Racism in Poland: Difference between revisions

King [[Casimir III the Great]] brought Jews to Poland during the [[Black Death]] when Jewish communities were [[Black Death Jewish persecutions|persecuted and expelled]] from several European kingdoms. With better living conditions, 80% of world Jewry lived in Poland by the mid-16th century.<ref name="JVL">[https://web.archive.org/web/20160414192825/http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Poland.html "Poland – Virtual Jewish History Tour" at ''Jewish Virtual Library''] via Internet Archive.</ref><ref name="history1">[https://web.archive.org/web/20120129091908/http://polishjews.org/history1.htm "Polish Jews History", at PolishJews.org] via Internet Archive.</ref> During the 15th century in the royal capital of [[Kraków]], extremist clergymen advocated violence towardsagainst 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, which ledleading many Jews to leave for [[Kazimierz]] 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. King [[John I Albert]] forced the remaining Jews of Kraków to move to Kazimierz.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=U-0U7NozDDoC&pg=PA5&dq=1495+Jews+Kazimierz+fire&hlpg=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjYysrnnrviAhUEIVAKHeRQA-IQ6AEIKTAA#v=onepage&q=1495%20Jews%20Kazimierz%20fire&f=falsePA5 The Torah Ark in Renaissance Poland: A Jewish Revival of Classical Antiquity], Ilia M. Rodov, Brill, pages 2-6</ref> Starting in 1527, Jews were no longer admitted into the city walls of Warsaw (generally speaking, temporary stays were possible in the [[Royal Castle, Warsaw|royal palace]]). Only the [[Praga]] suburb was open to them.<ref name="Ducreux">{{cite book|chapter=Les Juifs dans les sociétés d'Europe centrale et orientale|first=Marie-Élizabeth|last=Ducreux|title=Les Juifs dans l'histoire: de la naissance du judaïsme au monde contemporain|editor1-last=Germa|editor1-first=Antoine|editor2-last=Lellouch|editor2-first=Benjamin|editor3-last=Patlagean|editor3-first=Evelyne|language=fr|date=2011|publisher=Ed. Champ Vallon|pages=331–373}}</ref>{{rp|334}} They were likewise barred from all of Silesia by [[Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor|Ferdinand I]] in 1559 and by [[Rudolph II]] in 1582.<ref name="Ducreux" />{{rp|339}}<ref>{{cite web|website=YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern European|first=Marcin|last=Wodziński|title=Silesia|url=https://yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Silesia}}</ref>

The [[Council of Four Lands]] created in 1581 was a Jewish diet{{clarification|date=October 2024}} 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 the [[szlachta]] (nobles) in exchange for their work administeringmanaging the nobles' domains.<ref name="Ducreux" />{{rp|358}} In As[[Congress suchPoland]], theyJews weregained oftencivic on the front line inrights revolts againstwith the lords[[ukase]] (edict) of the5 June land1862, astwo wasyears thebefore case during the Cossack revolts[[Serfdom in 1630,Poland|serfdom]] 1637was and 1639abolished. 35 Ityears is estimatedlater, inthe particular,1.4 thatmillion 30,000Polish Jews perishedrepresented from14% 1648–9of aswhom awithin resultthe ofRussian-administered thepartition, which included [[ChmielnickiWarsaw]] Uprisingand [[Łódź]].<ref name="DucreuxZawadski">{{cite book|chapter=Les Juifs en Pologne: des partages de la Pologne jusqu'à 1939|first=Paul|last=Zawadski|title=Les Juifs dans l'histoire: de la naissance du judaïsme au monde contemporain|editor1-last=Germa|editor1-first=Antoine|editor2-last=Lellouch|editor2-first=Benjamin|editor3-last=Patlagean|editor3-first=Evelyne|language=fr|date=2011|publisher=Ed. Champ Vallon|pages=475–502}}</ref>{{rp|342478–480}}

InFollowing the [[Second Polish Republic]], from the 1920s the Polish government excluded Jews: from receiving government bank credits, from public sector employment (in 1931, only 599death of 87,640 public servants were Jewish—in the domains of telephony, railroads, administration and justice<ref name="Zawadski" />{{rp|483}}), and from obtaining business licenses in the government-controlled sphere of the economy. From the 1930s, limits were placed on Jewish enrollment in university education, Jewish shops, Jewish export firms, [[Shechita]],Prime Jewish admission to the medical and legal professions, Jews in business associations, etc. While in 1921-22 25%Minister of studentsPoland|Poland's were Jews, by 1938-9 the proportion went down to 8%. The far-right [[Nationalprime Democracyminister]] (Endeks) organized anti-Jewish boycotts. Following the death of Poland's ruler [[Józef Piłsudski]] in 1935, the Endeks''Endecja'' intensified its efforts and declared in 1937 it declared 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 the [[Camp of National Unity]] (OZON), whichto tooktake control ofover the Polish parliament in 1938., Thewhich Polishwent parliamenton thento drafteddraft anti-Jewish legislation which waslegislations similar to those in [[antiAnti-Jewish lawslegislation in pre-war Nazi Germany|Nazi Germany]], which[[History existedof the Jews in Germany,Hungary#Anti-Jewish measures|Hungary]], [[The Holocaust in Romania#Pre-war government policies and legislation|Romania]] etc. The OZON advocated the mass emigration of Jews from Poland, boycotts of Jews, [[Numerus clausus#Poland|numerus clausus]] (see also [[Ghetto benches]]), and otherfurther limitationsrestrictions on Jewish rights.<ref name="Hagen">{{cite journal|last=Hagen|first=William W.|title=Before the 'final solution': Toward a comparative analysis of political anti-Semitism in interwar Germany and Poland|journal=The Journal of Modern History|volume=68|issue=2|year=1996|pages=351–381|doi=10.1086/600769|s2cid=153790671}}</ref> According to [[Timothy Snyder]], in the years leading up to [[World 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?"<ref name="Snyder 2015">{{Cite book| edition = First| publisher = Tim Duggan Books| isbn = 978-1-101-90345-2| last = Snyder| first = Timothy| title = Black earth: the Holocaust as history and warning| chapter = The Promise of Palestine| location = New York| date = 2015}}</ref>

[[File:No entrance for poles1.jpeg|thumb|200px|German warning in Nazi-occupied Poland 1939 - "[[Nur für Deutsche|No entrance for Poles]]!"]]

[[File:P Oboz.svg|thumb|200px|[[Nazi concentration camp badge|Concentration camp badge]] with the letter "P" to identify people of Polish ethnicity, which Polish slave laborers and inmates were required to wear in occupied Poland during World War II]]

During World War II Poland was [[Occupation of Poland (1939–45)|occupied by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union]] and Polish people were harshly discriminated against in their own country. In directive No. 1306, issued by [[w:Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda|Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda]] on 24 October 1939, the concept of ''[[untermensch]]en'' (subhuman) is cited in reference to Polish ethnicity and culture: {{quotationblockquote|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".<ref>{{cite book|last=Wegner|first=Bernt|title=From Peace to War: Germany, Soviet Russia, and the World, 1939-1941|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aESBIpIm6UcC&pg=PA50|year=1997|origyearorig-year=1991|publisher=[[Berghahn Books]]|isbn=978-1-57181-882-9|page=50}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Tomasz |last=Ceran|title=The History of a Forgotten German Camp: Nazi Ideology and Genocide at Szmalcówka|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e-EjCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA24|year=2015|publisher=I.B.Tauris|isbn=978-0-85773-553-9|page=24}}</ref>}}

Most Nazis considered the Poles, like the majority of other [[Slavs]], to be [[Racial policy of Nazi Germany#Basis of Nazi policies and constitution of the Aryan Master Race|non-Aryan]] and non-European "masses from the East" which should be either totally annihilated along with the [[Jews]] and [[Romani people|Gypsies]], or entirely [[Generalplan Ost|expelled from the European continent]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Poles: Victims of the Nazi Era|url=https://www.ushmm.org/learn/students/learning-materials-and-resources/poles-victims-of-the-nazi-era|publisher=[[United States Holocaust Memorial Museum]] |accessdateaccess-date=September 23, 2019}}</ref> Poles were the victims of [[Nazi crimes against the Polish nation|Nazi crimes against humanity]] and some of the main [[The Holocaust#Ethnic Poles|non-Jewish victims of the Holocaust]]. Approximately 2.7 million ethnic Poles were murdered or killed during [[World War II]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://poland-historical-background.html/|title=Poland {{!}} www.yadvashem.org|website=poland-historical-background.html|language=en|access-date=2019-05-25}}</ref>

Nazi policy towards ethnically Polish people was eventually became the genocide and destruction of the wholeentire Polish nation, as well as [[cultural genocide]]<ref name="Germany">{{cite book |title=Germany and Eastern Europe: Cultural Identities and Cultural Differences |first1=Keith |last1=Bullivant |first2=Geoffrey J. |last2=Giles |first3=Walter |last3=Pape |publisher=Rodopi |year=1999 |pages=32–33}}</ref><ref>William Schabas, ''Genocide in international law: the crimes of crimes'', Cambridge University Press, 2000, {{ISBN|0-521-78790-4}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=pYptuRHDQPgC&pg=PA179&dq=%22Cultural+genocide%22+Poand&pg=PA179 Google Print, p.179]</ref> which involved [[Germanisation]], as well asand 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."<ref>Poland's Holocaust: Ethnic Strife, Collaboration with Occupying Forces and Genocide in the Second Republic, 1918-1947

by Tadeusz Piotrowski page 23 2007</ref> The goal of the policy was to prevent effective Polish resistance and to exploit Polish people as slave laborers,<ref>{{cite web |title=Poles: Victims of the Nazi Era |url=http://www.ushmm.org/education/resource/poles/poles.php?menu=/export/home/www/doc_root/education/foreducators/include/menu.txt&bgcolor=CD9544 |archiveurlarchive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051128015157/http://www.ushmm.org/education/resource/poles/poles.php?menu=%2Fexport%2Fhome%2Fwww%2Fdoc_root%2Feducation%2Fforeducators%2Finclude%2Fmenu.txt&bgcolor=CD9544 |archivedatearchive-date=2005-11-28 |publisher=[[United States Holocaust Memorial Museum]] |accessdateaccess-date=January 25, 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and foresawforeseeing the extermination of Poles as a nation.<ref>Adolf Hitler: A Biographical Companion

David Nicholls, Gill Nicholls ABC-CLIO 2000, page 201</ref> Polish [[Forced labour under German rule during World War II|slaves]] in Nazi Germany were forced to wear identifying red tags with the letter P that were 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.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Helen |last=Boak |title=Nazi policies on German women during the Second World War - Lessons learned from the First World War? |url=https://www.academia.edu/4794258 |pages=4–5}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| title = Nazi Ideology and the Holocaust | date = January 2007 | publisher = United States Holocaust Memorial Museum | isbn = 978-0-89604-712-9 | page = 58}}</ref>

{{quoteblockquote|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!<ref name="Herbert1997">{{cite book|first=Ulrich|last=Herbert|title=Hitler's Foreign Workers: Enforced Foreign Labor in Germany Under the Third Reich|year=1997|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-47000-1|pages=76–77}}</ref>}}

In 1942, racial discrimination became Nazi policy with the ''Decree on Penal Law for Poles and Jews''.<ref>{{cite web|website=Jewish Telegraphic Agency|title=Full Text of Cruel Nazi Decree Against Jews and Poles Released in Washington|url=http://pdfs.jta.org/1942/1942-03-12_059.pdf?_ga=2.133965574.908760147.1569357999-265582471.1569357987|accessdateaccess-date=24 September 2019|date=12 March 1942|language=en|quote=}}</ref>{{rp|3}}<ref>Nazism, War and Genocide: Essays in Honour of Jeremy Noakes Jeremy Noakes, Neil Gregor University of Exeter Press, 2005, page 85</ref>

During the post-war Trials of Nazis it was stated during Trial of Ulrich Freifelt that:{{quoteblockquote

Likewise, during World War II around 120,000 Polish people, mostly women and children, became the primary victims of an [[massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia|ethnicity-basedethnic genocidecleansing]] by the [[Ukrainian Insurgent Army]], which was then operating in the territory of [[Occupation of Poland (1939–45)|occupied Poland]].<ref name="ZZWRP0">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ha5pAAAAMAAJ |title=Ethnic Cleansing of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia: 1942–1946 |publisher=Alliance of the Polish Eastern Provinces, Toronto Branch, 1993 |work=Original from the University of Michigan |date=1 July 2008 |first=Mikolaj |last=Terles |via=Google Books, search inside |isbn=978-0-9698020-0-6}}</ref>

An analysis based on the [[World Values Survey#History|European Values Survey]] (EVS), which took place in 2008, compares Poland to other European nations. Poland had very high levels of ''political tolerance'' (lack of extremist political attitudes), relatively high levels of ''ethnic tolerance'' (based on attitudes towards [[Muslims]], immigrants, Romas, 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''.<ref name=evs>{{cite web|url=http://www.english.pan.pl/images/stories/pliki/publikacje/academia/2011/1_2011_29/28-31%20kaz%C5%82owska%20pdf.pdf|title=Tolerance in Poland: Polish attitudes towards ethnic minorities and immigrants|volume = 1|publisher=Focus on Sociology|issue=129|date=2011|accessdateaccess-date=September 14, 2014|url-status=dead|archiveurlarchive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140915025033/http://www.english.pan.pl/images/stories/pliki/publikacje/academia/2011/1_2011_29/28-31%20kaz%C5%82owska%20pdf.pdf|archivedatearchive-date=September 15, 2014}}</ref>

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 (see [[Polska Roma]]) and their relatively low numbers in the country.<ref name=evs/>

In the [[European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights|FRA]] 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 MuslimMuslims 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%).<ref>{{Cite report |url=https://fra.europa.eu/en/publication/2018/2nd-survey-discrimination-hate-crime-against-jews |title=Experiences and perceptions of antisemitism/Second survey on discrimination and hate crime against Jews in the EU |date=2018 |publisher=[[European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights]]}}</ref>

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")<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://wiadomosci.ngo.pl/files/rownosc.ngo.pl/public/prawo_polskie/KP_przec_dyskr_ras.pdf |title=Krajowy Program Przeciwdziałania Dyskryminacji Rasowej, Ksenofobii i Związanej z Nimi Nietolerancji 2004 – 2009 (retrieved December 8, 2016)}}</ref>) and also established the Monitoring Team on Racism and Xenophobia within the [[Ministry of Interior and Administration (Poland)|Ministry of Interior and Administration]]. The Implementation Report (2010)<ref>[http://www.spoleczenstwoobywatelskie.gov.pl/sites/default/files/sprawozdanie_przyjete_przez_rm_7_maja_proram_.pdf "SPRAWOZDANIE Z REALIZACJI KRAJOWEGO PROGRAMU PRZECIWDZIAŁANIA DYSKRYMINACJI RASOWEJ, KSENOFOBII I ZWI�ZANEJZWIZANEJ Z NIMI NIETOLERANCJI ZA LATA 2004-2009"] (retrieved December 8, 2016)</ref> stated that the programme suffered from various obstacles, including lacking and unclear funding, and eventually some planned tasks were completed, while others were not.<ref>[http://www.stiftung-evz.de/fileadmin/user_upload/EVZ_Uploads/Publikationen/Studien/Uebersicht-gefoerderte-Studien/Stop-Hate-Crime/poland_helsinki_english.pdf Racism in Poland: Report on Research Among Victims of Violence with Reference to National, Racial, or Ethnic Origin], by Agnieszka Mikulska, {{ill|Helsinki Human Rights Foundation|pl|Helsińska Fundacja Praw Człowieka}}, 2010 (retrieved December 8, 2016)</ref> In 2013 Polish Prime Minister [[Donald Tusk]] started The Council Against Racial Discrimination and Xenophobia, but it was shut down by the new [[Law and Justice (Poland)|Law and Justice]] government in May 2016.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Narkowicz |first1=Kasia |title=Re-emerging Racisms: Understanding Hate in Poland |url=https://discoversociety.org/2016/06/01/re-emerging-racisms-understanding-hate-in-poland/ |website=Discover Society |access-date=29 August 2019|date=June 2016 }}</ref>

* {{Cite book| publisher = Peter Lang| isbn = 978-3-631-59828-3| pages = 9–28|editor1= Hans-Christian Petersen |editor2=Samuel Salzborn | last = Friedrich| first = Klaus-Peter| title = Antisemitism in Eastern Europe: history and present in comparison| chapter = Antisemitism in Poland| location = Frankfurt am Main ; New York| date = 2010}}

* {{Cite book| publisher = Random House| isbn = 978-0-307-43096-0| last = Gross| first = Jan Tomasz| title = Fear: anti-semitism in Poland after Auschwitz : an essay in historical interpretation| location = New York| accessdateaccess-date = 2018-06-07| date = 2006| url = http://site.ebrary.com/id/10235235}}