Speaking on Sunday in Zabrze, a city in southern Poland, Jarosław Kaczyński used a party rally to accuse the ruling Civic Coalition of merely imitating conservative policies.
“The world is moving to the right - and Poland is, too. That’s clear in all the polls,” he said. “They may try to pretend - and I emphasise: pretend - that they are moving right as well. That pretending will be called Radosław Sikorski,” he added, referring to the head of Polish diplomacy.
Kaczyński then shifted his focus to Sikorski’s wife, Anne Applebaum, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist. The politician appeared to mock her indirectly by referring to a book she is reportedly writing titled Matka Polka - a term meaning “Mother Pole” that carries strong associations with traditional Polish identity.
While Kaczyński did not explicitly mention Applebaum’s Jewish heritage, many interpreted his comments as a coded message aimed at nationalist and antisemitic audiences, suggesting that Applebaum’s background conflicts with a conventional notion of Polishness.
Sikorski condemns Kaczyński for ‘winking at antisemites’
Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski responded swiftly, condemning Kaczyński’s comments. “He once kissed my hands for how I served as defence minister in his government and praised Anne Applebaum’s Gulag: A History - and more. Now he attacks her, winking at antisemites,” Sikorski wrote, highlighting the stark change in tone.
Gulag: A History is Applebaum’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book about the Soviet Union’s forced labour camp system under Stalin.
Poland's top diplomat also noted that he had never heard similar insinuations directed at Poland’s First Lady, Agata Kornhauser-Duda, who is due to leave office this Wednesday. Sikorski later reposted a sharply worded message from musician Zbigniew Hołdys, who accused Kaczyński on antisemitism.
‘Kaczyński is an antisemite,’ says Polish rock legend Zbigniew Hołdys
Adding to the wave of condemnation, Zbigniew Hołdys - a legendary Polish rock musician, songwriter, and composer - voiced his outrage on X (formerly Twitter):
“Kaczyński is an antisemite. If he weren’t, he wouldn’t have uttered such disgraceful words about Anne Applebaum. His inner self wouldn’t allow it. But instead, he chose to echo the rhetoric of Moczar and Gomułka from 1968. It’s awful. Luckily, it’s 2025, and Anne is an outstanding journalist and analyst…”
Zbigniew Hołdys Photo: Artur Barbarowski/East News
Hołdys was referring to Poland’s 1968 communist-era purge, during which party leaders Mieczysław Moczar and Władysław Gomułka launched an antisemitic campaign under the guise of “anti-Zionism,” forcing thousands of Polish Jews into exile.
The artist went on to note that Applebaum holds Polish citizenship and expressed hope that she would not be shaken by what he called Kaczyński’s “vulgarity,” adding that the Law and Justice leader’s behaviour left him deeply disheartened.
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Source: X/@sikorskiradek/@ZbigniewHoldys