A historically inaccurate post by Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial institution, on X caused an uproar in Poland. It led the country’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Radek Sikorski, to summon the Israeli ambassador in Warsaw. The post stated that “Poland was the first country where Jews were forced to wear a distinctive yellow badge in order to isolate them from the surrounding population.” It detailed how, on 23 November 1939, “Hans Frank, the governor of the Generalgouvernement, issued an order requiring all Jews aged 10 and above to wear a white cloth armband 10 cm wide, marked with a blue Star of David on their right arm.”

However, the post failed to mention that Poland did not exist as a state at that time, as Nazi Germany had occupied the country in September 1939 and established a General Government. 

A subsequent post by the Auschwitz Memorial corrected these historical inaccuracies.

“23 November 1939 | Hans Frank, the head of the General Government (a part of German-occupied Poland), issued an order requiring all Jews aged 10 and above to wear a white cloth armband, 10 cm wide, marked with a blue Star of David on their right arm. It was the first instance within territory controlled by Nazi Germany in which Jews were forced to wear a distinctive badge intended to isolate them from the surrounding population. The decree stated that Jews had to begin wearing the armband from 1 December 1939. They were required to obtain or produce the armbands themselves, and severe penalties were imposed on anyone found not complying with the order,” the Museum posted on X.

Poland’s Foreign Minister, Radek Sikorski, has formally requested that Yad Vashem revise its statements to include a reference to “German-occupied” Poland. Polish officials have consistently expressed concerns regarding language that may inaccurately imply Polish complicity in the crimes perpetrated by Nazi Germany. The previous nationalist conservative government nearly enacted legislation imposing prison sentences for those suggesting that the Polish nation bore responsibility for Nazi atrocities.

Nazi Germany invaded Poland in September 1939, marking the beginning of World War II. During the Holocaust, approximately six million Jews and other individuals were killed. Many of them lost their lives in the Nazi death camps established in occupied Polish territory.

Hans Frank, a lawyer and an early member of the Nazi Party, was the man who implemented the genocide of Jews in Poland. Convicted as a war criminal and executed in 1946.

In addition to Minister Sikorski, other Polish leaders, including Prime Minister Donald Tusk, have also criticised the terminology used by Yad Vashem.

The Polish Minister of Defence has also issued a response regarding the Yad Vashem statement.

“That is not true. Polish territories were occupied at that time by Nazi Germany, and it was the occupiers that introduced those heinous rules. Poles, invaded by the Third Reich and Soviet Russia, were helping the Jews, for which they were punished by death or forced labour. The post must be corrected!” Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz posted on X on Sunday.

In response to these concerns, Yad Vashem clarified on social media that the actions in question were carried out under German authorities’ orders.

“As noted by many users and specified explicitly in the linked article, it was done by order of the German authorities.”

On Monday, Minister Sikorski announced his intention to summon the Israeli ambassador due to the failure to amend the misleading post.