Participants in a Polish nationalist demonstration in New York City, March 31, 2019. Image by Getty

By Ari Feldman April 1, 2019

Polish nationalists demonstrated in Manhattan Sunday against a proposed U.S. law that would provide compensation to victims of the Holocaust who had their property seized during the war. Their contingent of several dozen protestors was met by a counter-protest group.

The demonstration comes as there has been considerable pushback from Poland and the Polish government against the historical evidence of Polish participation in the carrying out of the Holocaust in Poland. Last year, Poland passed a law effectively making it illegal to blame Poland or the Polish people for Nazi crimes. The law passed amid widespread sentiment in the country that Poland has been falsely accused of playing a role in the Holocaust, and its government has insisted that international media not use phrases like “Polish death camp” when referring to Auschwitz, which is in Poland.

On Sunday, several protestors carried signs reading “Holocaust Industry,” “Treat anti-Polonism like anti-Semitism” and “Stop slandering Poland in the media.” Others spoke to the considerable losses that the Polish population endured under Nazi occupation.

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The Polish nationalists were demonstrating against the Justice for Uncompensated Survivors Today (JUST) Act of 2017, passed last year.

A group of counter-protestors, some bearing “antifa” insignia on their signs, rallied against the Polish nationalist demonstration. The groups included Outlive Them NYC, a group of Jewish anti-fascists.

Counter-protestors at the Foley Square demonstration on Sunday. Image by Getty

Jewish author and artist Molly Crabapple reported hearing anti-Semitic comments from the protestors.

“There were over a hundred Polish nationalists out- everyone from the elderly to mothers with little kids,” Crabapple wrote on Twitter. “One woman touched my arm and told me the Jews of Warsaw were mostly killed by other Jews.”

Crabapple also noted that one person told her that the Jews were responsible for Russian invasions of Poland.

Ari Feldman is a staff writer at the Forward. Contact him at feldman@forward.com or follow him on Twitter @aefeldman

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