
-
Indian army says new exchange of gunfire with Pakistan
-
Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre takes own life in Australia: family
-
Hundreds of buildings damaged, dozens injured in 6.3 Ecuador quake
-
India and Pakistan's Kashmir fallout hits economy too
-
Francis's funeral to be grand farewell to 'pope of the poor'
-
Pogacar faces defiant Evenepoel at Liege-Bastogne-Liege
-
Chelsea eye great escape against Barcelona in Women's Champions League
-
Iran, US to hold new round of high-level nuclear talks
-
'Energy and effort' pay off for Reds as Blues' woes continue
-
Albatross and closing birdie lift China's Liu to LPGA Chevron lead
-
On the horizon? Wave of momentum for high seas treaty
-
Developing countries should fast-track US trade deals: World Bank president
-
Grizzlies' Morant 'doubtful' for must-win game 4 v Thunder
-
Trump in Rome for pope funeral in first foreign trip of new term
-
Trump says Russia-Ukraine deal 'very close' after new Kremlin talks
-
US rookies lead PGA pairs event with McIlroy and Lowry in hunt
-
Trump tariff promises get a reality check
-
Warriors coach Kerr 'relatively optimistic' injured Butler will play game 3
-
Postecoglou hopes 'Stonecutter's Credo' can inspire Spurs
-
PSG lose unbeaten Ligue 1 record ahead of Arsenal showdown
-
Venezuela accuses El Salvador president of 'human trafficking'
-
Own goal takes Sundowns to African final against Pyramids
-
Scores of buildings damaged, 20 injured in Ecuador quake
-
US stocks extend rally as market eyes busy calendar next week
-
Pope's death triggers surge of disinformation he fought against
-
Rovanpera takes control of Rally Islas Canarias
-
Zelensky insists Crimea is Ukrainian as US envoy meets Putin
-
Patel and Mendis help Sunrisers beat Kings in Dhoni's 400th T20
-
Copa del Rey ref statements 'unacceptable': Real Madrid after boycotting final build-up
-
Insurance CEO's accused killer pleads not guilty to federal murder charges
-
FBI arrests Wisconsin judge for shielding undocumented migrant
-
Brazil ex-president Collor de Mello jailed for corruption
-
Zelensky insists Crimea 'belongs' to Ukraine as US envoy meets Putin
-
Real Madrid boycott Copa del Rey build-up over referee complaints
-
Trinidad and Tobago votes for parliament, PM, with opposition in lead
-
IMF chief hails 'constructive' Spring Meetings held under tariff uncertainty
-
Iran FM Araghchi in Oman ahead of nuclear talks with US
-
Dozens of buildings destroyed, 20 injured in Ecuador quake
-
Young Barca must 'enjoy' Real Madrid Copa final fight: Flick
-
Pakistan and India border closure separates families
-
Brazil's Bolsonaro 'stable' after post-surgery setback
-
Catholics in secular Cuba hail Francis as 'bridge'
-
US envoy Witkoff, Putin discuss 'possibility' of direct Russia-Ukraine talks
-
Community seeks answers after French school knife killing
-
German prosecutors seek jail terms in VW 'dieselgate' trial
-
Sabalenka makes winning start at Madrid Open
-
EU, US should de-escalate and negotiate trade deal: IMF Europe director
-
Russia accuses Ukraine of killing general in car bombing
-
Emery wants FA Cup glory and Champions League berth for Villa
-
Buildings destroyed, one injured in Ecuador quake

Politicians put spin on story of Poles who saved Jews: experts
The beatification of a Polish family who sheltered Jews during the Holocaust has given the government in Warsaw a chance to promote a one-sided narrative about attitudes of Poles in the war, experts have said.
Ahead of a ceremony on Sunday bestowing the Catholic honour on the Ulma family, who were killed by the Nazis, their story is being widely shared in Poland, with exhibitions, concerts and new books, including for children.
Presidential adviser Marcin Przydacz told Polish radio PR1 that the event has "a dimension of building up the image of Poland, and of historical truth".
Six million Polish citizens, including three million Jews, were killed by the Nazis.
The Yad Vashem memorial, which is dedicated to the memory of the Holocaust, honours 7,232 Poles as "Righteous among the Nations" for helping Jews during the Nazi occupation at a time when doing so was punishable by death.
- Heroic and tragic -
But historians say the sacrifice of those who helped Jews cannot be used to whitewash the past.
For years the authorities have denied the collaboration of some Poles with the Nazis and the indifference of a large part of the population to Jewish suffering.
"History is not a buffet where you can pick and choose what you want but that is how politicians are treating it," said sociologist Agnieszka Haska of the Polish Center for Holocaust Research.
"The story of the Ulma is heroic and tragic but cases of Jews being saved were not as numerous as politicised history now would have you believe... The Righteous were an extreme, just like those who collaborated," she said.
Haska said that "as victims of the Second World War, we are incapable of accepting that we were not as noble as we think."
For more than a year, the Ulma family hid eight Jews of the Goldmann and Grunfeld families in the village of Markowa in southern Poland.
Turned in by a Polish policeman, they were all executed -- including the children -- by Germans on March 24, 1944.
The mother was pregnant with her seventh child and began giving birth during the execution. The baby did not survive.
In 1995, the family were awarded the medal of Righteous among the Nations from Yad Vashem.
Since 2016 there has also been a museum in Markowa and the government has decreed March 24 the "National Day of the Memory of Poles who saved Jews".
- Patriotic discourse -
"Their story is used as a counter-argument to accusations of anti-Semitism and to polish Poland's image abroad," Zuzanna Radzik, an expert in Polish-Jewish dialogue, told AFP.
For her, the Ulma story "has become a choice excerpt for patriotic discourse because it was a family of peasants with many children and Catholic, which died."
Jan Grabowski, a Holocaust historian at the University of Ottawa, says, however, that after the execution of the Ulmas, 24 Jews in Markowa were killed by their Polish neighbours.
The example of the Ulmas allows politicians to make declarations not supported by historians.
Polish President Andrzej Duda in a speech in Markowa in March said that "thousands of the million Poles who helped Jews... were assassinated in this way", while Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has said "millions" of Poles helped.
Historians estimate that around 30,000 Poles actively helped Jews.
"In Markowa, a village of 1,000 homes, around 20 Jews survived. It's not a lot" compared to 120 Jewish inhabitants before the war, said Grabowski.
Along with other Holocaust historians, including Barbara Engelking, Grabowski has become the target of various trials brought by government-financed bodies for "defamation" and "anti-Polish activities".
In June, Education Minister Przemyslaw Czarnek said he would cut financing for Holocaust studies carried out by Engelking at Warsaw University saying her research was of a "disgusting stupidity".
Grabowski said that exploiting the image of the Righteous serves to "hide the things Poles cannot face".
Y.Aukaiv--AMWN