Through the wonders of Facebook, I saw ar article about Anti-Semitism in Poland and how it may/may not play out in the Euro 2012 Football (that’s soccer) Championships.
Bottom line is that anti-Semitism seems to be alive and well in Poland at least during soccer matches with historically “Jewish” teams.
Given the fact that there are next to no Jews in Poland, it makes you wonder.
(It also makes you wonder if Helen Thomas knew that part of the equation when she said that Jews should go back to where they came from, “Poland and Germany,” but that’s a separate issue)
Intrigued by this article, I forwarded it to two friends, both of whom live in Poland.
Elysa wrote back:
Thank you for forwarding this article.
IT explains the graffiti that I became aware of last year.
As you know, I'm neither Polish nor Jewish but have lived in Krakow for 3 years.
My understanding is that the Jewish population is very small and mostly made up of elderly who remained after the war and had nowhere else to go.
I make a lot of photos at www.elysasicard.com. The website needs work but there are some photos in Borek Falencki which is where I live. There is a woman selling blueberries and on the wall behind her is this anti jewish slogan.
As an American who speaks limited Polish the graffiti is not obvious. But once you start to recognize it there is quite a lot which I could never understand as there is such a small Jewish population here. Now that I've read your article I realize that the graffiti is usually soccer-related.
I really don’t have any analysis on this one. Just putting it out there, looking for opinions and perspective.
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