The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, the nation’s largest Orthodox Jewish umbrella organization, strongly opposes the Polish government’s proposed legislation which would make it a crime to suggest that Poland or any Polish person bears responsibility for atrocities committed during the Holocaust.

Poland’s upper house of parliament passed the bill today by a 57-23 vote, with two abstentions; the lower house approved it Friday, a day before the annual commemoration of International Holocaust Remembrance Day. It now awaits the signature of Polish President Andrzej Duda, who supports it.

The law would impose sentences of up to three years in prison for those who refer to the Nazi death camps set up in Poland during World War II as “Polish death camps” or otherwise assign blame to Poles for crimes against millions of Jews and others in Poland during the Holocaust.

Both the U.S. and Israeli governments have expressed alarm over the legislation; a U.S. Congressional task force on combating anti-Semitism on Wednesday called on the Polish President to veto it.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)