WARSAW โ The Auschwitz Jewish Center Foundation said it has filed a criminal complaint with Polish prosecutors and a separate ethics complaint with parliament after far-right lawmaker Konrad Berkowicz displayed an Israeli flag defaced with a Nazi swastika inside Polandโs Sejm chamber.
The organization said the complaints were submitted on Wednesday, April 15, through its Polish entity, Fundacja Edukacyjne Centrum ลปydowskie w Oลwiฤcimiu, which operates the Auschwitz Jewish Center in Poland.
According to the foundation, the filings allege possible violations of Polish laws prohibiting the promotion of totalitarian ideologies and the incitement of hatred on the basis of nationality, ethnicity or religion.
The separate ethics complaint asks the Sejm to pursue disciplinary measures.
Incident During Parliamentary Session
The complaints stem from a parliamentary session the previous day in which Berkowicz reportedly took the rostrum and unfurled an Israeli flag with a swastika replacing the Star of David.
During the display, he allegedly referred to Israel as the โnew Third Reich,โ according to the foundationโs statement.
The incident drew swift condemnation from lawmakers across the political spectrum and intensified public reaction because it occurred on Yom HaShoah, Israelโs Holocaust Remembrance Day.
On the same day, Holocaust survivors, officials and thousands of students were gathered at Auschwitz-Birkenau for commemorations honoring victims of the Holocaust.
Foundation Says Holocaust Imagery Was Weaponized
โThis is not about Poland. It is about whether democratic institutions are used to uphold history or to distort it,โ said Jack Simony, Director General of the Auschwitz Jewish Center Foundation.
โWhat we witnessed was not criticism of a state, but the inversion of the Holocaust itself. To take the symbol of the Jewish state and deface it with a Nazi emblem on Yom HaShoah is not political expression. It is the deliberate abuse of history to incite hatred.โ
Simony added that the foundationโs work in Oลwiฤcim, where more than one million people were murdered at Auschwitz, makes such misuse of Holocaust symbols especially grave.
โIf we allow history to be inverted, we should not be surprised when its consequences return,โ he said.
Foundation Chairman Simon Bergson said the complaint was intended to prompt real enforcement.
โThis complaint is not symbolic. Polish law prohibits what occurred in that chamber, and we expect it to be enforced. Democratic institutions either hold the line or they do not,โ Bergson said.
Possible Legal Consequences
Poland maintains some of Europeโs strictest legal prohibitions on Nazi symbolism and propaganda, reflecting the countryโs history under Nazi German occupation during the Second World War.
Legal analysts in Poland have noted that the setting of the incident, during an official parliamentary proceeding, could become a significant factor in any prosecutorial review.
Wลodzimierz Czarzasty, the Sejm Speaker, reportedly condemned the display as a violation of parliamentary dignity and said sanctions, including financial penalties, could be considered.
The ethics complaint filed by the foundation argues that introducing Nazi imagery into an official state institution undermines the standards democratic legislatures are expected to defend.
Auschwitz Center Responds From Oลwiฤcim
Tomasz Kuncewicz, Director of the Auschwitz Jewish Center in Oลwiฤcim, said the organization exists specifically to preserve historical truth and confront hatred.
โOur work in Oลwiฤcim exists for precisely this reason, to preserve the memory of what happened here, to educate against the hatred that made it possible, and to ensure that history is transmitted honestly to future generations,โ he said.
โWhen that history is inverted and its symbols are weaponized to incite new hatred, it is not only an offense against the dead. It is a direct assault on everything this institution stands for.โ
Wider Context in Europe
The controversy comes amid growing concern across Europe over rising antisemitism, extremist rhetoric and increasing misuse of Holocaust imagery in political disputes.
Jewish organizations have repeatedly warned that comparing Israel or Jews to Nazis can trivialize the Holocaust and fuel hostility toward Jewish communities.
For pro-Israel audiences, the parliamentary display is likely to be seen not as criticism of Israeli policy, but as an act crossing into explicit antisemitic symbolism.
About the Foundation
The Auschwitz Jewish Center Foundation is a nonprofit organization focused on Holocaust education, combating hatred and providing humanitarian aid to victims of mass atrocities.
It supports the Auschwitz Jewish Center, including the last remaining synagogue in Oลwiฤcim, and says more than one million visitors have attended the site. The organization also states that more than 300,000 students and tens of thousands of diplomats, educators, military personnel and law enforcement officials have participated in its educational programs.
As of the latest update, prosecutors had not publicly announced whether formal charges would be pursued.
