20 percent of Central, Eastern Europeans do not accept Jews as fellow citizens

A Pew Research Center survey of 18 countries finds that Jews are not wanted as neighbors or family members. 

By: JNS

About one-fifth of people polled in Central and Eastern European countries say they do not accept Jews as fellow citizens and do not want Jewish neighbors.

Some 32 percent of Armenians, 23 percent of Lithuanians, 22 percent of Romanians, 19 percent of Czechs, 18 percent of Poles, 16 percent of Greeks and 14 percent of Russians do not accept Jews as fellow citizens, according to a Pew Research Center survey of 18 Central and Eastern European countries conducted in 2015-16 and published last week.

While 18 percent of Poles do not accept Jews as fellow citizens, an even higher percentage do not accept Jews as neighbors (20 percent) or as members of their families (30 percent).

Poland’s recently passed libel law, which criminalizes the attribution of Nazi crimes to Poland, has raised concerns that it will serve to whitewash Poland’s history of anti-Semitism and racism.

Other minorities fared worse

According to the survey, although a sizeable percentage of Poles does not accept Jews, Jews are more favorably viewed than other minorities, such as Muslims and Roma.

While 30 percent of Poles say they would not be willing to accept Jews as members of their family, 55 percent would not accept Muslims in their families and 49 percent say the same of Roma.

While 20 percent of Poles say they would not accept Jews as neighbors, 43 percent say they would not accept Muslims, and 38 percent say they would not accept Roma as neighbors.