The World Jewish Congress (WJC) condemned statements by Polish senior officials who questioned Polish and Nazi involvement in the murder of Jews during WWII.

Last week, Polish Education Minister Anna Zalewska cast doubt on the involvement of Poles in two pogroms in the 1940s — the 1941 Jedwabne massacre, in which Poles burned alive more than 300 Jews in a barn, and the 1946 Kielce massacre, in which 42 people died. The anniversaries of both pogroms were commemorated earlier this month.

During an interview with public broadcaster TVN, when asked whether the massacres should be taught in schools, Zalewska answered, “Jedwabne is a historical fact that has led to many misunderstandings and very biased opinions,” adding that the perpetrators of the Kielce massacre were antisemites, “but not quite Polish.”

The Mayor of Jedwabne, Michael Chajewski, for his part called to exhume the mass grave of Jews killed in his city to examine whether Nazi soldiers were indeed the murderers. “You need to determine how many people were killed and by whom to finally dispel doubt,” he told a Polish newspaper.

WJC President Ronald Lauder said in a statement that Zalewska and Chajewski’s comments are ‘’disturbong’’ and a “slap in the face” to Holocaust victims.

He said the the statements ‘’undermine efforts of Polish scholars who have spent more than 25 years unearthing evidence of horrifying acts of violence against Jews committed by Poles,” calling on the Polish government to insist that the two officials immediately issue clearly worded apologies and retract their remarks.

“Minister Zalewska and Mayor Chajewski would do well to heed the words of President Andrzej Duda who said earlier this month at the 70th anniversary of the Kielce pogrom that ‘In a free, sovereign and independent Poland there is no room for any form of prejudice. There is no room for racism, for xenophobia, for anti-Semitism’,”Lauder said.

He added ‘’It is disturbing to think that senior government officials in Poland, a country that led the struggle against Communism in Central and Eastern Europe and that has done so much to advance the cause of Holocaust education and scholarship, now seem to be lurching backward to the days of obfuscation and misinformation.’’

“Ever since the collapse of Communism, elements of Polish society have expressed tremendous courage and dignity in confronting terrible blots on Polish history. In so doing, they have earned our admiration and set a valuable example to be emulated by neighboring countries that have failed to come to grips with their own history.”