In a chilling display of Holocaust distortion and antisemitism, far-right Polish Member of European Parliament (MEP) Grzegorz Braun denied the existence of gas chambers at Auschwitz and dismissed the Auschwitz museum as “pseudo-history” in a radio interview this week.
Braun, no stranger to antisemitic provocation, claimed that the gas chambers at Nazi death camps were “fake” and advanced antisemitic blood libels, asserting that Jewish “ritual murder is a fact.”
Holocaust denial is a criminal offense in Poland, punishable by up to three years in prison. Following a complaint from a Polish MP, prosecutors transferred the case to the Institute of National Remembrance, which investigates crimes against the Polish nation and Holocaust-related offenses.
The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum condemned Braun’s statements and announced its intent to pursue legal action. The museum, located on the site of the former Nazi extermination camp where more than 1.1 million people — most of them Jews — were murdered, emphasized its commitment to historical truth and remembrance.
The U.S. Embassy in Warsaw also denounced Braun’s rhetoric in a public statement, condemning it as a dangerous distortion of Holocaust history. “The most important lesson of the Holocaust is that the deprivation of humanity and hatred can lead to cruelties that overwhelm entire nations,” the Embassy stated. “We condemn actions that distort history, desecrate memory, or spread antisemitism.”
Najważniejszą lekcją płynącą z Holokaustu jest to, że odbieranie człowieczeństwa i nienawiść mogą prowadzić do okrucieństw, które zalewają całe narody. Stany Zjednoczone są głęboko zaangażowane w stawianie czoła antysemityzmowi, promowanie edukacji o Holokauście oraz obronę…
— US Embassy Warsaw (@USEmbassyWarsaw) July 11, 2025
Hours prior, Braun disrupted a memorial service commemorating the victims of the 1941 Jedwabne pogrom by unfurling banners with antisemitic slogans accusing Jews of spreading lies. He later insulted Poland’s Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich and tried to block him from leaving the ceremony.
The incident coincided with the 84th anniversary of the Jedwabne massacre, in which hundreds of Jewish men, women, and children were rounded up by their Polish neighbors in the northeastern town, locked in a barn, and burned alive. The massacre, carried out with the incitement of Nazi occupiers, remains one of the most brutal examples of local collaboration during the Holocaust.
New plaques were recently installed near the memorial in Jedwabne in an apparent attempt to distort the historical record of the 1941 massacre, falsely claiming that the atrocity was carried out by a German pacification unit rather than by local Polish villagers. The plaques contradict well-documented findings from multiple investigations and have been widely condemned by historians and Jewish organizations.
Yad Vashem, Israel’s official Holocaust memorial, denounced the effort as a “desecration of historical truth.”
Agnieszka Markiewicz, director of the American Jewish Committee’s Central Europe office, condemned Braun’s actions and called on Polish authorities to respond decisively to both the incident and his rhetoric.
“What happened today in Jedwabne is not only a disgrace to the memory of the victims — it is also a test for Polish democracy,” she said.
Braun previously interrupted a minute of silence honoring Holocaust victims by shouting, “Let’s pray for the victims of the Jewish genocide in Gaza” — a textbook case of Holocaust inversion, which falsely equates Israel with the Nazi regime and perversely recasts Jews as perpetrators rather than victims of genocide.
In 2023, Braun notoriously extinguished a lit menorah with a fire extinguisher during an official Hanukkah ceremony, a widely condemned act of antisemitic vandalism.
Braun’s dangerous lies and repeated incitement reflect a growing threat in parts of Europe, where Holocaust denial and antisemitic hate speech are increasingly weaponized for political gain. As legal and diplomatic responses mount, the case stands as a test of Poland’s resolve to uphold historical truth, protect its Jewish community, and confront the resurgence of far-right extremism.
