Poland's PM Mateusz Morawiecki at a press conference at Chancellery of the Prime Minister in Warsaw, Poland on 23 January 2018. NurPhoto/Press Association. All rights reserved.Poland’s new so-called “Holocaust law” sends a menacing message to its minority groups by turning the criminalization of hate speech on its head. Hate speech laws are normally enacted as a protection against marginalized populations. But this new law exploits the spirit of such legislation in order to bolster the ruling majority’s authority and to further intimidate vulnerable groups.
At first glance, and despite the international furor it has ignited, there is nothing surprising about Poland’s new so-called “Holocaust law”, the Amendment to the Act on the Polish Institute of National Remembrance (IPN). Like many such laws, it too offers an official reading of history. Poland’s constitution, like many modern counterparts, achieves a similar aim in its preamble with reference to the country’s histories of foreign repression – as does its 2017 de-communization law, which calls for the dismantling of Soviet-era monuments, much to Russia’s disapproval.
Poland has joined the perennial efforts to legally institute and disseminate official – read flattering – discourses of national history. Memorial structures, national museums, public curricula, repatriation and citizenship schemes the world over serve similar objectives, even if more indirectly than explicitly targeted ‘memory laws’.
