Racism in Poland

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Over the course of its history Poland saw Poles and other ethnic minorities like Jews endured racism while being under rule by German Empire, and racist based genocide attempt by Nazi Germany in 20th century where both Poles and Jews were classified as subhuman by German state and were to be enslaved and exterminated. Throughout most of its one thousand years of history, Poland experienced very limited immigration from the more distant parts of the world accompanied by complete lack of overseas colonies. Therefore, the race-based worldview had little chance to develop, even though ethnic minorities made up a significant proportion of the Polish population since the founding of the Polish state.[1] The country had for a long time been regarded as having a very tolerant society, owing to "constant evidence for numerous varieties of religious nonconformity, sectarians, schism, and heterodoxy", wrote Norman Davies.[1] King Casimir III the Great brought Jews to Poland during the crusades in a time when Jewish communities were persecuted and expelled from all over Western Europe. As a result, by the mid-16th century, 80% of the world’s Jews lived in Poland.[2][3] Nonetheless, as in most countries, different types of racism manifested themselves in Poland over the course of history.

Ethnic Poles[edit]

German warning in Nazi-occupied Poland 1939 - "No entrance for Poles!"
See also: Racial policy of Nazi Germany, Nazi crimes against the Polish nation, and Polish decrees

When part of Poland was under the rule of German Empire, the Polish population was discriminated by policies influenced by "racist" thought that gained popularity among German nationalists such as Volkisch movement, leading to expulsion of Poles by Germany fuelled by Anti-Polish sentiment especially in the age of partitions.[4][5][6]

Poland was under German and Soviet occupation in World War II. During this period Polish people were harshly discriminated against in their own country. The Nazi German regime had seen Poles as "subhumans" (untermenschen) that were fit only for slavery and extermination. Most of the Nazis considered Poles, like the majority of other Slavs, as non-Aryan and non-European "masses from the East" which should be either totally annihilated along with the Jews and Gypsies, or entirely expelled from the European continent.[7] Poles were the victims of Nazi crimes against humanity, and also the main non-Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Approximately 2.5 million ethnic Poles were exterminated during World War II. Polish slaves in Nazi Germany were forced to wear identifying red tags with "P"s sewn to their clothing; sexual relations with Germans (rassenschande or "racial defilement") were punishable by death.[8] During the war, thousands of Polish men were executed for their relations with German women.[9]

Also, during World War II, Polish people became primary targets of massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia by Ukrainian nationalists, then in the territory of their own occupied country.[10]

Jews[edit]

The vibrant and populous Jewish community in Poland constituting about 10% of the general population by 1939, was all but eradicated during the Holocaust following the German invasion of Poland in 1939 at the onset of World War II.[11]

Notable incidents of antisemitism in Poland included Jedwabne pogrom of 1941 in the presence of German Ordnungspolizei during Operation Barbarossa,[12] Anti-Jewish violence in Poland, 1944–46 attributed to postwar lawlessness as well as an anti-communist insurrection against the new pro-Soviet government immediately after the end of World War II in Europe,[13] and the century-old concept of "Żydokomuna" revived as a result of the Soviet takeover.[14]

Black Africans[edit]

The most common word in Polish for a black person is Murzyn. It is generally seen as a neutral word which was used for centuries to describe a person of Black African ancestry, but nowadays some consider it to have pejorative connotations.[15]

One of the most high-profile events regarding blacks in Poland was the death of Maxwell Itoya in 2010, a Nigerian street vendor from a mixed marriage with children, who was selling counterfeit goods for a living.[16] He was shot in the thigh by a policeman during a street brawl following a screening check at a market in Warsaw and died of a severed artery.[17] The event led to a media debate regarding policing and racism.[18] There have been other cases of violence against Blacks in recent years. In Strzelce Opolskie, Black soccer players from LZS Piotrówka club were attacked in a bar by the opposition fans in 2015. Two young men were arrested.[19] In Białystok a Black weather presenter was punched in the face on the street.[20] In a Łódź dance-club, a Black student was attacked in a men's washroom.[21][22]

Romani[edit]

Main article: Polska Roma

The Mława riot[23] was a series of violent incidents in June 1991 when a rioting mob attacked Romani residents of the Polish town of Mława causing hundreds to flee in terror after a Pole was killed in a car accident and the driver harbored by his community. The violence, described as motivated by racism and jealousy, was condemned by Polish and international media.[24][25]

Among factors contribution to the riot, a change of ethnic stereotypes about Roma in Poland was mentioned: A Roma is no longer poor, dirty, cheerful, is not a beggar, does not pretend to be lowly. Nowadays a Roma drives a high status car, lives in a fancy mansion, flaunts his wealth, brags that the local authorities and the police are on his pay and thus he does not afraid of anybody. At the same time he is, as before, a swindler, a thief, a hustler, a dodger of military service and of legal, decent job.[26] Negative "metastereotypes" – or the Romas' own perceptions regarding the stereotypes that members of the dominant groups hold about their own group – was described by the Polish Roma Society in an attempt to intensify the dialogue about exclusionism.[27]

Attitudes towards minorities and level of tolerance[edit]

An analysis based on the European Values Survey (EVS) done in 2008 showed that compared to other European nations, Poland had very high levels of political tolerance (lack of extremist political attitudes), relatively high level of ethnic tolerance (based on attitudes towards Muslims, immigrants, people of another race, Roma, and Jews) and at the same time low levels of personal tolerance (based on attitudes towards people considered "deviant" or "threatening"). From 1998 to 2008, there was a marked increase in political and ethnic tolerance but a decrease in personal tolerance.[28]

In terms of trends over time, at the beginning of the 1990s, due partly to the political euphoria accompanying the fall of Communism, Poland was the most tolerant nation in Central and Eastern Europe. Over the course of the nineties however, tolerance decreased so that by 1999 the country was recorded by the EVS as having one of the highest rates of xenophobia in Europe. Antisemitism increased during this time as well. The factors behind these decreases in tolerance and some of 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.[28]

However, 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 1990 level, although they do remain somewhat above the European average.[28] During the same time period, ethnic tolerance and political tolerance increased in Southern Europe (Spain, Greece) and decreased in other parts of Northern Europe (Netherlands).[28]

While the Roma were the group which was listed as most rejected, the level of exclusion was still lower than elsewhere in Europe, most likely due the long history of Roma (see Polska Roma) and their relatively low numbers in the country.[28]

According to the European Jewish Congress while the number of anti-Semitic attacks and incidents of vandalism in Western Europe is on the rise, in Poland there has been a dramatic decrease in these.[29]

According to 2015 article in Polish LGBT portal Parada Równości based on report by European Commission Against Racism and Intolerance, Polish internet features xenophobic and racist content particularly about Jews, Russians, Germans, and Muslims.[30] Authorities of Białystok University of Technology told their foreign students not to leave their dormitories on Saturday 16 June 2016 in the afternoon due to protest march by National Radical Camp who according to statement declare ideas of racism.[31] In one year, the number of crimes pertaining to Article 257 of the Criminal Code increased from 229 to 299 as compared to 2014.[32][33] Among 85,000 Chechen refugees living in Poland some are afraid to leave their homes due to verbal abuse from the KORWiN members.[34] In an article published by NewEurope.eu, Poland’s Human Rights Ombudsman Adam Bodnar said that there is on average one racially motivated assault per week in Poland.[35] According to the Guardian, quoting the 2013 study by the Centre for Research on Prejudice (preceding the refugee crisis), 69% of Poles were opposed to bringing non-white people into the country. In all fairness, the Guardian also informed that half a million Ukrainian refugees live and work in Poland.[36]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Norman Davies (2005). God's Playground A History of Poland. Volume 1: The Origins to 1795 (OUP Oxford). pp. 126–131. ISBN 0199253390. 
  2. ^ "Poland – Virtual Jewish History Tour" at Jewish Virtual Library via Internet Archive.
  3. ^ "Polish Jews History", at PolishJews.org via Internet Archive.
  4. ^ Bideleux, Robert; Jeffries, Ian (1998). A History of Eastern Europe: Crisis and Change. Routledge. p. 156. 
  5. ^ Batt, Judy; Wolczuk, Kataryna (2002). Region, State and Identity in Central and Eastern Europe. Routledge. p. 153. 
  6. ^ Sinkoff, Nancy (2004). Out of the Shtetl: Making Jews Modern in the Polish Borderlands. Society of Biblical Literature. p. 271. 
  7. ^ "Poles: Victims of the Nazi Era". United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Archived from the original on 2005-11-28. Retrieved January 25, 2014. 
  8. ^ Helen Boak. "Nazi policies on German women during the Second World War - Lessons learned from the First World War?". pp. 4–5. 
  9. ^ Nazi Ideology and the Holocaust. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. January 2007. p. 58. ISBN 978-0-89604-712-9. 
  10. ^ Mikolaj Terles (1 July 2008). Ethnic Cleansing of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia: 1942–1946. Original from the University of Michigan (Alliance of the Polish Eastern Provinces, Toronto Branch, 1993). ISBN 0-9698020-0-5 – via Google Books, search inside. 
  11. ^ Lukas, Richard, Ph.D. (1989). Out of the Inferno: Poles Remember the Holocaust. University Press of Kentucky. pp. 5, 13, 111, 201. ; also in Lukas (2012) [1986]. The Forgotten Holocaust: Poles Under Nazi Occupation 1939-1944. New York: University of Kentucky Press/Hippocrene Books. ISBN 0-7818-0901-0. 
  12. ^ Piotr Wróbel (2006). Polish-Jewish Relations. Dagmar Herzog: Lessons and Legacies: The Holocaust in international perspective (Northwestern University Press). pp. 391–396. ISBN 0-8101-2370-3. 
  13. ^ August Grabski. "Book review of Stefan Grajek: Po wojnie i co dalej? Żydzi w Polsce, w latach 1945−1949 translated from Hebrew by Aleksander Klugman, 2003" (PDF). Central and Eastern European Online Library (CEEOL) (in Polish). Kwartalnik Historii Żydów (Jewish History Quarterly). p. 240 – via direct download, 1.03 MB. 
  14. ^ Marek Jan Chodakiewicz, After the Holocaust Polish-Jewish Conflict in the Wake of World War II, Columbia University Press, New York 2003, ISBN 0-88033-511-4.
  15. ^ Piróg, Patrycja. ""Murzynek Bambo w Afryce mieszka", czyli jak polska kultura stworzyła swojego "Murzyna"". opposite.uni.wroc.pl. Retrieved 17 June 2016. "Murzyn", który zdaniem wielu Polaków, w tym także naukowców, nie jest obraźliwy, uznawany jest przez osoby czarnoskóre za dyskryminujący i uwłaczający. 
  16. ^ Joanna, Podgorska. "Wdowa po Nigeryjczyku". Polityka. W tym roku miał dostać polski paszport. 
  17. ^ Piotr Machajski (28 June 2013), Milion zł za zastrzelonego męża? Żona chce odszkodowania. Wyborcza.pl.
  18. ^ "Poland: Reflections on the death of a street vendor". No Racism.net. Retrieved April 8, 2012. 
  19. ^ TVN 24 Wrocław (7 April 2015), Pobicie czarnoskórych piłkarzy. Dwóch zatrzymanych. News byte.
  20. ^ Magdalena Kuźmiuk (17 February 2015), Czarnoskóry pogodynek pobity. Sąd Apelacyjnym w Białymstoku uniewinnił oskarżonego. Poranny.pl via Google translate.
  21. ^ Antoni Bohdanowicz. "W Łodzi pobito czarnoskórego studenta". naTemat.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 2016-05-05 – via Google translate. 
  22. ^ "8 pseudokibiców odpowie za pobicie czarnoskórych piłkarzy". 2016-04-12. 8 hooligans answer for beating black players of LZS Piotrówka at a beer parlour Browar Centrum. Retrieved 2016-05-05 – via Google translate. 
  23. ^ Rebecca Jean Emigh; Iván Szelényi (2001). Poverty, Ethnicity, and Gender in Eastern Europe During the Market Transition. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 101–102. ISBN 978-0-275-96881-6. Retrieved 27 November 2015. 
  24. ^ "Poles Vent Their Economic Rage on Gypsies". The New York Times. July 25, 1991. Retrieved January 26, 2011. 
  25. ^ "Hooligans and the Neighbors' Cow". New York Times. July 29, 1991. Retrieved January 26, 2011. 
  26. ^ Anna Giza-Poleszczuk, Jan Poleszczuk, Raport "Cyganie i Polacy w Mławie - konflikt etniczny czy społeczny?" (Report "Romani and Poles in Mława - Ethnic or Social Conflict?") commissioned by Centre for Public Opinion Research, Warsaw, December 1992, pp. 16- 23, Sections III and IV "Cyganie w PRL-u stosunki z polską większością w Mławie" and "Lata osiemdziesiąte i dziewięćdziesiąte".
  27. ^ Marian Grzegorz Gerlich & Roman Kwiatkowski. "Romowie. Rozprawa o poczuciu wykluczenia". Stowarzyszenie Romów w Polsce. Okazuje się, że ów metastereotyp – rodzaj wyobrażenia Romów o tym, jak są postrzegani przez „obcych” – jest wizerunkiem nasyconym prawie wyłącznie cechami negatywnymi. 
  28. ^ a b c d e "No. 1 (29) 201128 Polish attitudes towards ethnic minorities and immigrants" (PDF). 16 April 2012. Retrieved September 14, 2014. 
  29. ^ Piotr Zychowicz (5 June 2012). "Polska przyjazna Żydom" [Poland is friendly towards Jews] (in Polish). rp.pl. Retrieved 14 September 2014. 
  30. ^ "Tłumacz Google" (in Polish). Parada Równości. 9 June 2015. Retrieved 2016-05-06 – via Translate.google.pl. 
  31. ^ "Władze Politechniki Białostockiej ostrzegają zagranicznych studentów". WP Wiadomości – via Tłumacz Google. 
  32. ^ "Zwyzywany Palestyńczyk, pobity Chilijczyk, Portugalczycy z ochroną". Gazeta.pl – via Tłumacz Google. 
  33. ^ "Informacja o posiedzeniu Komisji Mniejszości Narodowych i Etnicznych". Sejm.gov.pl. Retrieved 2016-05-06. 
  34. ^ Kamil Sikora. "Przez hejt prawicy nasilają się ataki na uchodźców". NaTemat.pl – via Tłumacz Google. 
  35. ^ Beata Stur (9 March 2016). "Poland’s ombudsman warns of growing racism". New Europe. 
  36. ^ Witold Sobków, Ambassador of the Republic of Poland (6 July 2015). "Poland integrates thousands of people from eastern Europe". The Guardian.  See also: Adam Leszczyński. "'Poles don't want immigrants. They don't understand them, don't like them'". Warsaw: The Guardian. 
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