Richard Spencer Is Not Welcome In Poland Because Of His ‘Anti-Semitic Ideas’

Image by Getty Images

By Sam Kestenbaum November 28, 2017

Polish authorities have placed white nationalist and “alt-right” figurehead Richard Spencer on a list of “undesirable” people who are not welcome in the country.

Poland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed it had “made the appropriate request… to place Spencer on the list,” according to a report in BuzzFeed News.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs explained in a statement to BuzzFeed News that its request “emphasized that Richard Spencer is the leader of the radical supremacist movement, which ideology is based on racist, anti-Semitic and xenophobic ideas.”

Spencer was slated to appear at an event organized by the right-wing political party Kongres Narodowo-Społeczny on Poland’s Independence Day, on November 11.

Spencer describes himself as a “white Zionist” who wants to create a white-only ethno-state. He also believes that Jews in Europe and America have contributed to what he and other white nationalists see as the downfall of their people.

Email Sam Kestenbaum at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter at @skestenbaum

Sam Kestenbaum is a contributing editor and former staff writer for the Forward. Before this, he worked for The New York Times and newsrooms in Sana, Ramallah and Beijing. Contact him at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter at @skestenbaum and on Instagram at @skestenbaum.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

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 polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO