Polish Far-Rightists Take Aim at Jews
Young Polish nationalists and anti-Semitic extreme rightists called for the overthrow of Poland’s government at the republic’s Independence Day march.
At Sunday’s event, the groups established a new nationalist organization called the National Movement.
Many of the participants in the march waved green flags with Celtic crosses and phalanx. Green flags in prewar Poland were a symbol of anti-Semites.
The marchers earlier had laid flowers at the monument of Roman Dmowski, who along with Jozef Pilsudski contributed to regaining Poland’s independence in 1918. Dmowski was known, however, for his anti-Semitism and considered the Jews to be one of the greatest enemies of Poland.
Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski also laid flowers at Dmowski’s grave and held his own march on Sunday under the slogan “Together for Independence.”
Earlier in the day Komorowski presented the state medal to Anne Applebaum-Sikorski, an American Jewish writer and journalist and the wife of Poland’s foreign minister, Radoslaw Sikorski, for her dissemination of knowledge about the recent history of Central and Eastern Europe.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.

