The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) in New York has urged the Polish government to take swift action in response to an anti-Semitic attack on a home belonging to the director of a Jewish-themed theater in Lublin, eastern Poland.
On the night of December 17, bricks with swastikas and a small explosive device were thrown through the window of the home of Tomasz Pietrasiewicz, shattering windows and causing minor damage. He was in a different part of his home and was not hurt.
Though Pietrasiewicz himself is not Jewish, he is known to be director of the Jewish-themed "NN Theater" in Lublin, which has been targeted with anti-Semitic attacks in the past.
The theater works to preserve the memory of the large and vibrant Jewish community that lived in Poland until the Holocaust.
Although the perpetrators have not yet been identified, Pietrasiewicz said he believed he had been targeted by right-wing extremists.
"This anti-Semitic hate crime targeted Tomasz Pietrasiewicz, but was clearly intended to terrorize the Jewish community," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL’s national director.
"The attack represents a dangerous escalation from previous anti-Semitic incidents against the theater -- including threatening letters and vandalism on the theater door depicting a Star of David hanging from a gallows," he added.
In a letter to Poland’s Ambassador to the United States, Robert Kupiecki, ADL urged the Polish government to consider the crime an attack against both an individual and against the Jewish community, and ensure that the full resources of the police and all other relevant public authorities are dedicated to the case.