Coalition of Polish Americans Letter to the Secretary of State

Delivered electronically

Dear Secretary Blinken:

We are writing on behalf of the Polish-American community to address statements you made regarding what you refer to mistakenly as “Holocaust restitution law” recently enacted by the Polish Parliament and signed into law by president Andrzej Duda. We believe that your assessment of the law is based on misconceptions resulting from inadequate understanding about what the law does and what is its intended purpose. We would like to point out that this law is nothing more than an amendment to the Code of Administrative Proceedings that enforces a ruling by the Polish Constitutional Tribunal made in May 2015 that intended to align the Polish property law and related administrative decisions with the Polish Constitution. At the time of this decision the current opposition was in power and the recent law was enacted with an overwhelming support across party lines.

We believe that President Duda’s signing statement clearly explains the intent of the law and how it should be understood. We hope that this will clarify the current misconceptions that have led to unfounded and baseless accusations levelled against the Polish government and against Poles in general. We strongly hope that the U.S government officials base their statements on adequate understanding of legal text they criticize as well as historical circumstances. We would like to remind you that Poland was the first country invaded by Germany during World War II, suffered untold devastation during the war, lost 6 million of its citizens, and never received commensurable compensation from the German and Soviet invaders. It is absolutely unacceptable to treat victims as if they were oppressors.

Coalition of Polish Americans

• President Duda’s statement:

https://www.president.pl/en/news/art,1269,president-i-have-decided-to-sign-into-law-the-amendment-to-the-code-of-administrative-proceedings.html

• An article by Liel Leibovitz “Why Poland Is Right to End Holocaust Property Claims:

https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/poland-holocaust-property-liel-leibovitz