Law and justice (PiS) party leader Jarosław Kaczyński, speaking in Olsztyn over the weekend, once again attacked Poland’s neighbor, Germany, saying the country is hypocritical for trying to lecture Poland.
He added that “they should be the last to do so and should stay quiet,” given their past history.
According to the PiS leader, Germany has been positioning itself as a “moral superpower” tto benefit its soft power. However, if Germany does not begin talks over the issue of reparations, they will lose that aura, he stated.
Kaczyński said that in reality, after the Second World War, criminals in Germany were among the main ones given amnesty.
“The death penalty was abolished at the start of the existence of the Federal Republic of Germany,” he said. It was decided that anyone who obeyed Nazi law was not a criminal. In this way, even the perpetrators of Auschwitz avoided punishment.
“One hundred thousand Poles were sentenced in summary trials and executed in Auschwitz, yet the judges giving the rulings were not punished as they acted in accordance with the existing law,” said Kaczuński. The PiS leader noted that many war criminals went on to have political careers after the war and many remained in the police forces.
He challenged the notion that Germany had a better democratic tradition that allowed their politicians to select judges. In essence, argues Kaczynski, the German judicial system is more politicized than Poland’s, which Germany criticizes for being contrary to the principles of judicial independence.
In reality, the German democratic tradition is highly questionable, argues Kaczynski. After losing the First World War, it did not go well and ended up with the rise of Hitler. After the Second World War, it was the occupying powers who introduced democracy to Germany and have kept it under supervision ever since.
Kaczynski cited an anecdote from President Donald Trump’s meeting with former German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Trump told her that “what unites us is that we are both under close supervision by the U.S. intelligence services.”
