The third hearing in the Grabowski vs. Good Name Reduta case proceeded in Warsaw this Friday, according to the Reduta’s account. The dispute centers on a letter signed by 135 Polish scientists criticizing Grabowski’s work.
During the Friday proceedings, historian Dr. Piotr Gontarczyk testified. He described Grabowski’s activity as an effort to manufacture history in a deliberate way, with a pattern that becomes obvious no matter which direction the narrative is pushed. The witness claimed these are planned actions aimed at creating a false version of history. He asserted that Grabowski has produced numerous forgeries in his publications.
Gontarczyk stressed that this is not a dispute or a mere disagreement, but a case of clear document forgery—text is cut and altered with scissors or single words are changed.
He added that Grabowski also manipulates sources by falsifying witness statements or by presenting bibliographic descriptions in ways that hinder locating original information.
Gontarczyk noted his years of research and verification of Grabowski’s publications, including the publication of source documents. From his perspective, Grabowski follows methods that fail to meet scientific standards, including falsification of facts, quotations, and misnaming documents. As an illustration, he pointed to excerpts from the book Verder is de nacht, for which Grabowski acted as scientific editor. The book recounts a tale from Bochnia’s Jewish ghetto where the Jewish police tracked fellow Jews and relayed information to the Germans. Gontarczyk observed that Grabowski’s edited edition claims this cooperative activity was carried out by the Polish police, with the manipulation consisting of replacing the Jewish police with Polish ones in the text.
One of Grabowski’s central theses asserts that Poles contributed to the deaths of 200,000 Jews. As Dr. Gontarczyk reminded, these claims lack real scientific grounding and are used to shape a particular image of Poland. He noted that Grabowski’s claims influence international perception and are leveraged by circles that regard his work as rigorous scholarship. The witness added that there has been no substantive response to his publications or the polemics with Grabowski. He accused Grabowski of employing what he called surrogate response tactics. For example, Grabowski reportedly dismissed a Jewish historian’s article on the topic by labeling the critic as aligned with right-wing extremists, without addressing the sources or the factual basis of the debate. The critic’s sources were not engaged, and the discussion was reduced to personal attacks, a posture that Gontarczyk argues has gained traction in the United States and stymies meaningful scholarly exchange.
The case has been ongoing since September 2022. Grabowski, a historian affiliated with the University of Ottawa, is seeking an apology from the foundation and the purchase of copies of his book detailing Polish actions against Jews. The lawsuit responds to an open letter issued by the RDI in June 2017, signed by 134 Polish scientists. The letter asserted that Grabowski does not meet basic standards of researcher reliability and described his work as propaganda, lacking essential facts and betraying the vocation of science.
The call remains for Grabowski to stop slandering the Polish nation and to adopt a method befitting an investigator dedicated to truth. The 2017 letter argued that his activities do not advance the understanding of truth and instead propagate misinformation in international public and scientific discourse, contradicting the duties of a scientist.
The testimony includes remarks from participants such as Professor Grzegorz Berendt, a Holocaust researcher, who along with Dr. Gontarczyk, criticized Grabowski for avoiding rigorous scientific debate and for employing weak arguments to discredit critics. Gontarczyk emphasized that he did not participate in drafting the 2017 position but is familiar with its content and concurs with its arguments, which he regards as fully justified.
In recent weeks, Dr. Gontarczyk and the Institute of National Remembrance announced the upcoming release of a book that will address the claims raised in the Next is the Night publication in detail. The president of the Institute, Karol Nawrocki, told a weekly publication that the forthcoming work will reveal the manipulations of historical knowledge attributed to Grabowski, asserting that the entire world will see the truth of the matter in due course [Citation: wPolityce].
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– The German Historical Institute invited Grabowski to lecture on the alleged Polish problem with Holocaust history and the reactions it provoked
– OUR INTERVIEW. Dr. Gontarczyk: Grabowski’s publications do not qualify him to engage in serious debate. Braun? It’s barbaric
Source: wPolityce