(JTA) — Poland’s president President Andrzej Duda met with local and national Jewish leaders at the Jewish Community Center in Krakow on Tuesday in an effort to stave off a crisis with the Jewish community over the controversial Holocaust law which criminalizes claims that the Polish nation or state are responsible for Nazi crimes. Violators could face up to three years in prison though government officials say prosecution under the law is unlikely.
The Polish-language newspaper Gazeta Wyborca quoted Duda as saying, “I would not call it a crisis, just a cry which I hope will be quickly resolved.” He also said, "There have been dramatic interpretations. There were people among Poles who denounced Jews among Poles, but not the entire Polish nation. All simplifications are very painful.” Duda expressed hope that results of the Constitutional Tribunal's examination of the law "would help settle the dispute.”