“This is Poland, not Ukraine!”, “Ukrainian is not my brother”, “Stop the Ukrainization of Poland”, “This is not our war” – these are just some of the slogans that have been launched into central Warsaw on Poland’s national day on November 11. On this day in 1918, an independent Polish state was proclaimed after 123 years of occupation of the country by Prussia, Russia and Austria. Every year, on the occasion of the holiday, nationalist processions are held throughout Poland, and this year’s “Independence March” was held under the motto “Strong nation – great Poland”, they write from “Mother well“.
According to the organizers of the procession, 100 thousand people took part in it this year
– 50 thousand less than in 2021. Anti-Ukrainian slogans and frankly vulgar insults against the LGBTI community sounded. Chanting “Nationalism is our way”, protesters burned EU and rainbow flags.
There were anti-Ukrainian calls not only at the nationalist march in Warsaw.
In Wroclaw, the demonstration was officially held under the title “In Poland the Pole is the master”, and unofficially launched as an “anti-Ukrainian march”. One of the organizers was Jacek Midlar, a former pastor convicted of racist appeals, who likened Ukraine to a rabid dog and called for the expulsion of all Ukrainians from Poland. However, he failed to join the nationalist procession. The police arrested him on his way to the demonstration, as he posed a threat to public order.
A scapegoat for Poland’s problems
Since the start of Russia’s war against Ukraine, Poland has taken in 1.4 million Ukrainian refugees. At the same time as the great solidarity with these people, however, anti-Ukrainian sentiments are also growing, which is not surprising to Konrad Dulkovsky. The head of the non-governmental organization “Center for Monitoring Racism and Xenophobia” in Warsaw spoke of the “political exploitation” of refugees who fled to Poland.
“In troubled times, when prices soar and many people feel disenfranchised, they look for an enemy or a scapegoat to vent their discontent on,” Dulkovski told DV. He adds that unfortunately this human frailty is now being exploited by people who want to make political capital out of the whole thing. Which is very reminiscent of the ideology of the Nazis, who also used this mechanism.
Verbal attacks, broken cars, hate speech
Since the beginning of the war in neighboring Ukraine, Dulkovsky has kept a list of anti-Ukrainian events. “In recent months we have recorded hundreds of cases of physical and verbal assaults and the number is increasing every day,” he says. Most often these are conflicts between neighbors, but there are also attacks on cars with Ukrainian registration, entrance doors and walls of buildings written with offensive slogans.
In a dairy, a customer spilled milk on a Ukrainian saleswoman and yelled at her that she hated Ukrainians, in Warsaw, a Ukrainian woman was beaten by her Polish landlady, and in Krakow, three women in the park were beaten up by a passerby who called them “dirty Ukrainian whores” they should go
This hostility towards foreigners in some parts of Polish society is explained by its homogeneity after 1945. “Most people are taught that Poland is inhabited only by Poles, only by Catholics and by heterosexual people. Minorities are hidden “. The current migration from Ukraine is the first such challenge for Poland, says Konrad Dulkowski.
More Poles are in solidarity
Most of the Ukrainian refugees in Poland work, as the Polish state provides them with only minimal support. The majority of Poles do not consider them a burden, but a plus for the country, as sociological surveys show.
Since July 2022, the Center for Monitoring Racism and Xenophobia has filed 170 complaints of anti-Ukrainian acts with the police. In September, a man was fined €650 for insulting Ukrainians on the internet. This is the largest fine ever imposed in Poland for hostilities against Ukrainians. For Dulkovsky it is also a warning to all those who think that racist demonstrations or acts of hostility towards foreigners will go unpunished.
Top photo: Participants in an Independence Day march organized by ultra-Catholic right-wing groups, Nov. 11, 2022, in Warsaw, Poland.
