Facebook censors a Polish page for a post criticizing the 1939 invasion

@ElentirENG ES 9·02·2020 · 0:39 1

There have already been many cases of censorship on Facebook against publications accused of advocating Nazism, even if it were not, but the last case is surreal.

KoLiber: In This Way Life, Family, Tradition And Free Market Are Defended in Poland

Facebook punishes KoLiber with a month without being able to publish

The Polish conservative-liberal association KoLiber - among whose activities is to pay tribute to the heroes of the Polish resistance in World War II - has denounced this Tuesday that Facebook has imposed them a punishment of not posting on their page for a month. The association has published on their Twitter account the screenshot of the notification made by Facebook, in which the following is indicated in Polish: "You cannot publish or comment for 30 days. This is because you previously posted content that was not in line with our Community Standards."

The post included a historical photo of the German invasion ...

The photo in question shows German soldiers and border guards from the Free City of Danzig breaking down the border barrier with Poland during the German invasion on September 1, 1939. This is a very famous photo that is often used to symbolize what happened that day. The original publication was made by KoLiber Białystok, and the KoLiber association limited to sharing it on their fan page (a copy can be seen here at archive.ph).

... and a text that denounced the atrocities committed by the invaders

It so happens that the post did not make an apology for Nazism, but quite the opposite: it was to remember the aggression suffered by Poland at the hands of Germany in 1939. "On September 1, 1939, the Germans invaded Poland without a prior declaration of war. The disproportion of force was quite clear," the text says, which also denounces the atrocities committed by the invaders: "The first bombs fell on the All Saints Hospital, which was clearly marked with Red Cross signs. The executions of people became cruel every day, just because they were Polish."

In addition to denouncing the anti-Polish myths spread by the invaders, including the lie of cavalry charges against tanks, the text ended as follows: "Fortunately, Poland managed to rebuild itself and free itself from the totalitarian yoke. Furthermore, you cannot forget about those who fought against the Red and Brown Evil Empire. Let us remember the victims of these two criminal systems."

How much of that post was a violation of Facebook's community rules? What bothers Facebook is the mere publication of a historical photo accompanied by a text that condemned the atrocities of the invaders and asked to remember their victims? Definitely, the censorship system of that social network is nonsense.