Poland in latest Jewish dispute

Polish public television has raised the sensitive issue of Jewish property restitution during the country’s presidential campaign by accusing the main opposition candidate, Rafal Trzaskowski, of putting foreign interests first.

Poland was home to one of the world’s biggest Jewish communities until it was almost entirely wiped out during World War Two by the Nazis who set up death camps such as Auschwitz on Polish territory.

Jewish former property owners and their descendants have been campaigning for compensation since the fall of communism in 1989. But the nationalist ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) says Poland itself was also a victim of Nazi Germany and that it is for Berlin to compensate former Polish Jews.

The prime time news show on state-owned TVP suggested on Sunday that Trzaskowski, presidential candidate of the centrist Civic Platform (PO), would use public money to compensate Jews for their losses and fail to defend national interests if he beat the incumbent, Andrzej Duda, in the June 28 vote.

President Duda is close to PiS.

TVP quoted a 2015 interview with Trzaskowski saying Poland “needs to talk with Jewish communities and try to solve this problem (of property restitution)”. It also suggested Trzaskowski’s “thinking is not based on Polish interests”.

Previously, the show has said Trzaskowski has close ties to George Soros, the billionaire financier who supports liberal causes in eastern Europe.

“(Trzaskowski) is a man (...) who represents foreign interests in our country,” PiS MP Arkadiusz Mularczyk told Reuters, adding that the PO candidate took “his mandate” from Berlin or Brussels and would not stand up for Polish interests.

A spokesman for PO said it was difficult to comment on such “absurdities”.

“Public television in Poland is more similar to public television in Russia or Belarus than to public television in a democratic country,” said Jan Grabiec.

Trzaskowski has said he will reform TVP if he wins the presidency.

Soure: Reuters

 

The Liberum

The subtitle of The Liberum ("the voice of the people is the voice of God") reflects the concept that the collective opinions and will of the people carry divine importance. They embody truth and wisdom, particularly in a non-partisan marketplace that profiles itself as a marketplace of free ideas and thoughts.
See full bio >
The Liberum runs on your donation. Fight with us for a free society.
Donation Form (#6)

More articles you might like

- by Ahsan Ali on 04/09/2025

The Crumbling Legacy of a diluted Free South Africa

In post-apartheid South Africa, where the African National Congress (ANC) under the late former president […]
- by The Liberum on 02/09/2025

Why the Darkest Characters Lead the Smartest Minds on the Right

Something tragic is unfolding on the intellectual right. At a time when some of the […]

The Blah Conspiracy – From Sidney Sheldon to Chuck Norris

Just watched an atrocious movie the other day, Sidney Sheldon’s Bloodline (1979). I only did […]

The Art of Ghosting: Have we all become disappearing acts?

From Beirut to Dubai to the West, silence has become the new language of rejection […]
- by Rafael Baroch on 01/09/2025

ESSAY: Notes from inside the Pyramid of Care

We were promised care. Not love, not freedom, not even happiness – just care—a modest […]

The rise of the Jihadist terrorist threats in the West

The threat of Jihadist terrorists in Europe against dissidents is on the rise. The Islamic […]