“Vilnius Patriotic Young People” react on FBI director statement

Polish demand apologise from FBI director on his statement on Polish involvement in Holocaust.

Moreover, Polish Association on Lithuania “Vilnius Patriotic Young People” also reacted on this fact and wrote an open-letter.

In their letter, they express strong disappointment of FBI chef’s suggestion.

“As representatives of Polish Association on Lithuania “Vilnius Patriotic Young People” we feel deeply hurt about the suggestion made by the FBI chef, James Comey concerning the responsibility of Holocaust. Exactly the same day when these words had been said, we had taken part in Alive March in Ponary. It is a place of murder committed by Nazis on hundreds of thousands innocent people – Jews and Polish” – we read in a letter.

The representatives also mentioned the example of Witold Pilecki.

“It was Vilnius, our city, that Witold Pilecki was associated with – a person who as a volunteer came to German concentration camp in Auschwitz in order to set prisoners free and inform the world about what happened here. Moreover, many Polish soldiers in exile fought along with American soldiers against Nazis. Many Polish descendants live in todays’ Vilnius who during the war tried to rescue their Jews neighbours from Holocaust – emphasized the young people.

“Vilnius Patriotic Young People” hope that these words were only unfortunate mistake.

“We all hope that this comment was only a slip of a tongue and not something that is expressed fully intentionally or something that describes the politics of United States – besides the intention, we feel hurt. We agree that this commentary does not contribute to the good image of United States nor to the higher confidence to NATO whose members are USA, Poland and Lithuania – we read in a statement signed by director and vice-director “Vilnius Patriotic Young People” Aleksandra Sudujka and Rajmund Klonowski.

On the occasion of Memorial Day of Holocaust on 15 April in the Museum of Holocaust in Washington, FBI director James Comey made a speech in which he said that Holocaust “was the most meaningful event in the history”. He explained that the most horrifying lesson to be learn from Holocaust is that people are ready to sacrifice their own morality for the sake of group’s power.

And then there was a controversial time of his speech: – In their opinion murders and their co-operators from Germany, Poland, Hungary and various other places did nothing wrong. They made themselves believe that they did everything that was right – said Comey.

The ambassador of Poland in USA, Ryszard Schnepf wrote a letter to James Comey to express his disapproval on Polish role in Holocaust. These unacceptable words point lack of knowledge, we demand correction.

Stephen Mull, American Ambasador in Poland also commented on this: – Suggestions that Poland is responsible for Holocaust are false and insulting – said after the commemoration of 72 anniversary of uprising in Warsaw’s Ghetto.