Latest news with #GrzegorzBraun
Euronews
15-07-2025
- Politics
- Euronews
Polish prosecutors probe far-right lawmaker over Auschwitz denial
Polish prosecutors have launched a criminal investigation after a far-right lawmaker and MEP described the Auschwitz concentration camp and its gas chambers as "fake". Grzegorz Braun, a member of the far-right Confederation party and former presidential candidate, is under investigation for the "public and factually untrue denial of the crimes of genocide" committed by Nazi officers at Auschwitz, prosecutors said on Monday. The probe relates to an interview with Braun on Poland's Wnet radio last week, according to the Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation. During that interview — which was broadcast on 10 July — Braun said the Nazi death camp and its gas chambers were "fake" and accused the government-run Auschwitz Museum of promoting a "pseudo-historical narrative". The reporter immediately ended the interview after Braun's remarks, saying that he had gone too far. The prosecutors' investigation comes under Article 55 of the Polish Act on the Institute of National Remembrance, which punishes Holocaust denial by up to three years in prison. Auschwitz Museum Director Piotr Cywiński was one of several figures and institutions in the country to criticise Braun and demand action against him. "Denying the fact that gas chambers existed is not only a manifestation of anti-Semitism and an ideology of hatred; in Poland it is also a crime," Cywiński said in a statement shared on Facebook. He also said that the museum would sue Braun for defamation. 'A disgrace' Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk described Braun's words as "a disgrace", and said that "we must do everything so that no one in the world associates Poland with such people, such faces and such actions". Nazi German forces systematically imprisoned, tortured and murdered about 1.1 million people at Auschwitz in southern Poland, which was under German occupation during World War II. Most of the victims were Jews killed on an industrial scale in gas chambers, but also Poles, Roma, prisoners of war, members of antifascist resistance, gay people and others. On Thursday, Braun visited the northeastern town of Jedwabne on the anniversary of a 1941 massacre in which at least 340 Jews were killed, some burned alive. Braun was among a group of people who tried to block the departure of cars carrying people who participated in a ceremony marking the anniversary, including Poland's chief rabbi, local media reported. Police intervened and they were able to leave. Some Poles want the massacre site excavated to uncover possible evidence that Germans ordered Polish villagers to do the killings. Braun demanded the exhumation of the victims on Thursday. Braun has a history of contentious and provocative behaviour. In December 2023, he used a fire extinguisher to douse Jewish Hanukkah candles in parliament, an act that sparked global outcry. Over the years, Braun has also damaged a microphone during a talk by a Holocaust historian, vandalised an LGBTQ+ exhibition, and removed a Christmas tree from a court in Krakow and put it in the bin because it was decorated in pro-Ukrainian and pro-EU colours.
Euronews
13-07-2025
- Politics
- Euronews
Polish FM Sikorski: Anti-immigrant hysteria harms Poland
Poland's foreign minister has condemned racism and anti-Semitism on Saturday, saying they harm Poland. "Anti-immigrant hysteria harms Poland, it awakens the worst demons, and Holocaust denial excludes us from civilised nations", - Sikorski said in a recording published on the X platform. His statement followed a series of incidents in the country, including a statement by far-right MEP Grzegorz Braun in which he proclaimed that "the gas chambers at Auschwitz were fake". "Pilecki did not volunteer for Auschwitz so that now some scoundrel undermines his report for political gain," Sikorski replied. Witold Pilecki, a Polish officer and intelligence agent, let himself get arrested and interned at Auschwitz in 1940 to document what was happening there and escaped from the death camp three years later. Before returning to Poland after the war -- where he was executed by the Communist authorities in 1948 -- he compiled and published his reports on the genocide at Auschwitz. In the recording, Sikorski also recalled incidents in Zamość, where artists from Spain, India, Senegal and Serbia, as well as revellers at the 22nd Eurofolk festival which concluded on Sunday, were insulted and the Municipal Police received reports of a "refugee invasion". "This is not the only such case in the country," Sikorski commented. He also referred to the current situation at the Polish-German border, where members of so-called citizen patrols have been shouting anti-immigrant and anti-German slogans. On 7 July, Poland introduced border controls with Germany and Lithuania in response to growing criticism of Germany's decision to send back thousands of migrants who they claimed had illegally crossed the border back into Poland. "We have the right to control the borders by authorised services. We have the right to know who is legally in Poland. But there is no acquiescence to the escalating campaign of racism and the anti-Semitism it fuels," said the head of Polish diplomacy, adding that as foreign minister, he must take care of Poland's image around the world. "I am proud of Poland. Poland has always been a hospitable country, and Poles and Polish women are better than those who 'rat on strangers and fuel the spiral of hatred,'" the country's top diplomat stressed.
CTV News
11-07-2025
- Politics
- CTV News
Polish prosecutors investigate far-right lawmaker for comments on Auschwitz
WARSAW, Poland — Polish prosecutors launched a preliminary investigation after a far-right lawmaker described the gas chambers at the Auschwitz death camp as a 'fake.' Grzegorz Braun, a member of the European Parliament, has previously been accused of antisemitism, and extinguished Hanukkah candles in parliament with a fire extinguisher in 2023. He was a presidential candidate who won more than six per cent of the votes in the first round of the election earlier this year. Speaking to Poland's Wnet radio on Thursday, Braun said that 'ritual murder is a fact, and such a thing as Auschwitz with its gas chambers is unfortunately a fake,' news agency PAP reported. The reporter then ended the interview. Some Christians in medieval Europe believed that Jews murdered Christians to use their blood for ritual purposes, something which historians say has no basis in Jewish religious law or historical fact and instead reflected anti-Jewish hostility in Christian Europe. A spokesperson for the Warsaw district prosecutor's office, Piotr Antoni Skiba, said prosecutors were conducting a preliminary investigation into Braun's potential denial of Nazi crimes. The director of the Auschwitz museum, Piotr Cywinski, said he would file a separate complaint with prosecutors. He said that 'denying the fact that gas chambers existed is not only a manifestation of anti-Semitism and an ideology of hatred; in Poland it is also a crime.' Nazi German forces murdered some 1.1 million people at the Auschwitz site in southern Poland, which was under German occupation during World War II. Most of the victims were Jews killed on an industrial scale in gas chambers, but also Poles, Roma, Soviet prisoners of war, gay people and others. Prime Minister Donald Tusk described Braun's words as 'a disgrace.' He said that 'we must do everything so that no one in the world associates Poland with such people, such faces and such actions.' On Thursday, Braun was in the northeastern town of Jedwabne on the anniversary of a 1941 massacre in which Jews were burned alive by Polish neighbours during the Nazi occupation. He was among a group of people who tried to block the departure of cars carrying people who participated in a ceremony marking the anniversary, including Poland's chief rabbi, PAP reported. Police intervened and they were able to leave. Some Poles want the massacre site excavated to uncover possible evidence that Germans ordered Polish villagers to do the killings. Braun demanded the exhumation of the victims on Thursday. The Associated Press
11-07-2025
- Politics
Polish prosecutors investigate far-right lawmaker for comments on Auschwitz
WARSAW, Poland -- Polish prosecutors launched a preliminary investigation after a far-right lawmaker described the gas chambers at the Auschwitz death camp as a 'fake." Grzegorz Braun, a member of the European Parliament, has previously been accused of antisemitism, and extinguished Hanukkah candles in parliament with a fire extinguisher in 2023. He was a presidential candidate who won more than 6% of the votes in the first round of the election earlier this year. Speaking to Poland's Wnet radio on Thursday, Braun said that 'ritual murder is a fact, and such a thing as Auschwitz with its gas chambers is unfortunately a fake,' news agency PAP reported. The reporter then ended the interview. Some Christians in medieval Europe believed that Jews murdered Christians to use their blood for ritual purposes, something which historians say has no basis in Jewish religious law or historical fact and instead reflected anti-Jewish hostility in Christian Europe. A spokesperson for the Warsaw district prosecutor's office, Piotr Antoni Skiba, said prosecutors were conducting a preliminary investigation into Braun's potential denial of Nazi crimes. The director of the Auschwitz museum, Piotr Cywinski, said he would file a separate complaint with prosecutors. He said that 'denying the fact that gas chambers existed is not only a manifestation of anti-Semitism and an ideology of hatred; in Poland it is also a crime.' Nazi German forces murdered some 1.1 million people at the Auschwitz site in southern Poland, which was under German occupation during World War II. Most of the victims were Jews killed on an industrial scale in gas chambers, but also Poles, Roma, Soviet prisoners of war, gay people and others. Prime Minister Donald Tusk described Braun's words as 'a disgrace.' He said that "we must do everything so that no one in the world associates Poland with such people, such faces and such actions.' On Thursday, Braun was in the northeastern town of Jedwabne on the anniversary of a 1941 massacre in which Jews were burned alive by Polish neighbors during the Nazi occupation. He was among a group of people who tried to block the departure of cars carrying people who participated in a ceremony marking the anniversary, including Poland's chief rabbi, PAP reported. Police intervened and they were able to leave. Some Poles want the massacre site excavated to uncover possible evidence that Germans ordered Polish villagers to do the killings. Braun demanded the exhumation of the victims on Thursday.
San Francisco Chronicle
11-07-2025
- Politics
- San Francisco Chronicle
Polish prosecutors investigate far-right lawmaker for comments on Auschwitz
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Polish prosecutors launched a preliminary investigation after a far-right lawmaker described the gas chambers at the Auschwitz death camp as a 'fake." Grzegorz Braun, a member of the European Parliament, has previously been accused of antisemitism, and extinguished Hanukkah candles in parliament with a fire extinguisher in 2023. He was a presidential candidate who won more than 6% of the votes in the first round of the election earlier this year. Speaking to Poland's Wnet radio on Thursday, Braun said that 'ritual murder is a fact, and such a thing as Auschwitz with its gas chambers is unfortunately a fake,' news agency PAP reported. The reporter then ended the interview. Some Christians in medieval Europe believed that Jews murdered Christians to use their blood for ritual purposes, something which historians say has no basis in Jewish religious law or historical fact and instead reflected anti-Jewish hostility in Christian Europe. A spokesperson for the Warsaw district prosecutor's office, Piotr Antoni Skiba, said prosecutors were conducting a preliminary investigation into Braun's potential denial of Nazi crimes. The director of the Auschwitz museum, Piotr Cywinski, said he would file a separate complaint with prosecutors. He said that 'denying the fact that gas chambers existed is not only a manifestation of anti-Semitism and an ideology of hatred; in Poland it is also a crime.' Nazi German forces murdered some 1.1 million people at the Auschwitz site in southern Poland, which was under German occupation during World War II. Most of the victims were Jews killed on an industrial scale in gas chambers, but also Poles, Roma, Soviet prisoners of war, gay people and others. Prime Minister Donald Tusk described Braun's words as 'a disgrace.' He said that "we must do everything so that no one in the world associates Poland with such people, such faces and such actions.' On Thursday, Braun was in the northeastern town of Jedwabne on the anniversary of a 1941 massacre in which Jews were burned alive by Polish neighbors during the Nazi occupation. He was among a group of people who tried to block the departure of cars carrying people who participated in a ceremony marking the anniversary, including Poland's chief rabbi, PAP reported. Police intervened and they were able to leave. Some Poles want the massacre site excavated to uncover possible evidence that Germans ordered Polish villagers to do the killings. Braun demanded the exhumation of the victims on Thursday.
