Polish president to sign controversial Holocaust bill

Alik Keplicz

Polish president to sign controversial Holocaust bill

FILE - In this July 29, 2016 file photo a man crosses the iconic rails leading to the former Nazi death camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau prior to a visit by Pope Francis, in Poland. The office of Polish President Andrzej Duda said the leader will on Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2018 announce his decision on whether to sign legislation penalizing certain statements about the Holocaust. (AP Photo/Alik Keplicz, file)

Czarek Sokolowski

Polish president to sign controversial Holocaust bill

FILE - This Oct. 19, 2012 file photo shows the gate of the former Nazi death camp of Auschwitz in Oswiecim, Poland. The office of Polish President Andrzej Duda said the leader will on Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2018 announce his decision on whether to sign legislation penalizing certain statements about the Holocaust. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski, File)

Czarek Sokolowski

Polish president to sign controversial Holocaust bill

FILE - In this Dec. 20, 2017 file photo Poland's President Andrzej Duda tells a news conference he has decided to sign into law two divisive bills that are part of the overhaul of the European Union nation's justice system, in Warsaw. The office of Polish President Andrzej Duda said the leader will on Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2018 announce his decision on whether to sign legislation penalizing certain statements about the Holocaust. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski, file)

Matthias Schrader

Polish president to sign controversial Holocaust bill

FILE- This June 25, 2015 file picture shows Brzezinka or Birkenau nazi death camp near Oswieciem, Poland, when young visitors with Israeli flags walk on railway tracks on the grounds of the former German Nazi death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau. The office of Polish President Andrzej Duda said the leader will on Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2018 announce his decision on whether to sign legislation penalizing certain statements about the Holocaust. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader, file)

SUB

Polish president to sign controversial Holocaust bill

FILE - The file picture taken just after the liberation by the Soviet army in January, 1945, shows a group of children wearing concentration camp uniforms including Martha Weiss who was ten years-old, 6th from right, at the time behind barbed wire fencing in the Oswiecim (Auschwitz) Nazi concentration camp. The office of Polish President Andrzej Duda said the leader will on Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2018 announce his decision on whether to sign legislation penalizing certain statements about the Holocaust. (AP Photo)

Alik Keplicz

Polish president to sign controversial Holocaust bill

Polish President Andrzej Duda announces his decision to sign a legislation penalizing certain statements about the Holocaust, in Warsaw, Poland, Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2018. Duda said that he will also ask the constitutional court to make final ruling on the disputed Holocaust speech bill. (AP Photo/Alik Keplicz)

Alik Keplicz

Polish president to sign controversial Holocaust bill

Alik Keplicz

Polish president to sign controversial Holocaust bill

Alik Keplicz

Polish president to sign controversial Holocaust bill

Posted: Tuesday, February 6, 2018 5:42 am | Updated: 5:46 am, Tue Feb 6, 2018.

Polish president to sign controversial Holocaust bill Associated Press |

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland's president said Tuesday he will sign into law a controversial proposal to outlaw blaming Poland as a nation for crimes committed by Nazi Germany during the Holocaust.

But in an unusual move, President Andrzej Duda also said he will ask the country's constitutional court to evaluate the bill — theoretically opening the way for parliament to amend it.

The law will impose prison terms of up to three years for statements attributing the crimes of Nazi Germany during World War II to the Polish nation.

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has said the law will prevent the Polish people as a whole from being blamed for what the Germans did in occupied Poland, the location of Auschwitz and other Nazi camps.

It has caused a diplomatic crisis with Israel, which fears it will enable Poland to whitewash the role of Poles who killed or denounced Jews during the German occupation of Poland during World War II. The United States also strongly opposed the legislation, saying it could hurt Poland's strategic relations with Israel and the U.S.

It is not clear whether the Constitutional Tribunal will ask for any changes, as it is controlled by Poland's conservative ruling Law and Justice party.