A man has been detained on suspicious of painting graffiti that recently appeared on the walls around a historical church in Poland and which insulted Prime Minister Donald Tusk, including by likening him to Hitler.
The suspect has been charged with the crime of “insulting a public official or a constitutional body”, which carries a potential prison sentence of up to two years, and with damaging culturally important property and monuments, which can be punishable by up to ten years in prison.
Nazwał Tuska "Hitlerkiem" na kościele Pokoju w Świdnicy. Tłumaczy się gwałtownymi zmianami w kraju https://t.co/vaEGokAs1j
— Wyborcza.pl Wrocław (@wyborczawroclaw) January 20, 2024
The graffiti appeared during the night of 12 to 13 January on the wall surrounding the Holy Trinity Church of Peace in Świdnica, a 17th-century Protestant wooden church that is included on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
The slogans painted onto the said “F**k Tusk” (“J***ć Tusk”), “Tusk Little Hiter” (“Tusk Hitlerek”), and “F**k PO and PSL” (“C**j w PO i PSL”), referring to Tusk’s Civic Platform (PO) party and one of its coalition partners, the Polish People’s Party (PSL).
In the first two inscriptions, the “S” in Tusk’s name had been turned into a double lightning bolt symbol of the type used by the Nazi SS. Swastikas (drawn back to front) had also been added.
Holy Trinity Church of Peace in Świdnica (Wisniowy/Wikimedia Commons, under CC BY-SA 4.0)
After the vandalism took place, police and prosecutors in Świdnica launched an investigation, including securing CCTV footage that reportedly showed the perpetrator carrying out the act.
Marek Rusin, head of the district prosecutor’s office, revealed that they were treating the incident as an insult against a constitutional body, in this case the office of the prime minister. Poland has a wide range of laws making insulting public officials, religious sentiment and even the Polish nation itself criminal (and often jailable) offences.
“We hope that the guilty will be held accountable,” Bishop Waldemar Pytel, the parish priest, told the Ekumenizm.pl website. “The atmosphere in the country is extremely tense and escalating…[But] we cannot overcome hatred with hatred, because it will escalate hostility even more.”
A man has been detained on suspicion of vandalising a statue of former Pope John Paul II.
He is charged with “offending religious feelings” and “insulting a monument”, crimes in Poland that could result in a prison sentence of up to two years https://t.co/qggoOy8L1W
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) April 7, 2023
The bishop noted that the local Protestant community had expressed willingness to help paint over the graffiti, but said they were unable to do so because the building is a protected monument and permission from the conservator is needed, reported TVN.
The church’s website speculated that it could have been targeted because the Protestant church in Poland is “associated with Germanness” and there has been “anti-German hysteria during recent political disputes”.
The previously ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party has regularly accused Tusk and PO of representing German interests and such rhetoric was particularly intense around last October’s parliamentary elections that resulted in PiS losing power and Tusk forming a new government.
In his first remarks since the ruling party lost its majority at Sunday's elections, Jarosław Kaczyński has suggested that "external forces" – especially Germany and Russia – are behind the opposition parties now set to form a new government https://t.co/iHuHEMmUik
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) October 21, 2023
On Friday, police in Świdnica announced that they had detained a 52-year-old resident of the town on suspicion of carrying out the vandalism. They thanked the local community for help in identifying him.
Rusin told broadcaster TVN that the man had confessed to carrying out the act. “He wanted to express his opinion about the changes in our country. In his explanations, he noted that he regretted what he had done and wanted to repair the damage,” said the prosecutor.
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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.
