we must teach it truthfully. But the collective accusation—the notion that “Poland” bears responsibility for the Holocaust— is a moral and historical travesty,” he added.
In stark contrast, Dr. Daniel Schatz, a scholar previously affiliated with Harvard University and other institutions, evaluated Thomas Rose’s speech quite differently. The very title of his commentary was telling: “Why Is the US Envoy to Poland Echoing Far-Right Holocaust Revisionism?”
“The new US ambassador to Poland, Thomas Rose, recently delivered a speech in Warsaw in which he categorically absolved Poland – and by extension the Polish people – of any responsibility whatsoever for the Holocaust,” he wrote, calling the speech the “astonishing distortion of history .”
He also referred to a recent post published by Yad Vashem, calling it “a brief historical note on social media”. The post read: “Poland was the first country where Jews were forced to wear a distinctive badge in order to isolate them from the surrounding population.” Its appearance sparked strong reactions in Poland, including from Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Minister Radosław Sikorski.
“This astonishing distortion of history coincided with a parallel diplomatic storm. Last week, Yad Vashem published a brief historical note on social media: “Poland was the first country where Jews were forced to wear a distinctive badge in order to isolate them from the surrounding population.” These are uncontested historical facts’” claimed Daniel Schatz.
Schatz elaborated: “Yet the Polish government responded with fury. The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum – funded and overseen by the Polish state – accused Yad Vashem of misleading the public by failing to spell out that Nazi Germany, not Polish authorities, issued and enforced the badge decree.”
In his opinion: “What we are witnessing is not a misunderstanding. It is a symptom of a deeper and more dangerous trend: the systematic re engineering of Holocaust memory in Eastern Europe, and in Poland most of all.”
“Polish officials erupted over a factual Yad Vashem post – summoning diplomats, demanding edits, and condemning historians – not because the facts were wrong, but because the facts were uncomfortable.” He concluded his article with the statement:
“The truth is neither simple nor convenient: Germany committed the genocide, and some Poles helped hunt down their Jewish neighbours. To deny either reality is to deny history itself,” a sentiment which it is hard to disagree with.
By ih
Rabbi Shmuley Boteach: Poland’s six years of Nazi defiance
Daniel Schatz: Why is US envoy to Poland echoing far-Right Holocaust revisionism?
COMMENTS