Noa Kirel’s Holocaust comments spark outrage in Poland

The content of the educational trips has been a point of contention for Poland.

By World Israel News Staff

Noa Kirel, who came third in the Eurovision song contest last week, came under fire in Poland for comments she made connecting her win to the Holocaust.

“Receiving 12 points from Poland after nearly the entire Kirel family was murdered in the Holocaust – that is a victory,” told Israeli media in comments that were later slammed in Poland.

The Do Rzeczy Polish newspaper wrote: “The Israeli artist recalled the Holocaust, and blamed the Poles for the murder of Jews.”

The country’s nationalist government last year passed a law that criminalizes accusations of Polish collusion with the Nazis during the Holocaust.

In response to Kirel’s comments, Polish MP Anna Maria Żukowska tweeted, “Does this statement reflect the level of education about the Holocaust in Israel? Do young people in Israel think that the Holocaust was caused by Poland, over which a young Israeli citizen can achieve a moral victory after many years, or what?”

Poland’s Deputy Foreign Minister Paweł Jabłoński tweeted, ““The fact that many people in Israel consider Poland to be an accomplice to German crimes – and not their victim – is often the result not so much of bad will as lack of knowledge and incomplete education.”

On Saturday, Jabłoński issued another statement inviting Kirel to Poland “to understand why she thinks about our homeland in this way and to explain why [her comments] are painful to us.”

Poland was the first country to be invaded by Nazi Germany. While 3 million non-Jewish Poles were murdered by the Nazis, and thousands risked their lives to help Jews, there is a wealth of evidence showing how Poles either helped find Jews or else murdered them themselves, as well as Poles who looted Jewish homes.