Three members of the advisory board of Poland’s Auschwitz-Birkenau museum have resigned after the government appointed a member of the country’s right-wing ruling party to join the body, The Associated Press reported on Friday.
The Ministry of Culture appointed former Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo for a four-year term on the United States Council in Auschwitz-Birkenau. The group of nine members of Poles meets once a year to advise the director of the museum and is separated from the Auschwitz International Council, made up of Holocaust survivors and experts.
Szydlo faced a backlash in 2017 when he appeared to defend his conservative policies against migrants during a commemorative celebration at the former Nazi death camp. He said that “in today’s troubled times, Auschwitz is a great lesson that shows that everything must be done to protect the safety and lives of citizens.”
He later denied that his much-criticized words were about refugees.
The politician is a member of the European Parliament of the Law and Justice party and grew up in the town of Oswiecim, where Auschwitz is located, AP noted.
The philosopher Stanislaw Krajewski was the first adviser to resign in protest of Szydlo’s appointment. He explained at the outset that his departure was in response to the “politicization” of a group, and added that he was not comfortable with the incorporation of political figures.
“It’s hard to say what would happen, but it would change the nature of the body a lot,” Krajewski said. “I don’t want to be on the same board with a major ruling party politician today.”
He noted the effort of law and justice with the goal of building the national pride of the nation’s past. The media noted that the party, which took power in 2015, used museums, state media and other tools to drive a patriotic vision of Poland that would show resistance to German occupation. Some critics say the initiative was whitewashing history and a distorted version of the past.
“The fear is that this is another step in the direction of turning the Auschwitz-Birkenau museum into its historical policy,” Krajewski said of Syzdlo’s appointment.
Other members also left, including historians Marek Lasota, who also belongs to the ruling party, and Krystyna Oleksy, a former deputy director of the Auschwitz Museum.