CBC Ombudsman: Polish perspective
The complainant, Bodgan Gawroński, objected to an interview with historian Jan Grabowski on CBC Radio programme Day 6. He thought it was biased and that Mr. Grabowski represented an extreme position, blaming the Polish nation for the crimes of the Germans during World War II.
The interview concerned the new Polish anti-defamation law and the commemoration of the anniversary of the uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto in 1944. It did not violate policy.
COMPLAINT
On April 14, the CBC Radio programme Day 6 aired an interview with historian Jan Grabowski, a few days before the 75th anniversary commemoration of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. The context was the recent passage of a Polish law which makes attributing blame for Nazi war crimes to Poland an offence. You objected to the interview, as you have on other occasions when he has been featured on CBC platforms, because you think Mr. Grabowski is biased. You characterized it as “one more example of the anti-Polish actions by highly controversial Jan Grabowski.” You believe he is selective in his analysis and citing of facts, and blames the Polish nation for the Holocaust:
The program is a perfect display of Jan Grabowski selective story-telling, focusing on ethnic Poles and omitting facts about some Polish Jews complicity in crimes committed by Nazi Germany during the Second World War.
You said Mr. Grabowski holds extreme views, distorts and ignores the historical record, including that of the plight of the Jews and the numbers rescued from the Warsaw Ghetto.
MANAGEMENT RESPONSE
The Senior Producer for Day 6, Gord Westmacott, replied to your concerns. He did not agree with your assessment. He noted the interview did not deal with numbers at all. He pointed out that it is clear, in several places, that Mr. Grabowski is not condemning all Poles. For example, he rejected the word “complicity” to describe the involvement in anti-Jewish activity of individual Poles. He specifically referred to a “level of involvement of certain segments of Polish society in activities which doomed Polish Jews.”
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