Poland’s ruling party officials and the opposition have slammed neo-Nazis in Poland for propagating fascism after a report on nationalists’ activities was aired by private broadcaster TVN.

Television station TVN aired its investigative report into radical nationalist groups in Poland, which showed the Pride and Modernity (Duma i Nowoczesność) organisation celebrating Hilter’s birth anniversary in southwestern Poland in May last year.

Reporterzy przeniknęli do środowiska neonazistów.



Zobacz materiał @SUPERWIZJER_TVN ⬇️ https://t.co/jZwW3qnKhG — tvn24 (@tvn24) 20 stycznia 2018

The report showed an altar set up in honour of the German Nazi leader, a burning wooden swastika, people using the Hitler salute “Sieg Heil” and sharing in a Nazi German flag cake.

Krzysztof Łapiński, the Polish president’s spokesman, said: “Being a Polish patriot is incompatible with glorifying Adolf Hitler, who wanted to destroy Poland and Poles”.

He said that public displays of pro-Nazi sentiment were both morally and legally unacceptable.

He added that Hitler started the Second World War in which millions of Poles died.

Meanwhile, propagating fascism or other totalitarian regimes in Poland carries penalties of up to two years in jail.

Polish special services coordinator Mariusz Kamiński promised that Polish authorities would react “quickly and strongly”, adding that “the glorification of Nazis and Hitler in independent, free and democratic Poland is unacceptable”.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said the neo-Nazis “trampled the memory” of Polish ancestors.

Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro said he had the prosecution launch an inquiry into Pride and Modernity’s fascist propaganda and paraphernalia.

Interior Minister Joachim Brudziński called the TVN footage “shocking” and said he would talk to Police chief Jarosław Szymczyk and Assistant Prosecutor-General Bogdan Święczkowski.

Opposition Modern (Nowoczesna) party leader Katarzyna Lubnauer said she applied to the Internal Security Agency to take action against Pride and Modernity and to the Prosecutor General to delegalise the organisation, which is listed as a public benefit organisation and is entitled to receive one percent of income tax donations.

Lubnauer also wants the National Radical Camp (ONR) and All-Polish Youth (Młodzież Wszechpolska) organisations delegalised.

National Radical Camp and All-Polish Youth jointly set up the Independence March Association, which organised an Independence Day march in Warsaw last year, an event that was branded as “racist” and “fascist” by some domestic and foreign media.

According to a report, a small group of extreme nationalists was responsible for fascist and racist banners that marred the march.

Russian ties?

Meanwhile, the Fakt24 portal has alleged that Pride and Modernity has “ties to Russia”.

The portal did its own investigation into one of the organisation’s members, identified as Mateusz S. or “Sitas”, who Fakt24 said is also a member of the “No to the European Union” organization.

Fakt24 cites No to the European Union board member Rafał Marek Gwóźdź as saying that his organization supports “Polish and Russian conciliation”. (vb)

Source: IAR, PAP