Polish Honorary Consul Dismissed For Photoshopped Picture Of Donald Tusk As SS Officer
Image by Jack Taylor / Getty Images
Earlier today the Polish Honorary Consul in Akron, Ohio (one of twenty such posts in the United States) was dismissed for allegedly posting a photoshopped image of European Council President Donald Tusk dressed as an SS officer. The honorary consul, Maria Szonert-Binienda, denies the charges, stating to the AP, “I did not make a photo of Donald Tusk as SS-man. I am against promoting SS symbols and ideologies. I am against using the words like ‘fascism’ in the public political discourse today. I am against comparing our politicians to Hitler.” According to an AP report, “One of Mr Tusk’s grandfathers served briefly in the German Wehrmacht during the Second World War, something his political opponents have used against him.”
Szonert-Binienda was appointed by Poland’s ruling Law and Justice Party (PiS) run by Jaroslaw Kaczynski. Tusk’s Civic Platform Party currently represents the main opposition to the increasingly illiberal PiS rule, and Kaczynski and Tusk have long been at political-odds, not least because Kaczynski is critical of Tusk’s handling of the 2010 plane crash that resulted in the deaths of Lech Kaczynski, Jaroslaw’s twin brother, and other members of the Polish government at the time. Szonert-Binienda’s husband is currently serving on a government commission reinvestigating the crash.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
