Fury in Poland over German war drama which 'tries to spread blame for Holocaust' 'Our Mothers, Our Fathers' shows Polish resistance army shunning Jews In one scene, a partisan boasts 'we drown Jews like rats' Polish ambassador writes to producers to express 'shock' at programme ZDF, which made hit series, said there was no intent to offend Poles A German television drama about the Second World War has sparked outrage in Poland for allegedly trying to spread responsibility for the Holocaust. 'Our Mothers, Our Fathers', which follows the lives of five wartime Germans, shows members of Poland's resistance army shunning Jewish members and failing to help others heading for Auschwitz. In one scene, a partisan boasts 'we drown Jews like rats'. Controversial: Drama 'Our Mothers, Our Fathers' follows the lives of five wartime Germans Criticism: The Polish ambassador to Berlin has slammed the depiction of Poles as hostile towards Jews in the programme Changing history? The Polish ambassador said he was 'shocked' by the portrayal of his country's resistance army Yesterday Poland's ambassador to Berlin, Jerzy Marganski, slammed the series in a letter sent to German public television station ZDF, which broadcast the 14 million-euro production. 'The image of Poland and the Polish resistance against the German occupiers as conveyed by this series is perceived by most Poles as extremely unjust and offensive,' Marganski wrote. I, too, am shocked. Among other criticisms, Marganski said viewers learn nothing of the Warsaw uprising, in which up to 200,000 Polish civilians died, nor of the many Poles who helped Jews. He said the programme gave the impression that more people 'were to blame for the destruction of Jews' than just the Germans. Taduesz Filipkowski, spokesman for the International Home Army Association, a veterans' organisation, also criticised the German production. 'We are angry with this film's message,' he told the Daily Telegraph. We believe it to be evil slander and an attempt to justify Nazi crimes by setting them against the alleged anti-Semitism that existed in Poland before the war. Our government should not ignore this attack on our reputation. Producer Nico Hofmann said the depictions of 'the Polish situation.... are based on historically vetted material' and there was no intention to defame the Poles. Despite the criticism, 'Our Mothers, Our Fathers' has proved to be a hit in Germany with as many as seven million viewers tuning into the show. The producer of 'Our Mothers, Our Fathers' said he had been 'historically vetted' and there was no intent to offend Poles The programme has proved to be a hit in Germany drawing as many as seven million viewers Hofmann said one of his goals was to encourage a national debate among the generations 'to speak for the first time about the experience' of the war. He said the third and final episode drew a 20.5 percent market share among viewers aged 14-59 years, which he described as 'extremely high' for ZDF. Many critics have praised the series as a milestone in Germany's troubled reckoning with its past and an overdue examination of individual guilt in the war. But the mixed reactions to the series underscore how, nearly 70 years after the Second World War, the conflict remains a source of bitterness in Europe, even for people born after the fighting ended. Since the series aired, newspapers and online forums have been filled with comments by descendants of the war generation, with many saying their parents rarely, if ever, spoke of their experiences. 'I can imagine that in many families where there are survivors there will be conversations,' said Jens Wehner, a historian at the German Military Museum in Dresden. 'Soon nobody will be left who experienced (the war),' warned Frank Schirrmacher, publisher of the conservative daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. He praised the series 'for the earnestness, the love of detail and the unwillingness to compromise,' which allowed it to have 'what it takes to touch the soul of the country.'