“Jews want to be super-humans in Poland, entitled to a better status, and the Polish police dance to their tune,” far-right Polish MP Grzegorz Braun said outside the Auschwitz concentration camp.
Braun, the head of the Confederation of the Polish Crown party, made the comments on Saturday amid news of the Polish government’s plans to adopt a resolution combating antisemitism.
In October, a draft resolution of the Council of Ministers on the adoption of the National Strategy for Counteracting Antisemitism and Supporting Jewish Life for 2025-2030 was published on the website of the Chancellery of the Prime Minister.
“Poland is for Poles. Other nations have their own countries, including the Jews,” Braun continued, adding that promoting Jewish life in Poland was like “inviting Hannibal Lecter to move in next door”.
He went on to promise that his party “will scatter the International Auschwitz Council to the four winds” if it gains influence in government. He said that under his governance, the council would have no basis in law or budget.
Massive controversy in Poland
The tirade caused massive controversy in the country. Poland’s Prosecutor General and Justice Minister Waldemar Zurek responded by telling the Polish Press Agency he would take action against Braun and his party.
“I will not leave this without a response. There is no place for antisemitism in Poland, and such statements cause significant damage to the Polish state internationally and within our country,” he said.
“We will not allow anyone to express such views with impunity. We will pursue them resolutely. It is truly shameful for Poles that someone like this, in the 21st century, after what happened in Poland during World War II, is turning this place [Auschwitz] into some hideous political game.”
Zurek personally signed a request to strip Braun of parliamentary immunity previously, when Braun made comments denying the existence of gas chambers in Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Such statements violate Polish law, specifically Article 55 of the Act on the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN Act) – Denying Nazi Crimes, which prohibits public denial of Nazi crimes; gross distortion of what happened in German-run concentration camps; or statements suggesting that Poland was responsible.
Braun has a long history of antisemitic actions. He became more known internationally for these in 2021 when he approached a public Hanukkah display in the Polish Parliament and extinguished the hanukkiah, calling it “anti-Polish.” He also opposes restitution for Holocaust survivors.
Braun finished fourth in this year’s presidential elections.
