Polish historian says he was forced to switch jobs because of his Holocaust research

A historian employed by the Polish government has said he is to be transferred away from his post at a state-affiliated institute because of his work on Poland’s wartime relations with Jews.

Adam Pulawski said he was informed he would be moved to another city by the Institute of National Remembrance, a research body founded 20 years ago, in what he called an effort to impede his work.

It has also decided not to publish his latest book on the subject, he said.

A controversial law passed by Poland’s parliament earlier this year made it an imprisonable offence to suggest the Polish nation or state was complicit in the Holocaust.

“They want to remove me to [another] branch. They want that I will not speak about Polish-Jewish relations,” Dr Pulawski told the JC.

“They have a view about [the Polish-Jewish relationship] completely different than mine and completely different than most researchers.”

He said that the trauma of seeing his life’s work disrupted had left him ill.