In a morning interview with RMF FM, Sikorski expressed hope that Braun would be held accountable for his statements.
According to the minister, Braun is “doing work that harms Poland,” adding: “If he were a Russian agent, he could not perform his task any better.”
Accusations of antisemitic provocations
Sikorski argued that Braun’s comments and disruptive behaviour damage Poland’s reputation abroad and fuel harmful stereotypes.
“Every time Russia has needed to harm Poland, there has been some antisemitic spectacle staged here,” he said. “It ruins our country’s image abroad. Poland is better than what the antisemites think.”
Sikorski was referring not only to Braun’s recent remarks denying the existence of gas chambers at Auschwitz but also to earlier incidents. Last year, Braun interrupted a Hanukkah ceremony in the Polish parliament, destroying equipment and shouting that the event violated the separation of church and state.
Just a day before his interview, Braun attempted to block vehicles carrying participants in a ceremony marking the 84th anniversary of the massacre of Jews in Jedwabne, including a van transporting Poland’s Chief Rabbi, Michael Schudrich.
Auschwitz did not fall from the sky, FM Sikorski reminds
“I don’t understand why there was no intervention when he was caught in the act,” Sikorski said. “This is a man who attacked a religious ceremony in Parliament, during which bodily integrity was violated. He physically destroys people’s property and damages exhibitions in the Sejm. When someone is caught red-handed, even if they are a member of parliament, they can be detained.”
Church urged to condemn Holocaust denial
Sikorski also called on the Catholic Church to take a stand.
“The Church has an opportunity to show that it is serious about fighting antisemitism,” he said. When asked if he believed this would happen, he added: “I will pray for it.”
Shortly afterward, Poland’s bishops issued a statement denouncing Braun’s views.
“Antisemitism in any form is, in accordance with Church teaching, a sin and a moral evil,” wrote Cardinal Grzegorz Ryś, who leads the Polish Bishops’ Committee for Dialogue with Judaism.
During an interview on the right-wing station Radio Wnet on Thursday, Braun claimed that “ritual murder is a fact” and described the evidence of gas chambers at Auschwitz as “a fake.”
Grzegorz Braun further alleged that the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum promotes what he called “pseudo-history.”
Legal consequences under Holocaust denial law
Polish prosecutors have launched a preliminary investigation. Under Polish law, denying Nazi crimes is a criminal offense punishable by up to three years in prison.
The proceedings are being handled by the Warsaw Śródmieście District Prosecutor’s Office under Article 55 of the Institute of National Remembrance Act, legislation specifically targeting Holocaust denial and communist-era crimes.
“Bravo. In the interest of Poland’s international reputation, I call for swift and decisive action,” Sikorski wrote on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
Braun’s claims were also labelled disinformation by Poland’s leading fact-checking organisation, Demagog.
On Friday, the Director of the Auschwitz Museum, Piotr Cywiński, said Braun’s words were not only legally punishable Holocaust denial but also an affront to the memory of millions of victims.
Poland’s state Institute of National Remembrance, which investigates both Nazi and communist crimes, issued its own condemnation.
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Source: IAR/RMFFM/IPN/Demagog/X/@sikorskiradek/@EpiskopatNews/@AuschwitzMuseum