The Jan Karski Society, a nongovernmental organization that promotes intercultural dialogue and counters xenophobia, issued the statement following a rally earlier this month organized by the opposition Law and Justice party (PiS) to protest illegal migration.
Nationalist activist Robert Bąkiewicz, who leads the informal Border Defense Movement, appeared on stage alongside supporters brandishing paper replicas of war scythes—a reference to 19th-century Polish uprisings.
He urged the crowd to “raise scythes upright,” described political opponents as “weeds” to be “pulled out,” and spoke of “throwing napalm” so they “never grow back.”
Bąkiewicz told the audience not to fear prosecutors or courts and said “these people will pay the price.”
“In a situation where someone calls for using scythes and napalm to eliminate people who think differently, euphemistically called weeds to be pulled out,” the Jan Karski Society said the public should be reminded of Karski’s warning 25 years ago about "a climate of tolerance and permission for antisemitism"—and his reminder that "those who condone such acts become complicit.”
The group added that “in the 25 years since then, nothing has changed.”
Warsaw prosecutors said last Monday they had opened an investigation into Bąkiewicz’s remarks on suspicion of incitement to commit a crime.
Under Polish law, prosecutors can launch proceedings without a formal complaint when speech appears to call for violence.
Jan Karski was a courier for the Polish underground during World War II who reported early on the Holocaust to Allied leaders.
He warned after the war that tolerating hate speech harmed Poland’s national interests and created “an illusion of insincerity and duplicity” in the eyes of Western partners.
The Jan Karski Society, which seeks to preserve his legacy, said Karski’s words—widely circulated when first published—remain a guide for civic responsibility and public discourse today.
(rt/gs)
Source: PAP