PRAGUE (JTA) — A new Polish political party is fielding candidates for European Parliament elections who have been associated with anti-Semitic positions.
The Euro-skeptical party, whose platform is anti-European integration, plans to run in the June 4-7 elections.
Its candidates include Ryszard Bender, a historian of the Catholic University of Lublin who said in 2000 on the Catholic broadcaster Radio Maryja that Auschwitz was "not a death camp but a labor camp. Jews, Gypsies and others were killed by hard labor, not always that hard, and not always killed."
Also, Anna Sobecka, who is known for her support of Radio Maryja, which has been criticized frequently by rights groups for airing comments by anti-Semitic commentators.
Both Sobecka and Bender are former members of the Polish parliament and belonged to the League of Polish Families, whose members were accused of anti-Semitic ideology.
