In that year he was dismissed following the controversy about his book Dangerous Topics, in which he asserted that the gas chambers at Auschwitz were used only to delouse the prisoners.

[8] Ratajczak's book triggered widespread public criticism[9] and drew protests from numerous sources, including the director of the museum at the former Auschwitz death camp, senator Władysław Bartoszewski,[6] the mainstream Polish academic community and the bishop of Lublin.

[11] In December 1999 the local court in Opole found Ratajczak guilty of breaching the Institute of National Remembrance law that outlawed the denial of crimes against humanity committed by the Nazi or communist regimes in Poland,[2] but that his crime had caused "negligible harm to society", and the court sentenced him to a year's probation.

[4][12] The reason for the low sentence was that Ratajczak's self-published book had only 230 copies and that in the second edition and in his public appearances he criticized the Holocaust denial.

[4] Ratajczak was defended by one of the leaders of the League of Polish Families party, Ryszard Bender, who, during a Radio Maria broadcast, denied that Auschwitz had been a death camp, his denial causing another scandal in Poland.

[16] In 2002 Ratajczak was considered as a candidate of the League of Polish Families for the Opole's voivodeship sejmik, but after his candidature caused controversy he resigned from running for the office.