World Jewish News

'Entry forbidden to Jews, Commies, and all thieves and traitors of Poland,' reads sign at the entrance of Polish guest

The World Jewish Congress says it was ‘’deeply disturbed and disappointed’’ by the Polish government’s apparent failure to intervene to remove a flagrantly anti-Semitic banner at the entrance to a guest house near the western city of Wroclaw, and to prosecute those responsible for posting it.

Against a red and white backdrop that are the colors of the Polish flag, the sign at the Dom Polski guest house in Cesarzowice declares “Entry forbidden to Jews, Commies, and all thieves and traitors of Poland.’’

WJC CEO Robert Singer said that the sign “conjures up memories of ghetto benches and other chilling manifestations of anti-Semitism in Poland in the late 1930s. Given Poland’s history, we would have expected the authorities to act forcefully and swiftly to put a stop to such activity, which is illegal and utterly contravenes the democratic norms Warsaw is committed to upholding.”

According to press reports, the guest house belongs to Piotr Rybak, who is known for a number of anti-Semitic actions including the burning of a Jew in effigy on the main market square in Wroclaw (for which he was sentenced to a jail term) and for publicly insulting first lady Agata Kornhauser-Duda for her Jewish origins.

The Polish government has so far failed to intervene and act against this act of anti-Semitism.

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has urged Polish authorities ‘’to investigate the illegal and anti-Semitic banner at the hostel and take appropriate action against those responsible.”

EJP