Holocaust Distortion in Poland and Beyond

Winter Program Keynote Lecture Admission: Free Watch the video

Since the beginning of this century, the commemoration and the history of the Holocaust were at the heart of political struggles in Poland. In order to defend the “good name of the nation,” Polish authorities created institutions and legislated laws intended to enforce the official, state-approved version of history. This new narrative shifts the focus away from the Jewish victims of the Shoah and places it on righteous gentiles, real or imagined. It is within this context that old antisemitic tropes came alive and acquire new currency. This unprecedented, and state-sponsored, assault on the memory of the Shoah is known today as Holocaust distortion, a particularly insidious brand of Holocaust denial.  

In this lecture, Jan Grabowski will shed light on the origins of the current situation as well as its impact on Holocaust memory and Holocaust education in Poland, Europe, and beyond.

Buy two of Jan Grabowski's books: Night Without End: The Fate of Jews in German-Occupied Poland and Hunt for the Jews: Betrayal and Murder in German-Occupied Poland.

This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council. 

About the Speaker

Jan Grabowski is a Professor of History at the University of Ottawa and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. His interests focus on the Holocaust in Poland and, more specifically, on the relations between Jews and Poles during the war. He has authored/co-authored or edited 20 books and published more than 80 articles in learned journals in many languages. Professor Grabowski’s book, Hunt for the Jews: Betrayal and Murder in German-Occupied Poland has been awarded the Yad Vashem International Book Prize for 2014. In 2018, he co-edited and co-authored Dalej jest noc [Night Without End], a two-volume study of the fate of the Jews in selected counties of occupied Poland. Night Without End has been published in 2022 in English by Indiana University Press. Grabowski’s most recent book, Na Posterunku: Udział Polskiej Policji Granatowej i kryminalnej w Zagładzie Żydów [On Duty: The Role of the Polish 'Blue' Police in the Holocaust] has been published in Poland by Czarne Publishing House in 2020 and will be published in 2023 in English by Yad Vashem.