The district court in Cracow has sentenced to the ZDF because of the series “Our mothers, our fathers” to an apology and a fine. There is in the series, “a one-sided and false representation of historical facts,” said judge Kamil Grzesik on Friday in its grounds of judgment. The ZDF wants to appeal.
The ZDF mini-series, which was broadcast in March 2013 in Germany, showed in Poland’s controversial scene: A representative of the Polish underground “home army” said in the face of a train with concentration camp prisoners, which he wants to leave his fate: “Because they are Jews, and are worse than the Communists.” From the Polish side was seen in a flat-rate allegation that the home army was an anti-Semitic organization. Protests by veterans and right-wing groups in front of the headquarters of the ZDF Studios in Warsaw followed.
The lawsuit brought by a former concentration camp in Krakow, against the German radio in 2015, was Surviving hard. The official plaintiff in the trial of the 94-year-old former home army fighter Zbigniew Radlowski, the court awarded now the equivalent of 5000 euros for Pain and suffering. The retirees had filed the civil suit along with the world Association of home army soldiers.
The judge argued in his justification, that the home army had not participated in the Holocaust, and the members of the organization would have had in the majority not an anti-Semitic attitude. The plaintiff therefore had the right to complain against the “violation of personal Dignity”.
The excuse of the ZDF should be published according to the decision on the station’s Website, as well as on the Portal of the Polish state broadcaster TVP. In addition, it is required that the broadcast in other countries in the introduction it was noted that Germany had occupied Poland in the Second world war and “the extermination of poles and Jews implemented”. Historically, Attacks by members of the “home army” against the Jews, but also the auxiliary actions. The extent to which an anti-Semitic attitude was not widely used, is the subject of historical investigations and disputes.
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ZDF series in the criticism of “Our mothers, our fathers” in court
The national-conservative government in Warsaw was in January, with a planned Holocaust law international sensation. The draft law provides, inter alia, that the expression “Polish death camp” is punishable by up to three years in prison. epd