Racism in Poland
Racism in Poland in the 20th and 21st centuries has been a subject of extensive study. Ethnic minorities made up a greater proportion of the country's population from the founding of the Polish state through the Second Polish Republic than in the 21st century, when government statistics show 94% or more of the population self-reporting as ethnically Polish.[1][2]
Beginning in the 16th century, many Jews lived in Poland, so much so that it was referred to as the center of the Jewish world. Occasional pogroms, such as in Kraków in 1494 and Warsaw in 1527, punctuated a period of material prosperity and relative security for Polish Jews. Between 1648 and 1649, 30,000 Jews were killed in the Cossack Chmielnicki Uprising in Ukraine.[3] After the second partition of Poland, Frederick the Great, considering the Prussian-occupied territory a new colony and its people to be like the Iroquois of North America, began a Prussian colonization campaign aimed at replacing Polish language and culture with German.[4][5]
During World War II, Poland was occupied by Germany and subsequently was the main scene of the Jewish Holocaust, the Porajmos (Romani genocide), and Nazi atrocities against the Polish nation. These genocides varied in how, when, and where they were applied; Jews and Romani were targeted for immediate extermination and suffered the greatest casualties, while the Poles were targeted for destruction and enslavement within 15–20 years.[6] Robert Gellately has called the Nazi racial policy of cultural eradication and mass extermination of people based on ethnicity a serial genocide, since in its broader formulation it targeted multiple ethnic groups whom the Nazis deemed "sub-human", including Ukrainians, Belarusians, Poles, and Jews.[7]: 253, 256
Roma
In June 1991, the Mława riot, a series of violent incidents against Polska Roma, broke out after a Romani teenager drove into three ethnic Poles in a crosswalk, killing one Polish man and permanently injuring another, before fleeing the scene of the accident.[29] After the accident, a rioting mob attacked wealthy Romani settlements in the Polish town of Mława. Both the Mława police chief[30] and University of Warsaw sociology researchers[29] 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.[30]
During coverage of the riot, an emerging change in ethnic stereotypes about Roma in Poland was identified. Roma were no longer poor, dirty, or cheerful, and did not beg or pretend to be lowly anymore. Instead, they were seen as owning high-end cars, living in fancy mansions, flaunting their wealth while bragging that local authorities and police are on their payroll, leaving them unafraid of anyone. At the same time, they were seen as swindlers, thieves, hustlers, and military service dodgers who refused to hold down legal, decent jobs.[31] Negative "metastereotypes" – or the Romas' own perceptions of stereotypes that dominant groups hold about their group – were described by the Polish Roma Society in an attempt to heighten the awareness of and dialogue around exclusionism.[32]
Ukrainians
During the second half of the last millennium, Poland experienced significant periods when its feudal economy was dominated by serfdom. Many serfs were treated in disdainful 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.[33] In modern Poland, where Ukrainians form a significant minority of migrant workers, they are subject to occasional racism in everyday life.[34][35]
Sub-Saharan Africans
The most common word in Polish for a black person has traditionally been "Murzyn". It is often regarded as a neutral word to describe a person of black (Sub-Saharan African) ancestry, but nowadays many consider it pejorative, with dictionaries reflecting this. Professor Marek Łaziński has said that "Murzyn" is now "archaic".[36][37]
Perceptions of black people have also been shaped by literature. Henryk Sienkiewicz’s novel In Desert and Wilderness contains the famous character Kali, who speaks broken English and has dubious morality. In 1924, poet Julian Tuwim published a children's verse, "Murzynek Bambo" ("The little Murzyn Bambo"), which remained much-loved over the following half-century, but in the 21st century 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 is seen as reinforcing various black stereotypes.[37]
One high-profile event with regard to blacks in Poland was the death of Maxwell Itoya in 2010, a Nigerian street vendor from a mixed marriage who was selling counterfeit goods.[38] He was shot in the upper leg by a police officer during a street brawl that followed a screening check at a market in Warsaw, and died of a severed artery.[39] The event led to a media debate regarding policing and racism.[40]
In Strzelce Opolskie, black football players from the LZS Piotrówka club were attacked in a bar by fans of opposing team Odra Opole in 2015 and two young men were arrested.[41] At least six were sentenced.[42] In a Łódź dance club, a black student was attacked in a men's washroom.[43][44]
Studies and surveys
2008 EVS survey
An analysis based on the 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.[69]
In 1990, due partly to the political euphoria accompanying the fall of communism, Poland was the most tolerant nation in Central Europe. However, over the course of the '90s, the level of tolerance decreased. By 1999, EVS recorded Poland as having one of the highest rates of xenophobia in Europe, while antisemitism also increased during this time. The factors behind these decreases in tolerance and 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.[69]
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 1990s level, although they do remain somewhat above the European average.[69] 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).[69]
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.[69]
2012 CRP survey
In a 2012 survey conducted by the Center for Research on Prejudice at the University of Warsaw, it was found that 78.5% of participants disagreed with traditional antisemitic statements (e.g. "Jews are responsible for the death of Jesus Christ"), but 52.9% agreed with secondary antisemitic statements (e.g. "Jews spread the stereotype of Polish anti-Semitism"), and 64.6% believed in a "Jewish conspiracy" (e.g. "Jews would like to rule the world").[70] The authors noted that "belief in [a] Jewish conspiracy proved to be the strongest significant predictor of discriminatory intentions towards Jews in all fields. Traditional anti-Semitism predicted social distance towards Jews, while it did not predict any of the other discriminatory intentions. Secondary anti-Semitism failed to predict any form of discriminatory intentions against Jews."[70]
2014 ADL Global 100 survey
In the ADL Global 100 survey conducted in 2013–2014, 57% of respondents said that "it is probably true" that "Jews have too much power in the business world"; 55% that "Jews have too much power in international financial markets"; 42% that "Jews have too much control over global affairs"; and 33% that "people hate Jews because of the way Jews behave".[71]
2018 FRA survey
In the 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 Muslims 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%).[72]
2022 FRA survey
A 2022 study by European Agency for Fundamental Rights (EU FRA) found that Black people or people of African descent were least likely to experience discrimination in Poland among 13 EU states that took part in the survey. In the survey responses analyzed by the agency, 21% of respondents stated they had faced discrimination in Poland in the past five years. For comparison, 77% stated they had experienced discrimination in Germany, 44% in Italy and 27% in Sweden and Portugal, the two countries with lowest discrimination after Poland.[73][74] Poland also had the highest proportion of responders (81%) who stated that when stopped by police in Poland the police officers were "very" or "fairly" respectful.[73]
Countering racism
Government action
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")[75] and also established the Monitoring Team on Racism and Xenophobia within the Ministry of Interior and Administration. The Implementation Report (2010)[76] stated that the programme suffered from various obstacles, including lacking and unclear funding, and eventually some planned tasks were completed, while others were not.[77]
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 government in May 2016.[78]