Podcast statements on the 1939 invasion
American commentator Tucker Carlson faced diplomatic criticism following remarks made during a podcast conversation with former British cabinet minister Jacob Rees-Mogg, released on 2 October 2026. During the broadcast, Carlson argued that Adolf Hitler's decision to invade Poland in September 1939 had legitimate justification, citing German claims that 15% of Poland was previously German territory transferred under the Treaty of Versailles. Carlson maintained that Hitler's territorial arguments were factual, questioned British intervention on behalf of Poland, and stated that London sacrificed its empire for a conflict that offered no national benefit. Rees-Mogg rejected the assertion during the discussion, characterizing Britain's participation as a necessary struggle against tyranny and noting that Prussia had previously participated in partitions of Poland.
- Tucker Carlson releases podcast episode with former British minister Jacob Rees-Mogg
- Polish Embassy in Washington publishes open letter demanding public retraction and apology
- US Ambassador Tom Rose, Polish parliamentarians, and IPN issue formal condemnations
Diplomatic response from Washington and Warsaw
The comments prompted responses from diplomatic missions in both capitals. On 5 October 2026, Bogdan Klich, Chargé d'Affaires of the Polish Embassy in Washington, published an open letter addressed to Carlson on social media. Klich stated that Carlson had acted as an apologist for Adolf Hitler, accused him of distorting documented history, and demanded an immediate public retraction and apology. Klich stated that justifying the 1939 invasion insults the millions of victims of National Socialism, including hundreds of thousands of American soldiers killed or wounded during the liberation of Europe.
Nazi propaganda cannot be rehabilitated under the guise of freedom of speech, and freedom of speech should not be used to desecrate the memory of the victims of the Second World War.
Condemnation from the United States ambassador
On 6 October 2026, US Ambassador to Poland Tom Rose published a statement on X condemning Carlson's interpretation of World War II. Rose described Carlson as a dangerous demagogue who seeks to erase moral distinctions by turning aggressors into victims and democracies into villains. Polish Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Radosław Sikorski thanked Rose publicly for the statement.
Rewriting history in such a way as to present Nazi Germany as a victim, and Poland, the nation Hitler invaded, occupied, terrorized, and sought to destroy, as the criminal, is a deliberate destruction of moral truth and a grotesque insult to a nation that paid a price in blood unmatched in the annals of human crimes.
Polish political and institutional reaction
Poland's Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) issued an official statement on 6 October 2026 outlining that Poland was the victim of unprovoked aggression by both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. IPN pointed out that prior to attacking Poland on 1 September 1939, Germany had annexed Austria and partitioned Czechoslovakia, followed by the signing of the secret Molotov-Ribbentrop protocol on 23 August 1939 dividing Polish territory. In the Polish parliament, Sejm Marshal Włodzimierz Czarzasty rejected historical revisionism during a Tuesday press briefing. Lawmakers from multiple parliamentary groups, including Adrian Witczak of Civic Coalition and Adam Luboński of Polska 2050, criticized Carlson during national broadcast debates, referencing his February 2024 interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin and his 2021 interview with former Polish President Andrzej Duda.