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The prohibition of negationism in Poland (Article 55 of the act on the institute of national remembrance) and questioning the criminal legacy of totalitarian systems
Author(s): Scheffler, Tomasz
Editor(s): Sondel-Cedarmas, Joanna; Pożarlik, Grzegorz
Date: 2025
Topics: Main Topic: Holocaust and Memorial, Nationalism, Memory, Holocaust Denial, Law
Abstract: Article 55 of the Act on the Institute of National Remembrance – the Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation (“Act on the IPN”), provides for the punishment of behavior involving the denial of Nazi and Communist crimes, those committed by Ukrainian nationalists and members of Ukrainian formations collaborating with the German Third Reich, and other crimes against peace and humanity or war crimes, when carried out in public and includes statements contrary to fact. This provision aimed to serve as the basis for combating the so-called historical revisionism (denialism). However, in reality, it does not fulfill this role. The author posits that due to the provision’s requirement to demonstrate non-compliance with “facts”, the justice system avoids prosecutions based on this so-called “Auschwitz paragraph” and prefers to prosecute such acts by means of Article 256 § 1 of the Criminal Code, where the basis for prosecution is the demonstration of the vague premise of “incitement to hatred”.