Auschwitz Jewish Center Foundation Files Criminal And Ethics Complaints Against Konrad Berkowicz After Nazi Symbol Display In Polish Parliament

The complaint, submitted to the Warsaw prosecutor’s office by the foundation’s Polish entity, Fundacja Edukacyjne Centrum Zydowskie w Oswiecimiu (the Auschwitz Jewish Center in Poland), alleges violations of Polish laws prohibiting the promotion of totalitarian ideologies and the incitement of hatred on the basis of nationality, ethnicity, or religion. AJCF also filed a separate ethics complaint with the Sejm, urging disciplinary action.

The filings stem from a parliamentary session on Tuesday during which Berkowicz took the rostrum and unfurled an Israeli flag with a Nazi swastika substituted for the Star of David, declaring Israel the “new Third Reich.”

The timing intensified the reaction. The incident occurred on Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, as Holocaust survivors, officials, and thousands of students from around the world gathered at Auschwitz-Birkenau to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust.

In its complaint, the foundation emphasized that the use of Nazi imagery in Poland, particularly within the national legislature, carries profound legal and historical weight. It added that the amplification of the act through official proceedings and media coverage heightens the seriousness of the offense.

“This is not about Poland. It is about whether democratic institutions are used to uphold history or to distort it. What 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. We work in Oswięcim, where the consequences of that hatred are not theoretical. They are counted in the more than one million people who were murdered. If we allow history to be inverted, we should not be surprised when its consequences return,” said Auschwitz Jewish Center Foundation Director General Jack Simony.

“This 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,” said Auschwitz Jewish Center Foundation Chairman Simon Bergson.

Poland maintains strict legal prohibitions on Nazi symbolism. Polish legal experts note that the parliamentary setting, an official proceeding of the state, may weigh significantly in any prosecutorial assessment of the offense. Sejm Speaker Wlodzimierz Czarzasty condemned the incident as a violation of parliamentary dignity and indicated that disciplinary measures, including financial penalties, may be pursued.

AJCF’s ethics complaint argues that introducing Nazi imagery into an official proceeding corrodes the standards that democratic legislatures exist to uphold and that allowing it to pass without consequence sets a precedent the institution cannot afford.

“Our work in Oswiecim 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. When 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,” said Tomasz Kuncewicz, Director of the Auschwitz Jewish Center in Oswiecim.

The Auschwitz Jewish Center Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to harnessing the lessons learned from the Holocaust to combat hatred and bigotry through educational programs and by providing direct humanitarian aid to victims of mass atrocities. It supports survivors of genocides and other tragedies, including Ukrainian refugees and those impacted by Hamas's October 7 attacks. The Foundation maintains the Auschwitz Jewish Center, the last remaining synagogue in Oswiecim (Auschwitz) and serves as the primary institution dedicated to preserving the memory of the town's Jewish community while addressing hate. To date, over a million people have visited the center, more than 300,000 students participated in its educational programs and tens of thousands of diplomats, military and law enforcement personnel and educators, have taken part in its educational initiatives on tolerance and the Holocaust. For more information, visit: https://ajcfus.org/.