UPDATE: A controversial documentary highlighting post-war antisemitism in Poland is facing a potential ban, igniting fierce backlash among national officials and right-wing groups. The film, titled Among Neighbors, directed by California filmmaker Yoav Potash, explores the tragic murder of five Jewish individuals in the small town of Gniewoszów shortly after World War II ended.
The documentary premiered at the Warsaw Jewish Film Festival in November 2024 and has since been available for streaming on the state-run Polish public broadcaster, TVP. However, its release has sparked outrage from Poland’s hard-right Law and Justice party, which governed from 2015 to 2023 and previously enacted laws criminalizing accusations of Polish complicity in the Holocaust.
Just last month, right-wing politicians and activists expressed their discontent, leading the Polish National Broadcasting Council (NBC) to open an investigation into the film. Critics argue it promotes an “anti-Polish” narrative, framing Poles as co-responsible for the Holocaust. A prominent official in President Karol Nawrocki‘s office, Agnieszka Jędrzak, condemned the film, labeling it as “anti-Polish manipulation.”
The backlash intensified when the conservative Ordo Iuris Institute filed a complaint with the NBC, claiming the film undermines crucial Polish values and distorts historical truth. Their statement emphasized the outrage over the film’s portrayal of Polish citizens involved in the murders, stating, “Above all, the film creates a false image of Poles as a nation co-responsible for the German genocide of Jews during the Second World War.”
Despite the mounting pressure, TVP has defended its decision to air the documentary, asserting that it does not pass judgment on the entire Polish nation. The film, supported by the Jewish Historical Institute of Poland and the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, aims to shed light on a painful chapter of history that many would prefer to forget.
Filmed over a decade, Among Neighbors captures the experiences of a few Jewish survivors who returned to their hometown in 1945, only to be met with violence from their Polish neighbors. Potash was inspired to create this documentary after meeting locals during a rededication ceremony for the town’s Jewish cemetery in 2014. He shared, “That just really struck me as a very different kind of story, because it was not the Germans doing the killing, it was the Poles.”
As the NBC’s investigation continues, the future of the documentary remains uncertain. The situation unfolds rapidly, and it highlights ongoing tensions surrounding Poland’s historical narrative and its handling of sensitive topics related to the Holocaust.
Stay tuned for further updates on this developing story, as the implications of the documentary’s potential ban resonate both locally and internationally. For more breaking news, click here to sign up for our free daily newsletter.
