Burned Haredi Jew Effigy Represented George Soros, Polish Defendant Says
Image by Getty Images
WARSAW, Poland – The defendant on trial in Poland for burning an effigy of a haredi Orthodox Jew said it was supposed to represent Jewish philanthropist George Soros.
Piotr Ryba testified Monday in a Wroclaw municipal court about the effigy burned in the central market of the city in November 2015 at the end of a demonstration against taking in Muslim refugees.
Ryba is accused of “public incitement to hatred on the grounds of religion and nationality to an unspecified group of Jews by burning an effigy.”
Soros, an Israeli-American Jewish billionaire, is not an Orthodox Jew.
“The effigy was prepared by the National Radical Camp,” Ryba told the court, according to reports. “It was to be an effigy of George Soros. I have not seen him. I did not know how Soros looks. I feel manipulated by the whole situation. I was, and I am, a patriot.”
The trial has been ongoing for several weeks.
Aleksander Gleichgewicht, chairman of the Jewish community in Wroclaw, was at the protest as a counterdemonstrator and also testified Monday, the last day of witness testimony. He said he was shocked to discover that the effigy was a stereotypical image of a Hasidic Jew with a black hat, beard, side curls and black clothing, just as Jews were portrayed in Nazi Germany propaganda in the 1930s.
He recalled the situation in Nazi Germany.
“First they burned buildings and effigies, then living people,” Gleichgewicht said.
The next hearing is scheduled for Nov. 21, when a verdict is expected to be delivered.
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.
