Polish man jailed for burning effigy of ultra-Orthodox Jew
Dummy sporting black hat, beard and sidecurls set alight during demonstration against absorption of Muslim refugees
WARSAW, Poland -– A Polish man was sentenced to prison for burning an effigy of an ultra-Orthodox Jew at a demonstration against Muslim refugees in western Poland.
Piotr Rybak received a 10-month jail sentence on Monday for burning the effigy in the Wroclaw central market in November 2015. The decision by the Wroclaw municipal court will be reviewed by a second court.
“For everyone living in Poland after World War II, it is a clear statement of the terms ‘burning’ and ‘a Jew.’ This gesture should be read as a threat of annihilation, e.g., by burning,” said prosecutor Katarzyna Zagwojska.
Wroclaw Mayor Rafal Dutkiewicz sent footage of the demonstration to the prosecutor’s office, saying that it sounded like there were cries of “we’re burning a Jewish effigy” when it was set ablaze.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9e2QB3TbyYo
Rybak’s defense attorney reminded the court that the effigy — which included a black hat, beard, sidecurls and black clothing — was burnt during a demonstration against the absorption of Muslim refugees and not against the Jewish community.
Private news channel TVN24 reported that Rybak allegedly told investigators that his objective had been to criticize American Jewish billionaire financier George Soros — but not because of his Jewish roots.
He claimed Soros was financing what he called the Islamization of Europe and Poland.
“The effigy was prepared by the National Radical Camp,” Rybak told the court last week, according to reports. “It was to be an effigy of George Soros. I have not seen him. I did not know how Soros looks. I feel manipulated by the whole situation. I was, and I am, a patriot.”
“I acted for the nation and on behalf of the country,” said Rybak on Monday.
The trial has lasted for several weeks. Rybak was accused of “public incitement to hatred on the grounds of religion and nationality to an unspecified group of Jews by burning an effigy.”
Poland was once home to the world’s largest Jewish population, numbering around three million people or 10 percent of the Polish population in 1939.
But only about 300,000 survived the Second World War after Nazi Germany occupied Poland and set up the death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau on its territory.
