Poles enraged at Israeli soccer fans’ ‘Murderers since 1939’ banner

In 2018, the Polish parliament adopted a law making it illegal to reference the complicity of some Poles in crimes against Jews committed during the Nazi occupation.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Israeli soccer fans were met with outrage in Poland after a group displayed a banner at a game referring to the Poles as “Murderers since 1939.”

The Polish president condemned the gesture as hateful and said it insulted the memories of all those who were killed by the Nazis, both Jewish and non-Jewish residents of Poland.

The controversy began Thursday when fans of Maccabi Haifa raised the banner during the Europa Conference League match against Rakow Czestochowa, which was played in Debrecen, Hungary, for security reasons.

The Nazis invaded Poland in 1939, and in the ensuing years of the Holocaust, murdered most of the country’s 3.2 million Jews along with 3 million non-Jews in Poland.

Although some accounts indicate that Poles participated in the killing of Jews, the official policy of Poland is to focus entirely on German responsibility for the Holocaust.

In 2018, the Polish parliament adopted a law making it illegal to reference the complicity of some Poles in crimes against Jews committed during the Nazi occupation.

At the time, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, along with other Jewish groups, expressed concern that the legislation would stifle historical research.

The banner sparked anger in Poland.

“The scandalous banner displayed by Maccabi Haifa fans insults the memory of Polish citizens — victims of World War II, including 3 million Jews,” Polish President Karol Nawrocki, a former head of the country’s Institute of National Remembrance, wrote on X. “Stupidity that no words can justify.”

Polish Interior Minister Marcin Kierwinski said, “Anti-Polonism and the scandalous distortion of Polish history by Israeli hooligans demand strong condemnation.”

The Israeli Embassy in Warsaw strongly criticized the banner.

“There is no place for such words and actions, from any side — neither at the stadium nor anywhere else. Never!” the embassy wrote on X. “These shameful incidents do not reflect the spirit of the majority of Israeli fans.”

Rakow Czestochowa won the game 2-0, giving them a 2-1 victory on aggregate.