The United States Ambassador to Poland, Stephen Mull, has said that the comments by FBI director James Comey that Poles contributed to the Holocaust do not reflect the stance of the US government. He was summoned by the Polish Foreign Ministry after FBI director's article published by the Washington Post.
Mull has been called to the Foreign Ministry and handed an official note of protest. The Ministry also requested an apology.
“Deputy Minister [Leszek] Soczewica, understandably, he invited me for a talk. He wanted to express the concern of the Polish government and protested the comments by the FBI director,” Mull said after leaving the Ministry.
“I assured him that this is not the position of the United States.”
Incendiary comments
“In their minds, the murderers and accomplices of Germany, and Poland, and Hungary, and so many, many other places didn’t do something evil. They convinced themselves it was the right thing to do, the thing they had to do. That’s what people do. And that should truly frighten us,” the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), James Comey wrote in a column for the Washington Post.
The column was adapted from a speech which was given on Wednesday at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum’s 2015 National Tribute Dinner, and outlined the practice that Comey sends every new FBI agent to get acquainted with the museum.
“Naturally, I want them to learn about abuse of authority on a breathtaking scale. But I want them to confront something more painful and more dangerous: I want them to see humanity and what we are capable of.
“I want them to see that, although this slaughter was led by sick and evil people, those sick and evil leaders were joined by, and followed by, people who loved their families, took soup to a sick neighbor, went to church and gave to charity,” Comey wrote.
Deputy Foreign Minister Rafał Trzaskowski told IAR news agency that such statements are unacceptable. “The Polish State always responded and will always respond [to such comments], the embassy immediately responded with a letter to the director of the FBI, where it clearly explained the historical reality,” Trzaskowski said.
He added that Poland also reacts to false charges which regularly appear in the foreign press. (rg)
Dariusz Cisowski
