In one of the largest anti-Jewish demonstrations in recent times, Polish protesters accuse Washington of putting “Jewish interests” over the interests of Poland. U.S. has no right to interfere in Polish affairs, demonstrators say.
by News Agencies and Israel Hayom Staff
Hundreds of far-right supporters marched in Warsaw on Saturday to protest a U.S. law on the restitution of Jewish property seized during or after World War Two, an issue that has increasingly featured in campaigns for upcoming Polish elections.
Shouting “No to claims!” and “This is Poland, not Polin,” using the Hebrew word for Poland, demonstrators marched from the prime minister’s office to the U.S. Embassy in central Warsaw.
Rafal Pankowski, a sociologist who heads the anti-extremist group Never Again, called the march “probably the biggest openly anti-Jewish street demonstration in Europe in recent years.”
One couple at the protest wore matching T-shirts reading “Death to the enemies of the fatherland,” while another man wore a shirt that read: “I will not apologize for Jedwabne” — a 1941 massacre of Jews by their Polish neighbors under the German occupation.
The protest took place amid a dramatic rise in anti-Semitic hate speech in public life in Poland and it appeared to be one of the largest anti-Jewish street demonstrations in recent times. It also comes as far-right groups are gaining in popularity, pressuring the conservative government to move further to the right.
Protesters said the United States has no right to interfere in Polish affairs and that the U.S. government is putting “Jewish interests” over the interests of Poland.
Poland was home to one of the world’s largest Jewish communities before over 3 million of the country’s 3.2 million Jews were killed in the Holocaust.
Former property owners and their descendants have been campaigning since the fall of communism in 1989 to be compensated for lost property, which was seized by Poland’s authoritarian rulers but successive Polish administrations have lacked the money or determination to resolve the issue.
The nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) government has said that as a victim in World War II, Poland should not be saddled with any financial obligations.
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki repeated that message at an election rally in the northern town of Mlawa on Saturday, state-run news agency PAP reported.
“We will not allow any damages to be paid to anyone because it is us who should get damages,” PAP quoted him as saying.
Poland will hold European parliament elections on May 26. Elections for its own parliament will take place in the autumn.
The Justice for Uncompensated Survivors Today Act, or Act 447, requires the U.S. State Department to provide a report to Congress on the progress of dozens of countries that signed the 2009 Terezin Declaration on the restitution of assets seized during or following World War II.
The declaration also includes provisions to ensure formerly Jewish-owned property with no living heirs are given to Holocaust survivors in need of financial help or go to support education on the subject.
“There is no such law in the world that would sanction [restitution of heirless property], and the Americans want to force us to pay those damages, which are simply illegitimate,” said Adam Jureczek, a driver from the south-western region of Silesia.
Polish far-right supporters have said that the law could result in Jewish organizations demanding as much as $300 billion in compensation, which would ruin Poland’s economy.
Many Poles to this day have a feeling that their suffering has not been adequately acknowledged by the world, while that of Jewish suffering in the Holocaust has, creating what has often been called a “competition of victimhood.”
Those protesting say it is not fair to ask Poland to compensate Jewish victims when Poland has never received adequate compensation from Germany.
Many of the properties of both Jews and non-Jews were destroyed during the war or were looted and later nationalized by the communist regime that followed.
“Why should we have to pay money today when nobody gives us anything?” said 22-year-old Kamil Wencwel. “Americans only think about Jewish and not Polish interests.”
Among those far-right politicians who led the march were Janusz Korwin-Mikke and Grzegorz Braun, who have joined forces in a far-right coalition standing in the elections to the European Parliament later this month. Stopping Jewish restitution claims has been one of their key priorities, along with fighting what they call pro-LGBT “propaganda.” The movement is polling well with young Polish men.
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki echoed the feelings of the protesters at a campaign rally Saturday, saying that it is Poles who deserve compensation.
But Jewish organizations, particularly the World Jewish Restitution Organization, have been seeking compensation for Holocaust survivors and their families, considering compensation a matter of justice for a population that was subjected to genocide.
Poland is the only European Union country that hasn’t passed laws regulating the compensation of looted or national property, and the head of the WJRO, Gideon Taylor, noted Saturday that such property “continues to benefit the Polish economy.”
With pressure building on this issue, the U.S. State Department’s new envoy on anti-Semitism, Elan Carr, was in Warsaw this past week, telling leaders and media that the U.S. is only urging Poland to fulfill a nonbinding commitment it made in 2009 to act on the issue. He also said the U.S. recognizes that Poland was a victim of the war and is not dictating how Warsaw regulates compensation.
The PiS party, which has been ahead in most polls for the European elections, has succeeded in building a broad coalition of conservative-minded voters, but critics have accused it of turning a blind eye to far-right extremism.
Prior to Saturday’s march, two anti-fascist activists wrote to Warsaw’s local government warning of possible anti-Semitic hate speech at the protest, daily Gazeta Wyborcza reported.
Trying to look at the big picture, the Polish people have profited from the Holocaust and the Jews have lost. On this basis, the Jewish people are due compensation. Of course, this is also a financial matter, not a criminal one, and a statute of limitations should apply. The criminal aspects of the Shoah have been settled with the actual criminals, namely, the Germans. Among other things, Israel can boast six Dolphin class, nuclear-capable submarines, with three more on order — all heavily subsidized by the Germans as war reparitions.
I’m not a lawyer. Let the parties fight it out themselves.
@ Margie Smith: Very moving and wise, Margie. I hope that you do find a way of reclaiming some of your heritage, especially authentic Judaica from pre-war Europe.
What you have to say about the Claims Conference confirms my view. Outrageous that they rejected your claimon the grounds that it was that is was past some sort of deadline they proclaimed. But although they have rejected your claim,the Conference is still very much in business for itself, making big bucks for its American Executives and contractors. Numerous cases of embezzlement and fraud by its executives have been exposed.
I am the daughter of a Survivor. We were also refugees from Hungary, Transylvania.
We were not aware of the Claims Conference till after my Abba passed away.
By then they were not compensating anything.
The deadline was over.
I would love to get some real Judeaica originating from Eastern Europe. All i have is cheap Menorahs & Chanukias & Kidush cups.
I know there are many authentic items in Museums & the Dohani Synagogue in Budapest. Is there any way i could have a piece of my history that was ripped away from me? They are sitting there doing nothing.
I have chosen to support Israeli & Zionist causes with my money, rather than buy back my inheritance. We will never get back the property or relatives that were lost, but every Chag & Shabbat i feel for the loss of my history.
Obviously I condemn the antisemitic slogans allegedly shouted by the demonstrators and the antisemitic T-shirts allegedly worn by some of them (only two are mentioned). However, it is a bit unclear who is the source of these reports of antisemitic behavior on the march, or how many of the demonstrators participated in them. Not clear even that the ananymous authors of the report are Polish speaking.
I am inclined to agree with the English language sign carried by the demonstrators in the photo. It says only that “heirless property” should be given away, not property for which there are heirs. I am inclined to support this, because heirless property tends to end up in the hands of an organization called the Claims Commission, which has been riddled with corruption for years–I believe since it was founded shortly after WWII. Much of this unclaimed property has wound up in the hands of the Claims Conference executives, and various organizations that sponsor “educational programs” and films about the Holocaust. The Polish shouldn’t have to pay these people, who are not victims.
The Israeli government and many Jewish organizations have badly mishandled their relationship with Poland, by falsely blaming Poland for the Holocaust. Israelis and American Jews have been insensitive to the fact that the Poles also suffered badly from the German occupation during World War II. 1.9 non-Jewish Poles are reasonably estimated to have been killed by the Germans.
UNfairly blaming Poles for the Holocaust in Poland has given enormous impetus to the anti-Semites in Poland and enabled them to make new recruits. It places the Polish Jewish community in present-day Poland in jeopardy. Also, the many Israeli expatriates who are living there. And it has wrecked Israeli plans to coordinate actions with Poland against Iran. Poland had earlier agreed to this, but pulled out of the agreement after first Netanyahu made untoward remarks about alleged Polish collaboration with the nazis during the Holocaust (while in Poland for an international conference), and then the jerk whom he appointed foreign minister saying Poles absorb antisemitism with their mother’s milk. Netanyahu then refused to fire this guy (last name Katz) or dissassociate himself from Katz’s offensive remark. How dumber can you get? The budding Israeli-Polish alliance was nipped in the bud.
Its time Israelis stopped refighting World War II, and turned their attention to fighting the present-day enemies of the Jews. The Europeans of today should not be made to feel guilty for the sins of their forefathers. And the restitution that Jews have received from Germany, and that some are continuing to receive (somewhere over $12 billion) should be accepted as adequate. Time to move on.
I’m owed a hotel in Prezmysl, now apparently owned and used as a branch by an insurance company. We visited the premises in September of 2018.