Duda signs controversial Holocaust law. US State Department 'disappointed'

President Andrzej Duda says he will sign the country's controversial Holocaust bill, but plans to send the bill to the constitutional tribunal for review. “This bill protects Polish interests, our dignity, the historical truth so that we are not slandered as a state and as a nation,” said Duda. The law, according to its proponents, is to stop people for people incorrectly conclude that Poland had a role in running the camps, and imposes jail time for using phrases such as “Polish death camps”. But critics say the legislation could hinder debating history, thus harming freedom of expression and opening the way to Holocaust denial. The legislation provides exemptions for academic research and art. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson issued a statement condemning Duda’s decision. “The United States is disappointed that the President of Poland has signed legislation that would impose criminal penalties for attributing Nazi crimes to the Polish state. Enactment of this law adversely affects freedom of speech and academic inquiry,” he said. “We hope that within the allotted time until the court’s deliberations are concluded, we will manage to agree on changes and corrections. Israel and Poland hold a joint responsibility to research and preserve the history of the Holocaust,” the Israeli government said in a statement. From 1939 to 1945, some six million Poles were killed. Half of those were ethnic Jews.