Racism in Poland has been a subject of extensive studies.Ethnic minorities historically made up a substantial proportion of Poland's population, from the founding of thePolish state through theSecond Polish Republic, than they did after World War II when government statistics showed that at least 94% of the population self-reported asethnic Poles.[1][2]
As per theOSCEOffice for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), hate crimes recorded by thePolice of Poland dropped between 2018 and 2020, but rose steadily until 2022, reaching a level higher than 2018 (table below). Of the 440prosecuted hate crimes, 268 (61%) were racist andxenophobic hate crimes, seconded by 87 (20%) anti-Semitic hate crimes, while only 6% were "anti-Muslim" hate crimes (25).[3][4]
| Year | Hate crimes recorded bypolice | Prosecuted | Sentenced |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 1,180 | 440 | 312 |
| 2021 | 997 | 466 | 339 |
| 2020 | 826 | 374 | 266 |
| 2019 | 972 | 432 | 597 |
| 2018 | 1,117 | 397 | 315 |
KingCasimir III the Great brought Jews to Poland during theBlack Death when Jewish communities werepersecuted and expelled from several European kingdoms. With better living conditions, 80% of world Jewry lived in Poland by the mid-16th century.[5][6] During the 15th century in the royal capital ofKraków, extremist clergymen advocated violence against the Jews, who gradually lost their positions. In 1469, Jews were expelled from their old settlement and forced to move to Spiglarska Street. In 1485, Jewish elders were forced to renounce trade in Kraków, leading many Jews to leave forKazimierz which did not fall under the restrictions due to its status as a royal town. Following the 1494 fire in Kraków, a wave of anti-Jewish attacks occurred. KingJohn I Albert forced the remaining Jews of Kraków to move to Kazimierz.[7] Starting in 1527, Jews were no longer admitted into the city walls of Warsaw (generally speaking, temporary stays were possible in theroyal palace). Only thePraga suburb was open to them.[8]: 334
TheCouncil of Four Lands created in 1581 was a Jewish diet[clarification needed] presided over by community elders from each major part of Poland, while another governing body was established in Lithuania in 1623. Jewish communities were usually protected by theszlachta (nobles) in exchange for managing the nobles' domains.[8]: 358 InCongress Poland, Jews gained civic rights with the ukase (edict) of 5 June 1862, two years beforeserfdom was abolished. 35 years later, the 1.4 million Polish Jews represented 14% of whom within the Russian-administered partition, which includedWarsaw andŁódź.[9]: 478–480
In theSecond Polish Republic, the Polish government excluded Jews from receiving government bank credits, from public sector employment (in 1931, only 599 of 87,640 public servants were Jewish—in the fields oftelephony, railroads, administration and justice[9]: 483 ), and from obtaining business licenses in government-controlled spheres of the economy. From the 1930s, limits were placed on Jewish enrollment in universities, admission to the medical and legal professions, on Jewish shops, Jewish export firms,Shechita, membership in business associations etc. 25% of students were Jews in 1921-22, the proportion had dropped to 8% by 1939, while the far-rightNational Democracy (Endecja) party organized anti-Jewish boycotts.
Following the death ofPoland's prime ministerJózef Piłsudski in 1935, theEndecja intensified its efforts and declared in 1937 that its "main aim and duty must be to remove the Jews from all spheres of social, economic, and cultural life in Poland", which lead to violence in a few cases (pogroms in smaller towns). In response, the government organized theCamp of National Unity (OZON) to take over the Polish parliament in 1938, which went on to draft anti-Jewish legislations similar to those inNazi Germany,Hungary,Romania etc. The OZON advocated the mass emigration of Jews from Poland, boycotts of Jews,numerus clausus and further restrictions on Jewish rights.[10] According toTimothy Snyder, in the years leading up toWorld War II the Polish leadership
wanted to be rid of most Polish Jews [...but] in simple logistical terms the idea [...] seemed to make no sense. How could Poland arrange a deportation of millions of Jews while the country was mobilized for war? Should the tens of thousands of Jewish officers and soldiers be pulled from the ranks of the Polish army?"[11]
During WWII, notable antisemitic incidents in Poland included the 1941Jedwabne pogrom underbrutal Nazi occupation[12] andbrief postwar anti-Jewish violence, attributed by historians to lawlessness andanti-communist resistance against theSoviet occupation[13] with which theŻydokomuna (Jewish communism) label was associated.[14][15] Another major event took place during the1968 Polish political crisis.[16]Jews in Poland made up 10% of the country's population in 1939, who were all but eradicated inthe Holocaust.[17] In thePolish census of 2011, merely 7,353 people declared either their primary or secondary ethnicity as Jewish.[citation needed] In 2017, theUniversity of Warsaw's Center for Research on Prejudice found an increase in antisemitic views in Poland, possibly due to growing anti-migrant sentiment and allegedIslamophobia in Poland.[18] Later that year, theEuropean Jewish Congress accused the Polish government of "normalizing" the phenomenon in the country.[19]
In 2022, the American civil rights groupAnti-Defamation League (ADL) conducted a global survey on antisemitism. It found that 35% of Poland's people "harbour[ed] antisemitic attitudes", the second highest among the 10 European countries surveyed. Notably, the percentage was significantly lower than the previous ADL survey.[20] Whereas, theCzulent Jewish Association, a Polish Jewish group,[21] reported in 2023 that 488 antisemitic incidents had been recorded in 2022, 86% of which involvedonline harassment and insults. It noted that "Jew" was often used to smear a perceived enemy as "disloyal, an outsider and unpatriotic."[22] Comments peddlingantisemitic tropes andblaming all Jews for theGaza war are also reportedly common in Reddit'ssubredditr/Poland, subject to no apparent administrative interventions despite blatant violations.[23]
In June 2023,Polish-Canadian historianJan Grabowski held a seminar on Poland's history of antisemitism inWarsaw. Far-right MPGrzegorz Braun and his backers forced its cancellation by smashing Grabowski'smicrophone.[24] During the 2023Hanukkah, the same MP put out amenorah with afire extinguisher in thePolish parliament.[25] He was expelled by the parliament and charged with hate crimes.[25] His behavior caused a global uproar,[26] while being praised by a pro-Palestinian multitude in Reddit's subredditr/Poland.[23] Nevertheless, Grzegorz Braun was elected to theEuropean Parliament inJune 2024.[27]
On 1 May 2024, theNożyk Synagogue inWarsaw was hit with three firebombs by a 16-year old.Poland's PresidentAndrzej Duda condemned the firebombing, "There is no place for antisemitism in Poland! There is no place for hatred in Poland!" It happened amid a global spike in antisemitic hate crimes from the Gaza War.[28]
![[icon]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aWiki_letter_w_cropped.svg) | This sectionneeds expansion with: History of the Roma in Poland, history of their social discrimination, history of their forced settlement after WW2, modern-day issues with integration.. You can help byadding missing informationadding missing information ormaking an edit request.(July 2024) |
In June 1991, theMława riot, a series of violent incidents against Polska Roma, broke out after a Romani teenager drove into three ethnic Poles in a crosswalk, killing one Polish man and permanently injuring another, before fleeing the scene of the accident.[29] After the accident, a rioting mob attacked wealthy Romani settlements in the Polish town ofMława. Both the Mława police chief[30] and University of Warsaw sociology researchers[29] said that the pogrom was primarily due to class envy (some Romani have grown wealthy in the gold and automobile trades). At the time, the mayor of the town, as well as the Romani involved and other residents, said the incident was primarily racially motivated.[30]
During coverage of the riot, an emerging change in stereotypes about Roma in Poland was identified. Roma were no longer poor, dirty, or cheerful, and did not beg or pretend to be lowly anymore. Instead, they were seen as owning high-end cars, living in fancy mansions, flaunting their wealth while bragging that local authorities and police are on their payroll, leaving them unafraid of anyone. At the same time, they were seen as swindlers, thieves, hustlers, and military service dodgers who refused to hold down legal, decent jobs.[31] Negative "metastereotypes" – or the Romas' own perceptions of stereotypes that dominant groups hold about their group – were described by the Polish Roma Society in an attempt to heighten the awareness of and dialogue aroundexclusionism.[32][better source needed]
| This sectionneeds expansion with: Expand by adding the history of anti-Ukrainian policies, including pogroms and religious persecution, e.g., based onMassacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia#Polish policy towards Ukrainian minority. You can help byadding missing informationadding missing information ormaking an edit request.(July 2024) |
During the second half of the last millennium, Poland experienced significant periods when its feudal economy was dominated byserfdom. Many serfs were treated in disdainful fashion by the nobility (szlachta) and had few rights. While many serfs were ethnic, Catholic Poles, many others were OrthodoxRuthenians, later self-identifying as Ukrainians and Belarusians. Some scholars described the attitudes of the (mostly Polish) nobility towards serfs as a form of racism.[33] In modern Poland, where Ukrainians form a significant minority of migrant workers, they are subject to occasional racism in everyday life.[34][35][better source needed]
The most common word inPolish for ablack person has traditionally been"Murzyn". It is often regarded as a neutral word to describe a person of black (Sub-Saharan African) ancestry, but nowadays manyAfricans in Poland consider itpejorative, with dictionaries reflecting this. Professor Marek Łaziński has said that "Murzyn" is now "archaic".[36][37] Perceptions of black people have also been shaped by literature.Henryk Sienkiewicz’s novelIn Desert and Wilderness contains the famous characterKali, who speaks broken English and has dubious morality. In 1924, poetJulian Tuwim published a children's verse, "Murzynek Bambo" ("The little Murzyn Bambo"), which remained much-loved over the following half-century, but in the 21st century became criticised for "othering" black people. In Communist Poland,Uncle Tom's Cabin, byHarriet Beecher Stowe was translated quite freely and targeted at children because it was seen as anti-capitalist and anti-slavery, but now is seen as reinforcing various black stereotypes.[37]
One high-profile event with regard to blacks in Poland was the death ofMaxwell Itoya in 2010, aNigerian street vendor from a mixed marriage who was sellingcounterfeit goods.[38] He was shot in the upper leg by a police officer during a street brawl that followed a screening check at a market inWarsaw, and died of a severed artery.[39] The event led to a media debate regarding policing and racism.[40][better source needed] InStrzelce Opolskie, black football players from the LZS Piotrówka club were attacked in a bar by fans of opposing teamOdra Opole in 2015 and two young men were arrested.[41] At least six were sentenced.[42] In aŁódźdance club, a black student was attacked in a men's washroom.[43][44]
Though Poles have generally constituted a majority of Poland's population, there were times, particularly during thepartitions of Poland (mid-18th century to 1918), when most Polish territories were under control of other nations, and Poles, effectively minorities in the nationalisticGerman Empire andRussian Empire, weresubject to discrimination and racism.[45][46]
Racist publications about Poles appeared as early as the 18th century and were imbued withMedieval ethnic stereotypes and racist overtones in order to justify German rule over Polish territories.[47] Authors such as Georg Forster wrote that Poles were "cattle in human form".[48] When part of Poland was under German rule, the Poles were subject to racist policies. These policies gained popularity among German nationalists, some of whom belonged to theVölkisch movement, resulting in theexpulsion of Poles by Germany. This was fueled byAnti-Polish sentiment, especially during theage of partitions in the 18th century.[49][50][51] The Kulturkampf campaign led byOtto von Bismarck resulted in a legacy of anti-Polish racism; the Polish population experienced oppression and exploitation at the hands of Germans.[52] The racist ideas of the Prussian state directed against Polish people were adopted by German social scientists, led in part byMax Weber.[53]
During World War II Poland wasoccupied by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union and Polish people were harshly discriminated against in their own country. In directive No. 1306, issued byReich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda on 24 October 1939, the concept ofuntermenschen (subhuman) is cited in reference to Polish ethnicity and culture:
It must become clear to everybody in Germany, even to the last milkmaid, that Polishness is equal to subhumanity. Poles, Jews and Gypsies are on the same inferior level. This must be clearly outlined [...] until every citizen of Germany has it encoded in his subconsciousness that every Pole, whether a farm worker or intellectual, should be treated like vermin".[54][55]
Most Nazis considered the Poles, like the majority of otherSlavs, to benon-Aryan and non-European "masses from the East" which should be either totally annihilated along with theJews andGypsies, or entirelyexpelled from the European continent.[56] Poles were the victims ofNazi crimes against humanity and some of the mainnon-Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Approximately 2.7 million ethnic Poles were murdered or killed duringWorld War II.[57]
Nazi policy towards ethnically Polish people eventually became the genocide and destruction of the entire Polish nation, as well ascultural genocide[58][59] which involvedGermanisation and the suppression or murder of the religious, cultural, intellectual, and political leadership.
On March 15, 1940, Heinrich Himmler stated that "All Polish specialists will be exploited in our military-industrial complex. Later, all Poles will disappear from this world. It is imperative that the great German nation considers the elimination of all Polish people as its chief task."[60] The goal of the policy was to prevent effective Polish resistance and to exploit Polish people as slave laborers,[61] foreseeing the extermination of Poles as a nation.[62] Polishslaves in Nazi Germany were forced to wear identifying red tags with the letter P sewn to their clothing. Sexual relations with Germans (rassenschande or "racial defilement") were punishable by death. During the war, many Polish men were executed for their relations with German women.[63][64]
Maintain the purity of German blood! That applies to both men and women! Just as it is considered the greatest disgrace to become involved with a Jew, any German engaging in intimate relations with a Polish male or female is guilty of sinful behavior. Despise the bestial urges of this race! Be racially conscious and protect your children. Otherwise you will forfeit your greatest asset: your honor![65]
In 1942, racial discrimination became Nazi policy with theDecree on Penal Law for Poles and Jews.[66]: 3 [67]
During the post-war Trials of Nazis it was stated during Trial of Ulrich Freifelt that:
The methods applied by the Nazis in Poland and other occupied territories, including once more Alsace and Lorraine, were of a similar nature with the sole difference that they were more ruthless and wider in scope than in 1914-1918. In this connection the policy of " Germanizing " the populations concerned, as shown by the evidence in the trial under review, consisted partly in forcibly denationalising given classes or groups of the local population, such as Poles, Alsace-Lorrainers, Slovenes and others eligible for Germanization under the German People’s List. As a result in these cases the programme of genocide was being achieved through acts which, in themselves, constitute war crimes.
— Law Reports of the Trials of War Criminals. United Nations War Crimes Commission. Vol. XIII. London: HMSO, 1949 Trial of Ulrich Greifelt and Others, United States Military Tribunal, Nuremberg, 10 October 1947 – 10 March 1948, Part IV
Likewise, during World War II around 120,000 Polish people, mostly women and children, became the primary victims ofethnic cleansing by theUkrainian Insurgent Army, which was then operating in the territory ofoccupied Poland.[68]
An analysis based on theEuropean Values Survey (EVS), which took place in 2008, compares Poland to other European nations. Poland had very high levels ofpolitical tolerance (lack of extremist political attitudes), relatively high levels ofethnic tolerance (based on attitudes towardsMuslims, immigrants, Romas, and Jews) and at the same time low levels ofpersonal tolerance (based on attitudes towards people considered "deviant" or "threatening"). From 1998 to 2008, there was a marked increase inpolitical andethnic tolerance, but a decrease inpersonal tolerance.[69]
In 1990, due partly to the political euphoria accompanying the fall ofcommunism, Poland was the most tolerant nation inCentral Europe. However, over the course of the '90s, the level of tolerance decreased. By 1999, EVS recorded Poland as having one of the highest rates of xenophobia in Europe, while antisemitism also increased during this time. The factors behind these decreases in tolerance and the radicalization in attitudes towards other ethnic groups during this time likely included the country's economic problems associated with a costly transition from Communism (for example, high unemployment), ineffectual government and possibly an increase in immigration from outside.[69]
These attitudes began to change after 2000, possibly due to Poland's entry into the European Union, increased travel abroad and more frequent encounters with people of other races. By 2008, the EVS showed Poland as one of the least xenophobic countries in Central and Eastern Europe. The negative attitudes towards Jews have likewise returned to their lower 1990s level, although they do remain somewhat above the European average.[69] During the same time period,ethnic tolerance andpolitical tolerance increased in Southern Europe (Spain, Greece) and decreased in other parts of Northern Europe (Netherlands).[69]
While the Roma group was listed as the most rejected, the level of exclusion was still lower than elsewhere in Europe, most likely due to the long history of Roma (seePolska Roma) and their relatively low numbers in the country.[69]
In a 2012 survey conducted by the Center for Research on Prejudice at theUniversity of Warsaw, it was found that 78.5% of participants disagreed with traditional antisemitic statements (e.g. "Jews are responsible for the death of Jesus Christ"), but 52.9% agreed with secondary antisemitic statements (e.g. "Jews spread the stereotype of Polish anti-Semitism"), and 64.6% believed in a "Jewish conspiracy" (e.g. "Jews would like to rule the world").[70] The authors noted that "belief in [a] Jewish conspiracy proved to be the strongest significant predictor of discriminatory intentions towards Jews in all fields. Traditional anti-Semitism predicted social distance towards Jews, while it did not predict any of the other discriminatory intentions. Secondary anti-Semitism failed to predict any form of discriminatory intentions against Jews."[70]
In theADL Global 100 survey conducted in 2013–2014, 57% of respondents said that "it is probably true" that "Jews have too much power in the business world"; 55% that "Jews have too much power in international financial markets"; 42% that "Jews have too much control over global affairs"; and 33% that "people hate Jews because of the way Jews behave".[71]
In theFRA 2018 Experiences and perceptions of antisemitism/Second survey on discrimination and hate crime against Jews in the EU, antisemitism in Poland was identified as a "fairly big" or "very big" problem by 85% of respondents (placing Poland at the fourth place after France, Germany and Belgium); 61% reported that antisemitism had increased "a lot" in the past five years (second place after France, and before Belgium and Germany); 74% reported that intolerance towards Muslims had increased "a lot" (second place after Hungary, and before Austria and the UK); and 89% reported an increase in expressions of antisemitism online (second place after France, and before Italy and Belgium). The most commonly heard antisemitic statements were "Jews have too much power in Poland" (70%) and "Jews exploit Holocaust victimhood for their own purposes" (67%).[72]
A 2022 study by European Agency for Fundamental Rights (EU FRA) found that Black people or people of African descent were least likely to experience discrimination in Poland among 13 EU states that took part in the survey. In the survey responses analyzed by the agency, 21% of respondents stated they had faced discrimination in Poland in the past five years. For comparison, 77% stated they had experienced discrimination in Germany, 44% in Italy and 27% in Sweden and Portugal, the two countries with lowest discrimination after Poland.[73][74] Poland also had the highest proportion of responders (81%) who stated that when stopped by police in Poland the police officers were "very" or "fairly" respectful.[73]
In 2004, the government took some initiatives in order to tackle the problem of racism. It adopted the "National Programme to Prevent Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance 2004-2009" ("Krajowy Program Przeciwdziałania Dyskryminacji Rasowej, Ksenofobii i Związanej z Nimi Nietolerancji 2004 – 2009")[75] and also established the Monitoring Team on Racism and Xenophobia within theMinistry of Interior and Administration. The Implementation Report (2010)[76] stated that the programme suffered from various obstacles, including lacking and unclear funding, and eventually some planned tasks were completed, while others were not.[77] In 2013 Polish Prime MinisterDonald Tusk started The Council Against Racial Discrimination and Xenophobia, but it was shut down by the newLaw and Justice government in May 2016.[78]
The police records represent the number of proceedings initiated by police for hate crimes cases in 2022, including proceedings that were later discontinued owing to a lack of evidence.
{{cite book}}:|work= ignored (help)Here anti-communism merged with antisemitism as concepts such as Polishżydokomuna (Judaeo-Communism) suggest.
In 1968, the Polish Communist party declared thousands of Jews enemies of the state and forced them to leave Poland. Fifty years later, historians and witnesses warn of a revival of Polish anti-Semitism.
The Polish TV series 'End of Innocence,' about the communist government's brutal clampdown on 'Zionists' in March 1968, explores a rarely discussed tragedy for thousands of Jews – as told by a writer-director who lived through it
The estimates of Jewish survivors in Poland,.;also inLukas (2012) [1986].The Forgotten Holocaust: Poles Under Nazi Occupation 1939-1944. New York:University of Kentucky Press/Hippocrene Books.ISBN 978-0-7818-0901-6.
Separately, the ADL also asked directly if people have a favourable or unfavourable opinion of Jews. In Poland, 64% said they had a favourable view, while 19% admitted to the opposite. That latter figure was the highest among all countries surveyed [...] When presented with theantisemitic stereotypes, 62% of people in Poland said it was "probably true" that Jews aremore loyal to Israel than their own country, 57% that theytalk too much about [...] the Holocaust, and 53% that they havetoo much power in the business world and financial markets.
A Jewish association counted 488 antisemitic incidents in Poland in 2022, a number that the report's author said just scratches the surface.
86% of incidents involvedonline harassment and insults, while the word "Jew" is frequently used online to label an "enemy" as "disloyal, an outsider and unpatriotic."
First survey of its kind counts 488 anti-Jewish acts in Poland in 2022, more than 4 times the total cited by the European Union the previous year [...] "There is not a Polish politician who hasn't been called a Jew," [the report's lead author Anna] Zielińska told theJewish Telegraphic Agency. Czulent's 2022 report detailed one violent act that resulted in injury, four additional violent attacks, 20 threats, 34 instances of damage to Jewish property and memorial sites, 68 cases of antisemitic mass mailings and 372 instances of "abusive" behavior.
Event was intended to address efforts by Polish leaders to suppress uncomfortable truths about the history of antisemitism in the country before and during the Holocaust.
A Polish radical right-wing MP's violent disturbance at a lecture on the Holocaust at the German Historical Institute in Warsaw prevented a renowned historian and researcher from speaking.
Grzegorz Braun expelled from Polish parliament after furious reaction from politicians
Grzegorz Braun, far-right Polish lawmaker fromConfederation party, walks after using a fire extinguisher to put out Hanukah candles at the parliament in Warsaw.
Grzegorz Braun indicted for insulting people on religious grounds; disrupting Jewish community event, lawmaker described holiday as 'satanic,' said he was restoring 'normality'
Grzegorz Braun gained notoriety last December for extinguishing a Hanukkah menorah in the Polish parliament with a fire extinguisher, labeling Judaism as a "cult of the Talmud and Satan."
Since theHamas terrorist attacks on Oct. 7 in southern Israel, the Confederation Party has intensified its anti-Israel and antisemitic rhetoric,accusing the Jewish state ofgenocide and calling for theexpulsion of theIsraeli envoy.
Another 'bad boy' to win a seat in the European Parliament for the far-right Confederation party is Grzegorz Braun, an openly anti-Semitic, Islamophobic and anti-EU politician who gained international attention last December when he used a fire extinguisher to blow out Hanukkah candles in the Polish parliament.
Okazuje się, że ów metastereotyp – rodzaj wyobrażenia Romów o tym, jak są postrzegani przez "obcych" – jest wizerunkiem nasyconym prawie wyłącznie cechami negatywnymi.
W tym roku miał dostać polski paszport.
{{cite book}}:|journal= ignored (help)Anti-Polish racism remained a lasting legacy of the Kulturkampf because it proved essential to the political economy of German agriculture.Anti-Polish racism both reflected and supported the existence of an especially disempowered Polish rural proletariat, subject to oppression and exploitation by German landlords.
Guided by Max Weber, German social scientists adopted the anti-Polish racism of the Prussian state, developing a cultural-racial economics of control that Schmoller and others used to assist German colonial control in Africa. (p. 185)
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