Jan Żaryn

Jan Krzysztof Żaryn (born March 13, 1958) is a Polish nationalist historian who was a Senator between 2015 and 2019.

Early life

Żaryn was born in Warsaw, Poland into an intellectual family. He studied history at University of Warsaw between 1979 and 1984.

Career

After his graduation, Żaryn taught history in high schools. He received a PhD in history in 1996, joined the Tadeusz Manteuffel Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences in 1997, and earned the habilitated doctor degree in 2004. He also became a professor in humanities in 2013. 

Institute of National Remembrance

Żaryn joined the Bureau of Public Education of Poland's Institute of National Remembrance, which he directed from January 2006 until April 2009. 

Boards of historical societies

Żaryn also sat on the boards of historical societies, including the , Committee for Commemoration of Poles Rescuing Jews, Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk, Museum of the Cursed Soldiers and Political Prisoners of People's Republic of Poland, and among others. He starting heading the Roman Dmowski and Ignacy Jan Paderewski Institute for the Legacy of Polish National Thought in 2020.

Senate of Poland

Żaryn won a seat in the Senate of Poland in 2015, serving until 2019.

Controversies

Historical revisionism

In terms of Holocaust historiography, Żaryn holds controversial views that are rejected by mainstream historians. For instance, he blamed Jews for the 1946 Kielce pogrom by falsely claiming that "a significant proportion of Jewish individuals either supported the communist authorities or else simply joined their ranks. Many worked … in censorship and propaganda, slandering the memory of the PPP [Polish underground state], the AK [Home Army], and deceitfully remaining silent about Soviet massacres".

Żaryn also denied that the Polish state was responsible for the 1968 antisemitic campaign in Poland where the communist regime forced out as many as 25,000 Polish Jews, most of whom were Holocaust survivors. 


  He also called for the prosecution of Polish-American historian Jan Tomasz Gross over Gross' books that revealed the scale of WWII Polish collaboration with Nazi occupiers. He dismissed Gross' books as "part of a certain kind of Jewish literature and historiography that is soaked with deep resentment towards Poland and the Poles".

Related pages

 David Irving
 Louis Farrakhan
 Racism in Poland
 Historical revisionism
 Antisemitism in Europe

Footnotes

References

Category:Controversies
Category:Polish people
Category:Antisemitism in Europe