A Polish historian who said the country’s Nazi invasion was initially not so bad for Jews received a medal from the Polish Minister of National Education “for special merits for education.”

The minister, Anna Zalewska, presented Tomasz Panfil with the honor at a ceremony in Warsaw earlier this month.

Panfil, who is responsible for education at the Institute of National Remembrance in Lublin, earlier this month wrote an article in which he stated that “after the aggression of Germany into Poland, the situation of the Jews did not look very bad.”

“Although the [Nazi] occupation authorities took over, they ordered the wearing of armbands with the star of David, charged them heavy taxes, began to designate Jews-only zones only for the Jews,” he wrote, “but at the same time permitted the creation of Judenrat, that is, organs of self-government.” ...