Germany’s publically-funded ZDF station must officially apologize to the World Association of Home Army (AK) Soldiers for the false depiction of Polish soldiers in the “Our Mothers, Our Fathers’ television series, announced the Kraków Court of Appeal
According to the ruling, the series falsely depicted Polish Home Army (AK) as an anti-Semitic organization. The German companies behind the show committed the infringement “through identifying a Polish underground unit in the movie as an AK unit, which created the false suggestion that the Polish military organization was anti-Semitic in character”.
The court explained that the creators of the show had dressed up representatives of a Polish underground unit in white-red ‘AK’ bands. Through this, the creators specified that representatives of the AK were disdainful towards Jews and promoted anti-Semitism. The court emphasized that the showrunners’ actions created the perception that the AK was an anti-Semitic formation.
The ruling declared that such an identification of the AK was a transgression of freedom of expression.
The apology is to be published on the 1st channel of Polish public television TVP1 and on the channels of German television station, ZDF, which originally created the show. They are also to be published on ZDF and the UFA Fiction websites and maintained for three months.
The three-part TV series “Our Mothers, Our Fathers” was first broadcasted on ZDF in March 2013. It was also aired on Polish public television channel TVP1. It sparked massive controversy in Germany and Poland concerning the depiction of Poles in the show, as well as the issue of German responsibility for crimes committed during World War II.
The lawsuit against the German creators was filed by the World Association of Home Army Soldiers along with 96-year-old Zbigniew Radłowski who was a member of the AK.
The Polish Home Army (AK) was the main resistance movement in German-occupied Poland during the Second World War. It was officially formed in 1942, politically backed by the Polish government in London and became the largest resistance movement in Europe during the war.
Title image: Part of the cover of the DVD box of the tv series ‘Unsere Mütter, unsere Väter’
