Religious denominations in Poland

The constitution of Poland provides for freedom of religion, and the Polish government generally respects this right in practice.

Relations between the various religious communities are generally amicable.

Anti-Semitism persists among certain sectors of the population, occasionally manifesting themselves in acts of vandalism and physical or verbal abuse. However, surveys in recent years show a continuing decline in anti-Semitic sentiment, and avowedly anti-Semitic candidates fare very poorly in elections.

In March 1998, a controversy arose over the Auschwitz cross.

Sporadic and isolated incidents of harassment and violence against Jews continue to occur in the country, often generated by skinheads and other marginal societal groups. Occasional cases of cemetery desecration, most often of Jewish cemeteries but also including Catholic shrines, also occurred during 1998 and the first half of 1999. Government authorities consistently criticized such actions and pledged to prevent similar acts in the future, for example by increased police patrols around Jewish sites.

In January 1998, a rock was thrown through the window of the Jewish community headquarters in Katowice, hitting the doors of an adjacent prayer room. Immediately following the incident, then National Police Chief Marek Papala instructed the Katowice provincial police chief to work with the Jewish community to tighten security around the property. Papala also sent a letter to the other province-level police commanders instructing them to make themselves available to discuss Jewish community security concerns. Local police continue to work with Jewish community leaders to resolve the case. In May 1998, vandals desecrated 27 Jewish graves in the Warsaw Jewish cemetery in two separate incidents. Police investigated the attacks but have been unable to identify any suspects.

Jewish graves also were vandalized at the Palmiry cemetery near Warsaw, which houses the graves of victims of Nazi executions during World War II. The grave of pre-World War II Sejm speaker Maciej Rataj--a Polish Catholic--also was vandalized in that attack. Within days of the incident, both Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek and Sejm Speaker Maciej Plazynski visited the cemetery and laid flowers on the desecrated graves. In a public address, the Prime Minister criticized the act and stressed that society must do all it can to prevent similar acts in the future. He also pledged government funds to restore the vandalized graves. The vandals responsible for both incidents are still at large.

In July 1998, unknown perpetrators vandalized a plaque commemorating Rzeszow Jews killed in the Holocaust. The vandals spray-painted anti-Semitic and anti-German slogans below the plaque, which hangs on the wall of a Rzeszow synagogue. Rzeszow city officials reacted swiftly and cleaned up the plaque upon discovery of the vandalism. Vandals in that area previously had targeted Catholic churches and cemeteries as well as a statue of a World War II hero. Police continue to search for those responsible. In October 1998, vandals attacked and damaged 56 gravestones in the Jewish cemetery in Krakow. On several weekends in 1998, groups of skinheads gathered outside the Wroclaw synagogue for demonstrations, occasionally subjecting persons attending services to verbal abuse. Authorities moved to ensure the safety of the worshipers. The demonstrations ended shortly thereafter, and as of June 1999 none had taken place for several months.

In January 1999, vandals damaged or destroyed 57 gravestones in the Jewish cemetery in Krakow. Vandals had attacked the same cemetery in October 1998. After the first incident police officers increased their patrols of the cemetery. Police promised additional, special protection after the second incident to prevent further attacks. In May 1999, the cemetery was vandalized again when unidentified perpetrators overturned 30 gravestones and set fire to the main door of the pre-burial house. However, the chairman of the local Jewish community called this an act of hooliganism, not anti-Semitism, since in the weeks preceding the attack vandals had smashed gravestones and otherwise damaged two nearby Catholic cemeteries. The chairman also noted the cooperation of the Krakow city police with the Jewish community to improve the security of the cemetery. In June the cemetery was attacked yet again when vandals painted crosses on several tombstones and on the pre-burial house. This incident appears to have been motivated by anti-Semitism, since members of the Jewish community received telephone calls linking the graffiti to the recent removal of crosses that were placed near the concentration camp at Auschwitz.

In 2001 Polish-Jewish relations were complicated by a controversy that arose over revelations regarding the 1941 massacre of the Jewish population of the northeastern town of Jedwabne. The publication of a book that alleged that the killings were perpetrated by the town's ethnic Polish inhabitants, and not by the occupying Germans as stated in a monument at the site, led to considerable discussion of the Polish role during the Nazi occupation, of the extent of Jewish collaboration with the former Soviet Union, and of Polish-Jewish relations in general. The Government moved quickly to address the problem, removed the inaccurate monument, began an investigation of the Jedwabne events, and prepared to hold a ceremony of reconciliation on the 60th anniversary of the killings in July 2001

Sporadic and isolated incidents of harassment and violence against Jews continue to occur in the country, often generated by skinheads and other marginal societal groups. Occasional cases of cemetery desecration, including both Jewish and, more frequently, Catholic shrines, also occurred in 2001. Government authorities consistently criticized such actions and pledged to prevent similar acts in the future, for example, by increased police patrols around Jewish sites.

In September 2000, dignitaries from Poland, Israel, the United States, and other countries (including Prince Hassan of Jordan) gathered in Oswiecim (Auschwitz) to commemorate the opening of the refurbished Chevra Lomdei Mishnayot synagogue and the Auschwitz Jewish Center. The synagogue, the sole synagogue in Oswiecim to survive World War II and an adjacent Jewish cultural and educational center, provide visitors a place to pray and to learn about the active pre-World War II Jewish community that existed in Oswiecim. The synagogue was the first communal property in the country to be returned to the Jewish community under the 1997 law allowing for restitution of Jewish communal property.

In October 2000, extreme nationalist Kazimierz Switon, who during the period 1998 to 1999 was responsible for the controversial raising of several hundred protest crosses at a gravel pit outside the former Auschwitz death camp, was acquitted of distributing leaflets alleging that some politicians were of Jewish origins and appealing for their removal from public life. The court ruled that the 1995 distribution of such leaflets did not incite ethnic strife.

In November 2000, under the auspices of the No to Europe Association (an anti-European Union organization), some 400 nationalists marched through the streets of Katowice, chanting anti-Semitic slogans and burning Israeli flags. The protest organizer told police investigating the case that only some 30 percent of the rally's participants were members of his organization.

In February 2001, 16 tombstones were desecrated in the Jewish cemetery in Wroclaw and, in April 2001, several tombstones were damaged in a Catholic cemetery in the town of Bartoszyce. In May 2001, the Jewish cemetery in Oswiecim was desecrated when 39 tombstones were knocked over by unidentified perpetrators. Later that month, a group of international and Polish students, who participated in the March of Remembrance and Hope, organized a clean up of the cemetery and restored the tombstones to their proper locations.

In March and April of 2001, several functionaries in the presidential chancellery were identified as having participated as students in the government-sponsored anti-Semitic campaigns of 1968. One of those accused subsequently resigned.

In April 2001, controversial Gdansk priest Henryk Jankowski created in his church a replica of the barn in Jedwabne in which members of that town's Jewish community were burned to death in 1941. A sign near the display accused Jews of having killed Christ and of persecuting Poles. The local archbishop ordered the tableau removed, and religious and political leaders strongly criticized its construction in the church.

In April 2001, during the 13th March of the Living from Auschwitz to Birkenau to honor victims of the Holocaust, several hundred citizens joined 2,000 marchers from Israel and other countries. Government officials participating in the march included Members of Parliament, the province's governor, and Oswiecim's mayor and city council chairman. Schoolchildren, boy scouts, the Polish-Israeli Friendship Society, and the Jewish Students Association in Poland also participated in the march. In May 2001, several hundred students from around the world marched through the town in The March of Remembrance and Hope.

During 2002 Polish-Jewish relations were complicated by a controversy that arose over revelations regarding the 1941 massacre of the Jewish population of the northeastern town of Jedwabne. The publication of a book, which alleged that the killings were perpetrated by the town's ethnic Polish inhabitants and not by the occupying Germans as stated in a monument at the site, led to considerable discussion of the Polish role during the Holocaust, of the extent of Jewish cooperation with Soviet occupation forces, and of Polish-Jewish relations in general. The Government moved quickly to address the problem, removed the inaccurate monument, began an investigation of the Jedwabne events, and held a ceremony of reconciliation on the 60th anniversary of the killings in July 2001. The National Remembrance Institute continued to investigate all circumstances surrounding the Jedwabne incident through April 2002.

On March 1, 2002, the National Remembrance Institute (IPN), which was created to provide access to Communist-era secret police files and provide an accurate history of the Communist period, released its first annual report. During the debate, one Member of Parliament criticized the report for devoting too much time to the July 1941 killing of Jews in Jewabne and introduced a motion to reject the report; he made remarks that some observers interpreted as anti-Semitic. The case was referred to the ethics committee; however, there were no reports of an investigation at the end of the period covered by this report. A group of well-known politicians, scientists, clergymen, artists, and businesspersons signed an open letter of protest against the verbal attacks on the IPN Chairman.

In April 2002, during the 14th March of the Living from Auschwitz to Birkenau to honor victims of the Holocaust, several hundred citizens joined 1,500 marchers from Israel and other countries.