A wealthy Polish businessman has appealed to the government to adopt a more humane approach to the migration crisis at the border with Belarus, where thousands of people – mostly from the Middle East, Asia and Africa – have been crossing. He has himself offered to support 100 refugee families with housing, jobs and education.
“I cannot be indifferent to and remain silent about the recent…actions towards migrants on the Polish-Belarus border,” wrote Władysław Grochowski, CEO of Arche, a large hotel and property group. “We cannot close our eyes or shut our ears to the cry for help.”
“I do not agree to building a wall, barbed wire, humiliating human dignity, just because these people are not Poles, [because] they come from countries with a different religious culture,” continued his letter, which was published in the leading Rzeczpospolita daily.
Pan Władysław Grochowski, prezes grupy Arche wykupił stronę w @rzeczpospolita gdzie zaapelował o pozwolenie na przyjęcie 100 rodzin uchodźczych. To jest godna i wspaniale humanitarna postawa. Mam nadzieję, że uda się tego dopilnować. Służę wsparciem. https://t.co/KZIH4iXcPY
— Janina Ochojska #MuremZaHolland (@JaninaOchojska) October 27, 2021
Poland’s national-conservative government has taken a tough approach in response to the unprecedented surge in crossings since August, which has been orchestrated by the Belarusian authorities.
After initially erecting a razor-wire fence along the border, it recently announced plans to build an “impenetrable” wall there. It has also been sending many of those who cross illegally – including women and children – back into Belarus.
“What is happening there…is shameful for us all, for all Poles who are proud of their nobility, humanism and heroism,” Grochowski added. He pointed out that “especially us Poles, who have suffered so much in the past”, should understand and sympathise with the plight of those now seeking refuge.
In his letter, the hotelier announced that, working with his company’s charitable foundation, he will provide housing, jobs and education for at least 100 families who have sought refuge at the border with Belarus. He expressed hope that other businesspeople would follow his example.
Grochowski and his company have previously supported a number of humanitarian causes. They helped construct housing for ethnic Poles repatriated from former Soviet states; built a school as part of a Catholic mission in Chad; and are currently providing aid to the Polish minority in Belarus, which is facing persecution.
Grochowski’s latest intervention follows a number of other protests and appeals for more humane treatment of the thousands of people arriving at the eastern border.
At the start of this month, the Catholic church called on Poles not to “not stigmatise arrivals” and instead to “welcome strangers”. The bishops also appealed to the authorities to “prioritise medical and humanitarian aid for migrants”.
Two weeks ago, thousands of people joined protests in Warsaw and Kraków under the slogan “Stop the Torture on the Border”. Last week, three former first ladies supported a protest of “Mothers at the Border”. They “expressed opposition to the inhumane treatment and deprivation of dignity of refugees”.
Poland’s government, however, says that it is providing all necessary humanitarian and medical aid to the migrants. It also argues that it has an obligation to prevent illegal, undocumented entry across the border, which is also the eastern frontier of the European Union.
The German interior minister recently thanked Poland for protecting the EU’s border. Opinion polling has also shown that a narrow majority of the Polish public approve of the government’s actions in response to the crisis.
Main image credit: Krzysztof Mazur/ Agencja Gazeta
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
