Warsaw: Appeal Court decided on Monday that two historians accused of tarnishing the memories of a Polish village in a book about the Holocaust no need to apologize, reversing a lower court ruling that raises concerns about the freedom of academic research.
In February, a Court Warsaw decided that Barbara Engelking and Jan Grabowski, the editor of the “endless night: the fate of the Jews in the selected district of the occupied Poland”, must apologize for saying the villagers of Edward Malinowski surrendered to the Jews .
Some academics said at that time governing could hinder impartial research in polishing actions during the Second World War.
Grabowski told Reuters that Monday’s verdict was “great things not only for myself and my colleagues but for the whole Humanities here”.
Polish-ruling nationalist said the study showed involvement by several poles in the killings of the Jews by Nazi Germany was an effort to prevent countries from suffering during the war.
This case was taken by Malinowski’s niece, Filomena Leszczynska, and was funded by the Polish League against defamation, who opposed the allegations of Polish involvement in Jewish murder.
Appealing Court Judges rejected their claims to historians, underlining the importance of freedom of academic research and the need to avoid cold effects that could stop further study.
“It’s very important in things that are an important element of public debate, raising important social problems regarding the history of the country and the nation given,” said the judge.
The head of the Polish League against defamation, Maciej Swirski, wrote on Twitter that Leszczynska planned to “fight” and appeal extraordinary to the Supreme Court.
3.2 million Poland’s Jewish population was the largest in Europe at the beginning of World War two.
Almost all were killed during the war, many of them in death camps and 3 million further non-Jews also died under the work of Nazi Poland.
A significant research body shows that, while thousands of poles risk their lives to help Jews, thousands of people also participate in the Holocaust.
Many poles do not accept such findings.