Polish minister sees 'catharsis' in new Holocaust law

WARSAW (Reuters) - Patryk Jaki, the politician behind Poland's new Holocaust law, wants to end what he calls a misleading culture of shame surrounding his country's treatment of Jews in World War Two.

The 32-year-old deputy justice minister is a polarizing figure in Polish politics. He opposes what he sees as the Islamization of Europe and once said immigrants from Africa and the Middle East will only enter the country "over his dead body".

He also loves football, dotes on his young son who has Down's syndrome and prides himself on his lowly origins in the Soviet-era tower blocks that still house millions of his compatriots.

Many Poles like his anti-elitist posture, which chimes with a strain of populist right-wing thinking in parts of Eastern Europe that has alarmed some Western capitals.

But the law making it a crime to suggest Poland was complicit in the Holocaust has proved even more controversial, sparking a crisis in Warsaw's relations with Israel and the United States. For Jaki it marks a moment of national catharsis.

Jaki, who steered the legislation through parliament, says young Poles like him have been taught to feel ashamed, not proud, of their nation's wartime behavior by successive liberal governments.

Source: Yahoo News