Polish MEP Grzegorz Braun charged with denying Nazi gas chambers at Auschwitz

Questioning in Kraków

Polish Member of the European Parliament and leader of the Confederation of the Polish Crown Grzegorz Braun appeared at the Kraków branch of the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) on 25 August 2026. IPN spokesperson Rafał Kościański confirmed that the prosecutor of the Branch Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation summoned Braun as a suspect under Article 313 of the Code of Penal Procedure. Following procedural questioning that started at 11:00, prosecutors formally charged Braun with publicly denying Nazi crimes contrary to historical facts. The offense falls under Article 55 of the Act on the Institute of National Remembrance, which penalizes public denial of Nazi, communist, and other crimes against humanity or war crimes with a fine or imprisonment up to three years. Braun did not plead guilty to the accusation, though he acknowledged that he had delivered the statements in question.

The July 2025 radio interview

The prosecution centers on statements Braun delivered in July 2025 during an interview broadcast on Radio Wnet, where he asserted that Auschwitz with gas chambers was fake and claimed that anyone discussing the matter would face harsh public condemnation. The programme host cut off the live conversation immediately after the remark. On 14 July 2025, the Kraków Branch Commission opened a formal criminal inquiry into the public denial of genocide committed by Germans in the KL Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and extermination camp. The investigation followed formal notifications filed by The Left member of parliament Anna-Maria Żukowska, Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum director Piotr M. A. Cywiński, and Basta Foundation president Bartosz Staszewski. Investigators also incorporated case materials transferred from the Warsaw Śródmieście-Północ district prosecutor office.

Demonstrations outside IPN headquarters

Ahead of the 11:00 session, supporters of Braun and the Confederation of the Polish Crown staged a picket outside the IPN building in Kraków. Demonstrators sang the Polish national anthem as well as two traditional hymns, "Pod Twą obronę" and "Kiedy ranne wstają zorze". Braun used the appearance to promote party colleague Michał Klimek, a candidate running in Kraków's early mayoral election. Klimek addressed the gathering, stating that the prosecution represented an attempt to suppress freedom of expression. Defense lawyer Jacek Wilk, a former Kukiz'15 lawmaker affiliated with political groups led by Janusz Korwin-Mikke, questioned the legal justification of the charges prior to entering the building.

There is no statement by the MP in which he denies these crimes. Of course we know the context, this is about the discussion on the gas chamber in Oświęcim, but this is from beginning to end a discussion, a scientific dispute about facts, methodology, research. Therefore, we are curious about the justification for the charges.

Sequence of legal measures

The charges follow a series of institutional and judicial responses to Braun's public statements on wartime atrocities. In July 2025, the IPN College issued a formal condemnation of his assertions regarding the camp. By September 2025, the IPN branch in Kraków forwarded a formal request to waive the politician's European parliamentary immunity, citing his remarks in Jedwabne on 10 July and comments made on 14 July during a broadcast hosted by Jan Pospieszalski. In February 2026, Poland's minister of justice and prosecutor general submitted another immunity waiver request to the President of the European Parliament covering additional statements from September 2025 that denied crimes at Auschwitz-Birkenau and Majdanek. In June 2026, the Kraków Court of Appeals issued a binding civil verdict that prohibited Braun from disseminating statements violating the reputation and image of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum.