Polish official fired after calling Holocaust law ‘stupid’

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — A Polish diplomat appointed to improve contacts with Jews worldwide has been fired after he criticized his own government’s approach to regulating Holocaust speech. Jaroslaw Nowak, the plenipotentiary for contacts with the Jewish diaspora, described a Holocaust speech law passed by his country’s ruling party as “stupid.” The Foreign Ministry said Monday that Nowak was dismissed on Saturday, a day after his comments were published by Jewish News in the U.K. Nowak also said Poland should pass a law on property restitution. That statement implied further criticism of the ruling authorities, who recently passed a law cutting off the chances for restitution or compensation for property seized by the communists. Among those affected are Holocaust survivors and their heirs.