Racism in Poland: Difference between revisions

Starting with the 16th century, many Jews lived in Poland, so much that it was called the [[History of the Jews in Poland#Center of the Jewish world: 1505–72|center of the Jewish world]]. Occasional pogroms, such as in Krakow in 1494 and Warsaw in 1527, punctuated a time period of material prosperity and relative security of Polish Jews. 30,000 Jews were killed in the Cossack [[Chmielnicki Uprising]] in Ukraine.<ref name="Ducreux" /> After the second [[partition of Poland]], [[Frederick the Great]], considering the territory a new colony and its people like the [[Iroquois]] of North America, began a [[Germanisation|Prussian colonisation campaign]] which sought to replace the Polish language and culture with German.<ref name="Kakel">{{cite book|title=The Holocaust as Colonial Genocide: Hitler's 'Indian Wars' in the 'Wild East'| publisher=Palgrave|author=Carroll P. Kakel III| doi=10.1007/978-1-137-39169-8| year=2013| isbn=978-1-349-48303-7}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Localism, Landscape, and the Ambiguities of Place: German-speaking Central Europe, 1860–1930|first1=David|last1=Blackbourn|first2=James N.|last2=Retallack|publisher=University of Toronto 2007|quote=In fact, from Hitler to Hans Frank, we find frequent references to Slavs and Jews as 'Indians.' This, too, was a long standing trope. It can be traced back to Frederick the Great, who likened the 'slovenly Polish trash' in newly' reconquered West Prussia to Iroquois}}</ref>

During [[World War II]], Poland was the main scene of the [[Holocaust]], the [[Porajmos]], and the [[Nazi crimes against the Polish nation|Nazi atrocities]] against the Polish nation. These [[genocides]] varied in how, when and where they were applied; [[Jews]] and [[Romani people|Romani]] were targeted for immediate extermination and suffered the greatest casualties, while the Poles were targeted for destruction and enslavement within 15–20 years.<ref name="genocide">

*{{cite book |last=Berghahn |first=Volker R. |year=1999 |chapter=Germans and Poles 1871–1945 |editor1=Bullivant, K. |editor2=Giles, G. J. |editor3=Pape, W. |title=Germany and Eastern Europe: Cultural Identities and Cultural Differences |publisher=Rodopi |isbn=978-9042006881 |pages=32 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j6VCNno2DVMC&pg=PA15}}</ref> [[Robert Gellately]] has called the [[Racial policy of Nazi Germany|Nazi racial policy]] of [[cultural genocide|cultural eradication]] and [[Extermination camp|mass extermination]] of people based on [[ethnicity]] a ''serial genocide'', since in its broader formulation it targeted multiple ethnic groups who the Nazis deemed "[[Untermensch|sub-human]]", including [[Ukrainians]], [[Belarusians|Belorusian]]s, Poles and Jews.<ref>{{cite book|editor1=Robert Gellately|editor2=Ben Kiernan|first=Robert|last=Gellately|chapter=The Third Reich, the Holocaust, and Visions of Serial Genocide|title=The Specter of Genocide: Mass Murder in Historical Perspective|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/specterofgenocid00robe|chapter-url-access=registration|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2003|doi=10.1017/CBO9780511819674.011|pages=241–264|isbn=9780521527507|url=https://archive.org/details/specterofgenocid00robe/page/241}}</ref>{{rp|253, 256}}

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&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjYysrnnrviAhUEIVAKHeRQA-IQ6AEIKTAA#v=onepage&q=1495%20Jews%20Kazimierz%20fire&f=false 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}}

The [[Council of Four Lands]] created in 1581 was a Jewish diet presided over by community elders from each major part of Poland, another governing body was established in Lithuania in 1623. Jewish communities were usually protected by the [[szlachta]] (nobles) in exchange for their work administering the nobles' domains.<ref name="Ducreux" />{{rp|358}} As such, they were often on the front line in revolts against the lords of the land, as was the case during the Cossack revolts in 1630, 1637 and 1639. It is estimated, in particular, that 30,000 Jews perished from 1648 to 1649 as a result of the [[Chmielnicki Uprising]].<ref name="Ducreux" />{{rp|342}}

In the [[Second Polish Republic]], from the 1920s the Polish government excluded Jews: from receiving government bank credits, from public sector employment (in 1931, only 599 of 87,640 public servants were Jewish—in the domainsfields of [[telephony]], railroads, administration and justice<ref name="Zawadski" />{{rp|483}}), and from obtaining business licenses in the government-controlled spherespheres of the economy. From the 1930s, limits were placed on Jewish enrollment in universityuniversities, educationadmission to the medical and legal professions, on Jewish shops, Jewish export firms, [[Shechita]], Jewish admission to the medical and legal professions, Jewsmembership in business associations, etcand more. While in 1921-22 25% of students were Jews, byin 19381921-922, the proportion wenthad downdropped to 8% by 1938-9. The far-right [[National Democracy (Poland)|National Democracy]] (Endeks) party organized anti-Jewish boycotts. Following the death of Poland's ruler [[Józef Piłsudski]] in 1935, the Endeks intensified its efforts and 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), which took control of the Polish parliament in 1938. The Polish parliament then drafted anti-Jewish legislation which was similar to [[anti-Jewish laws]] which existed in Germany, Hungary, and Romania. OZON advocated the mass emigration of Jews from Poland, boycotts of Jews, [[Numerus clausus#Poland|numerus clausus]] (see also [[Ghetto benches]]), and other limitations 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>

[[History of the Jews in Poland|The Jewish community in Poland]] made up about 10% of the country's total population in 1939, but it was all but eradicated [[The Holocaust in Poland|during the Holocaust]].<ref name="Lukas">{{cite book |last1=Lukas |first1=Richard, PhD. |author-link1=Richard C. Lukas |url=https://archive.org/details/outofinferno00rela |url-access=registration |quote=The estimates of Jewish survivors in Poland,. |title=Out of the Inferno: Poles Remember the Holocaust |publisher=[[University Press of Kentucky]] |year=1989 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/outofinferno00rela/page/5 5], 13, 111, 201|isbn=0813116929 }}; ''also in'' {{cite book |orig-year=1986 |year=2012 |last1=Lukas |publisher=[[University of Kentucky Press]]/Hippocrene Books |isbn=978-0-7818-0901-6 |title=The Forgotten Holocaust: Poles Under Nazi Occupation 1939-1944 |location=New York |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Lv1mAAAAMAAJ&q=editions:lC7HhINUjXIC}}</ref> In the [[Polish census of 2011]], only 7,353 people declared either their primary or secondary ethnicity as Jewish.{{citation needed|date=September 2019}}

Despite the fact that Poland's current scant Jewish population is currently scant, antisemitism persists and fulfills various important roles in Polish society. It is an informal tenet of Polish religiosity, enables Poles to view themselves as the main victims of the Nazis, enables them to deny their historic responsibility for anti-Jewish crimes, and provides a scapegoat for problems in the post-communist transition. Unlike other European societies, contemporary Polish antisemitism is not related to attitudes towards Israel. Furthermore, political representation of those employing antisemitic rhetoric is very limited.<ref>[https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Mikolaj_Winiewski/publication/311486760_Antisemitism_in_current_Poland_economic_religious_and_historical_aspects/links/5848664108aeda696825e5ac.pdf Bilewicz, Michał, Mikołaj Winiewski, and Zuzanna Radzik. "Antisemitism in Poland: Psychological, Religious, and Historical Aspects." Journal for the Study of Antisemitism 4 (2016): 423-440.], quote: Overall, the case of Poland is an example of the endurance of antisemitism without Jews—or at least with a scant Jewish population (Lendvai, 1971). This leads to an interesting question about the psychological reasons of such long-enduring prejudice without an object. Based on the research and observation of political and social life in Poland, one could say that antisemitism plays several important functions in contemporary Polish society: it is one of the informal tenets of religiosity in current Poland; it defines a scapegoat for the problems and troubles of the post-transition period; it allows the denial of responsibility for historical crimes toward Jews; and it supports perceiving the ingroup as the main victim of the Nazi occupation. These functions clearly allow antisemitism to exist—even without any significant Jewish presence in the country. At the same time, however, there is no link between such antisemitism and attitudes toward contemporary Israel. In this case, Polish society is far less anti-Jewish than many other European societies; in addition, the political representation of antisemitic prejudice is very limited—most politicians who were actively using antisemitic rhetoric are currently out of political life or at the margins of mainstream political debate</ref> One contemporary motif that is claimed to be antisemitic is the [[Jew with a coin]] picture, displayed in 18% of Polish homes to bring luck.

In June 1991, the [[Mława riot]] occurred, which was a series of violent incidents against Polska Roma that, broke out after one Polish man was killed and another Polish man was permanently harmed when a Romani teenager drove into three ethnic Poles in a crosswalk, killing one Polish man and permanently injuring another, thenbefore leftfleeing the scene of the accident.<ref name="Emigh">{{cite book|author1=Rebecca Jean Emigh|first2=Iván|last2=Szelényi|author-link2=Iván Szelényi|title=Poverty, Ethnicity, and Gender in Eastern Europe During the Market Transition|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O_tXHTK2kQUC&pg=PA101|access-date= 13 September 2019|year=2001|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-275-96881-6|pages=101–102}}</ref> After the accident, a rioting mob attacked wealthy Romani settlements in the Polish town of [[Mława]]. Both the Mława police chief<ref name="ecorage" /> and University of Warsaw sociology researchers<ref name="Emigh" /> said that the pogrom was primarily due to class envy (some Romani have grown wealthy in the gold and automobile trades). At the time, the mayor of the town, as well as the Romani involved and other residents, said the incident was primarily racially motivated.<ref name="ecorage">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/07/25/world/poles-vent-their-economic-rage-on-gypsies.html?src=pm|title=Poles Vent Their Economic Rage on Gypsies|date=July 25, 1991|work=The New York Times|access-date= 13 September 2019}}</ref>

During the coverage of the riot, aan emerging change in [[ethnic stereotype]]s about Roma in Poland was mentioned: Aidentified. Roma iswere no longer poor, dirty, or cheerful., They alsoand dodid not beg or pretend to be lowly anymore. NowadaysInstead athey Romawere drivesseen aas highowning statushigh-end carcars, livesliving in a fancy mansionmansions, flauntsflaunting histheir wealth, bragswhile bragging that the local authorities and the police are on histheir paypayroll, andleaving thus he is notthem afraidunafraid of anybodyanyone. At the same time hethey is,were seen as beforeswindlers, a swindlerthieves, a thiefhustlers, a hustler, a dodger ofand military service anddodgers awho holderrefused ofto hold adown legal, decent jobjobs.<ref>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".</ref> Negative "metastereotypes" – or the Romas' own perceptions regarding theof stereotypes that members of the dominant groups hold about their own group – were described by the Polish Roma Society in an attempt to intensifyheighten the awareness of and dialogue aboutaround [[exclusionism]].<ref>{{cite web |first1=Marian Grzegorz |last1=Gerlich |first2=Roman |last2=Kwiatkowski |title=Romowie. Rozprawa o poczuciu wykluczenia |publisher=Stowarzyszenie Romów w Polsce |url=http://www.stowarzyszenie.romowie.net/Romowie.-Rozprawa-o-poczuciu-wykluczenia--Marian-Grzegorz-Gerlich,-Roman-Kwiatkowski-144.html |quote=Okazuje się, że ów metastereotyp – rodzaj wyobrażenia Romów o tym, jak są postrzegani przez "obcych" – jest wizerunkiem nasyconym prawie wyłącznie cechami negatywnymi.}}</ref>

During the second half of the last millennium, Poland experienced significant periods of time wherewhen its feudal economy was dominated by [[serfdom]]. Many serfs were treated in condescendingdisdainful fashion by the nobility ([[szlachta]]), and had few rights. While many serfs were ethnic, Catholic Poles, many others were Orthodox [[Ruthenians]], later self-identifying as Ukrainians and Belarusians. Some scholars described the attitudes of the (mostly Polish) nobility towards serfs as a form of racism.<ref name="Black2015">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NMsqBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA16|title=The Atlantic Slave Trade in World History|first=Jeremy|last=Black|date=12 March 2015|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-55455-4|pages=16–}}</ref> In modern Poland, where Ukrainians form a significant minority of migrant workers, they are subject to occasional racism in everyday life.<ref>[https://www.rpo.gov.pl/sites/default/files/Raport%20%27Mniejszo%C5%9B%C4%87%20ukrai%C5%84ska%20i%20migranci%20z%20Ukrainy%20w%20Polsce.%20Analiza%20dyskursu%27.pdf Mniejszość ukraińska i migranci z Ukrainy w Polsce], Związek Ukraińców w Polsce, 2019</ref><ref>Marcin Deutschmann, [http://cejsh.icm.edu.pl/cejsh/element/bwmeta1.element.desklight-d8b83f53-5f5e-4d47-84f6-8aa8e26a45f5/c/StudiaKrytyczne_4_pouzupelnieniach_4_-78-92.pdf Rasizm w Polsce w kontekœcie problemów migracyjnych. Próba diagnozy]. STUDIA KRYTYCZNE | NR 4/2017: 71-85 | ISSN 2450-9078</ref>

The most common word in [[Polish language|Polish]] for a [[black people|black person]] has traditionally been ''"[[Murzyn]]"''. It is often regarded as a neutral word to describe a person of black ([[Sub-Sahara Africa|Sub-Saharan African]]) ancestry, but nowadays many consider it [[pejorative]], with dictionaries reflecting this. Professor Marek Łaziński has said that "Murzyn" is now "archaic".<ref>{{cite web|title="Murzyn" i "Murzynka"|url=http://www.rjp.pan.pl/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1892:murzyn-i-murzynka&catid=44&Itemid=208&fbclid=IwAR2O5xjhyVGVeKMTeGA4Fl2X8_1Ft2R_lSn7tddkUAkz2GwkKOX50ODM3UM|agency=www.rjp.pan.pl|access-date=2020-08-14}}</ref><ref name=dcmm/>

Perceptions of black people have also been shaped by literature. [[Henryk Sienkiewicz]]’s novel ''[[In Desert and Wilderness]]'' contains the famous character [[Kali (character)|Kali]], who speaks broken English and has a dubious morality. In 1924, poet [[Julian Tuwim]] published a children's verse, "[[Murzynek Bambo]]" ("The little Murzyn Bambo"), which becameremained much-loved sinceover thesethe timesfollowing half-century, but in the 21st century it became criticised for "[[othering]]" black people. In Communist Poland, ''[[Uncle Tom’s Cabin]]'', by [[Harriet Beecher Stowe]], was translated quite freely and targeted at children, because it was seen as anti-capitalist and anti-slavery, but now it is seen as reinforcing various black stereotypes.<ref name=dcmm>[https://time.com/5874185/poland-racism-women-murzyn #DontCallMeMurzyn: Black Women in Poland Are Powering the Campaign Against a Racial Slur] ''Time Magazine''</ref>

One high-profile event with regard to blacks in Poland was the death of [[Maxwell Itoya]] in 2010, a [[Nigerians|Nigerian]] street vendor from a mixed marriage who was selling [[counterfeit]] goods.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Joanna |first=Podgorska |title=Wdowa po Nigeryjczyku |url=http://www.polityka.pl/tygodnikpolityka/spoleczenstwo/1512204,1,wdowa-po-nigeryjczyku-czeka-na-pomoc.read |magazine=Polityka |quote=W tym roku miał dostać polski paszport.|date=2011-01-19 }}</ref> He was shot in the upper leg by a policemanpolice officer during a street brawl that followed a screening check at a market in [[Warsaw]], and died of a severed artery.<ref>Piotr Machajski (28 June 2013), [http://warszawa.wyborcza.pl/warszawa/1,34889,14181994,Milion_zl_za_zastrzelonego_meza__Zona_chce_odszkodowania.html Milion zł za zastrzelonego męża? Żona chce odszkodowania.] Wyborcza.pl.</ref> The event led to a media debate regarding policing and racism.<ref name="Itoya">{{cite web | url=http://no-racism.net/article/3401/ | title=Poland: Reflections on the death of a street vendor | publisher=No Racism.net | access-date=April 8, 2012}}</ref>

In [[Strzelce Opolskie]], black football players from [[LZS Piotrówka]] club were attacked in a bar by fans of the opposing team [[Odra Opole]] in 2015 and two young men were arrested.<ref>TVN 24 Wrocław (7 April 2015), [http://www.tvn24.pl/wroclaw,44/pobicie-czarnoskorych-pilkarzy-dwie-osoby-z-zarzutami,531221.html Pobicie czarnoskórych piłkarzy. Dwóch zatrzymanych.] News byte.</ref> At least six men were sentenced.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://nto.pl/kibole-odry-opole-uslyszeli-wyroki-za-pobicie-czarnoskorych-pilkarzy-lzs-piotrowka/ar/10063842 | title=Kibole Odry Opole usłyszeli wyroki za pobicie czarnoskórych piłkarzy LZS Piotrówka| date=2016-06-02}}</ref> In a [[Łódź]] [[Nightclub|dance- club]], a black student was attacked in a men's washroom.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://translate.google.pl/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=pl&ie=UTF-8&u=https%3A%2F%2Fbackend.710302.xyz%3A443%2Fhttp%2Fnatemat.pl%2F113377%2Cw-lodzi-pobito-czarnoskorego-studenta-ochroniarz-nie-zareagowala-tylko-powiedzieli-ofierze-nie-chronimy-malp&edit-text=&act=url |title=W Łodzi pobito czarnoskórego studenta |language=pl |website=naTemat.pl |access-date=2016-05-05 |first=Antoni |last=Bohdanowicz |via=Google translate}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?act=url&depth=1&hl=pl&ie=UTF8&prev=_t&rurl=translate.google.pl&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http://www.24opole.pl/20424,8_pseudokibicow_odpowie_za_pobicie_czarnoskorych_pilkarzy,wiadomosc.html&usg=ALkJrhiUE96YooCGw0O2ezFGmi9YpHgjfg |title=8 pseudokibiców odpowie za pobicie czarnoskórych piłkarzy |at=8 hooligans answer for beating black players of LZS Piotrówka at a beer parlour Browar Centrum |date=2016-04-12 |access-date=2016-05-05|via=Google translate}}</ref>

Through Poles generally have formedgenerally constituted a majority inof Poland's population, there were times, particularly during the times of [[partitions of Poland]] (mid-18th century to 1918), when most of the Polish territories were under control of other nations, and Poles, effectively minorities in nationalistic [[German Empire]] and [[Russian Empire]], were [[Anti-Polish sentiment#Before the Second Polish Republic, 1918|subject to discrimination and racism]].<ref name="Smith2011">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IPngdGug27kC&pg=PA359|title=The Oxford Handbook of Modern German History|first=Helmut Walser |last=Smith|date=29 September 2011|publisher=OUP Oxford|isbn=978-0-19-923739-5|pages=359–}}</ref><ref name="Herpen2015">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q1IWCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA36|title=Putin's Wars: The Rise of Russia's New Imperialism|first=Marcel H. |last=Van Herpen|date=1 July 2015|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers|isbn=978-1-4422-5359-9|pages=36–42}}</ref>

Racist publications about Poles appeared as early as the 18th century, and they were imbued with [[Middle Ages|Medieval]] ethnic stereotypes and racist overtones in order to justify German rule over Polish territories.<ref>The Racial State: Germany 1933-1945 Michael Burleigh, Wolfgang Wippermann, page 26-27</ref> Authors such as Georg Forster wrote aboutthat Poles that they arewere "cattle in human form".<ref>The Sarmatian Review, Tomy 22-25</ref>

When part of Poland was under the rule of the [[German Empire]], the Polish population was discriminated against by racist policies. These policies gained popularity among German nationalists, some of whom were members of the [[Völkisch movement]], leading to the [[expulsion of Poles by Germany]]. This was fueled by [[Anti-Polish sentiment]], especially during the [[Partitions of Poland|age of partitions]] in the 18th century.<ref>{{cite book|first1=Robert|last1=Bideleux|author2=Jeffries, Ian|year=1998|title=A History of Eastern Europe: Crisis and Change|page=[https://archive.org/details/A_History_of_Eastern_Europe_Crisis_and_Change_by_Ian_Jeffries_2007/page/n200 156]|publisher=Routledge|url=https://archive.org/details/A_History_of_Eastern_Europe_Crisis_and_Change_by_Ian_Jeffries_2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|editor1=Judy Batt|editor2=Kataryna Wolczuk |title=Region, State and Identity in Central and Eastern Europe |journal=Regional & Federal Studies |volume=12 |issue=2 |publisher=Routledge |chapter=Poland's Eastern Borderlands: Political Transition and the 'Ethnic Question'|first=Marzena|last=Kisielowska-Lipman| year=2002|page=153|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sw72GPjF0DYC&q=page+153|doi=10.1080/714004742|isbn=9780714682259 |s2cid=154262562 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Nancy |last=Sinkoff |title=Out of the Shtetl: Making Jews Modern in the Polish Borderlands |publisher=Society of Biblical Literature |year=2004 |page=271|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f-KmeZgY2hIC&q=page+271|isbn=9781930675162 }}</ref> The Kulturkampf campaign led by [[Otto von Bismarck]] resulted in a legacy of anti-Polish racism; in turnthe Polish population experienced oppression and exploitation at the hands of Germans.<ref name="Smith">{{cite book|title=The Oxford Handbook of Modern German History|page=361|first=Helmut Walser |last=Smith|quote=Anti-Polish racism remained a lasting legacy of the Kulturkampf because it proved essential to the political economy of German agriculture.Anti-Polish racism both reflected and supported the existence of an especially disempowered Polish rural proletariat, subject to oppression and exploitation by German landlords.}}</ref> The racist ideas of the Prussian state directed against Polish people were taken onadopted by German social scientists, led in part led by [[Max Weber]].<ref name="Weber">{{cite book|title=Sociology and Empire: The Imperial Entanglements of a Discipline|chapter=German Sociology and Empire: From Internal Colonization to Overseas Colonization and Back Again|editor=George Steinmetz|quote= Guided by Max Weber, German social scientists adopted the anti-Polish racism of the Prussian state, developing a cultural-racial economics of control that Schmoller and others used to assist German colonial control in Africa. (p. 185)|pages=166–187|publisher=Duke University Press|year=2013|doi=10.1215/9780822395409-006}}</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]] |access-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#Non-Jewish 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 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 |archive-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 |archive-date=2005-11-28 |publisher=[[United States Holocaust Memorial Museum]] |access-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>

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|ethnic cleansing]] 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>