Ryszard Bender

In January 2000, Bender took part in a show on Radio Maryja — an antisemitic radio station — to defend Dariusz Ratajczak, a Polish historian, who was convicted of the denial of Holocaust for arguing that the Auschwitz Gas Chambers were meant to disinfect the Jews than to kill them among other things.[2][4] Speaking on the occasion, Bender characterized Auschwitz as "not a death camp [but] a labour camp" where the "labour was not always hard"; he claimed that the Jews were not only well-fed but also occupied significant positions in the camp administration.[2][5] He concluded that the "Jewish lobby" was persecuting Ratajczak.[6]

The remarks attracted immediate ire from various quarters including Catholic Bishops who demanded an unconditional apology, his university which initiated disciplinary proceedings, and survivors of concentration camps; in what was a "national scandal", he was accused of engaging in antisemitism and Holocaust denial.[2][7][8] Legal proceedings were initiated at a court in Torun but the case was dismissed.[8] In response, Bender complained about the legal provisions on Holocaust denial being weaponized by fundamentalist Jews to appropriate the Auschwitz only for their own; he also cited the sacrosanctity of academic freedom.[3] A decade later, Bender claimed that his remarks were taken out of context.[2]

Brian Porter-Szucs, a historian of Polish nationalism at University of Michigan, notes that Bender advocated an ahistorical about view about how the Nazis did not intend to particularly target the Jews but rather assault Poland and God.[9]

While campaigning for the 2001 elections, Bender denied Polish culpability in the Jedwabne pogrom.[8]