The Research Group “New Nationalisms” and the Interdisciplinary Centre for Baltic Sea Region Research at the University of Greifswald expresses their concern regarding the worrisome state of academic freedom in Poland. We wholeheartedly support academic freedom and the right to pursue impartial historical research free from any political and legal intervention, as expressed in the letter from the American Historical Association (AHA) about recent legal proceedings against Polish historians.
Two renowned professors, Barbara Engelking and Jan Grabowski, have been accused of “slandering the memory of a person” in their co-edited book Night Without End. Fate of Jews in selected counties of occupied Poland. The book mentioned Edward Malinowski, the major of a Polish village of Malinowo, who according to the witnesses was responsible for the death of Jews in the village. 81 years old Filomena Leszczynska, the niece of Malinowski, brought the case to the court against the historians, arguing that her uncle was a hero who saved the Jews. The court ruled on Tuesday (February 9) that the two scholars in a letter written to Leszczynska must apologise for this act, supposedly committed in their historical research. The two historians plan to appeal this verdict which might endanger the future of free academic historical research in the country. This incident is the latest addition to long-ongoing debates regarding the role the Polish population played during the Holocaust. The current Polish government strives to actively influence historical scholarship by criminalizing research which points out Polish collaboration.