Israel protests appointment of former far-right activist to head Polish state history body

Israel has criticised the appointment of a former far-right activist to lead a branch of Poland’s Institute of National Remembrance (IPN). The IPN has, however, defended the decision, saying that the man has apologised for his past “mistakes”.

Tomasz Greniuch, who is a historian by training, was until 2013 a far-right activist and founder of a regional branch of the National Radical Camp (ONR). ONR is an ultranationalist group that has its roots in a pre-war antisemitic organisation of the same name and which today calls for an “ethnically homogeneous” Poland.

During his time with ONR, Greniuch was pictured giving the Roman salute that is widely associated with fascism. In 2008, three ONR activists (not including Greniuch) were found guilty of “propagating Nazism” for making the salute, with the judge rejecting their claims that it was not a fascist gesture.

Greniuch himself has denied that the gesture is automatically associated with fascism. “Why should I be held responsible for the appropriation of it by Hitler? After all, it was already performed by the ancient Romans,” he said in 2006.

It has also come to light that Greniuch organised an event commemorating an episode in 1936 during which Polish nationalist politician Adam Doboszyński and his supporters captured the town of Myślenice, where they attacked Jewish businesses and attempted to burn down the synagogue.

Greniuch is also credited with being one of the initiators of the controversial annual Independence Day march in Warsaw, organised by three far-right groups, which this year ended in arson and clashes with the police.

Greniuch has, nevertheless, found employment with the IPN, a state body tasked with documenting, researching, prosecuting and educating on crimes committed in Poland under German Nazi and communist rule. It has been a key part of the Polish government’s “historical policy”.

Prior to his recent appointment to lead the IPN branch in Wrocław, one of Poland’s biggest cities, the 39-year-old Greniuch was the head of a smaller IPN delegation in another city, Opole. In 2018, he was awarded the Bronze Cross of Merit by President Andrzej Duda.

In response to news of Greniuch’s new position, the Israeli embassy in Warsaw tweeted a statement expressing “surprise that the new director of the IPN branch in Wrocław sees nothing wrong with raising the hand in the Nazi salute”.

“There should be no place for using Nazi symbols” in “a country which has suffered so much under Nazi occupation”, continued the embassy. It “encouraged” Greniuch to visit the Auschwitz museum, which is a “reminder of the dangers of Nazi ideology”.

Separately, the deputy mayor of opposition-controlled Wrocław, Sebastian Lorenc, published a statement saying that “there is no room for crude hatred and antisemitism” in the city. He called Greniuch a “persona non grata”.

The Green party (Zieloni), which is part of Civic Coalition (KO), Poland’s largest opposition group, called for Greniuch’s dismissal. The Left (Lewica), which is the second largest opposition party, said the appointment of someone with “brown [fascist] views” is a “scandal”.

The appointment has reportedly also sparked some opposition from within the IPN itself. One unnamed employee told website Onet that “such a position cannot be held by anyone who is ideologically engaged”.

The IPN itself has, however, come out in Greniuch’s defence by saying that “the accusations concern behaviour from his youth”. He has “repeatedly admitted that [his actions] were a mistake and apologised for them”.

The institute added that, during Greniuch’s previous post as the head of the IPN’s delegation in Opole, he “proved to be a good organiser”, helping to “inspire [greater] activity” and “open it up to new groups, including veterans and local government”.

“His immediate superiors always spoke of his work with the greatest praise,” said the IPN.

In 2017, the IPN similarly defended its decision to appoint as the deputy director of its publishing house a man whose company was the Polish publisher of books by convicted Holocaust denier David Irving.

In 2019, another former far-right activist, Adam Andruszkiewicz, was named as a deputy minister in Poland’s national-conservative government. Andruszkiewicz had previously been the leader of All-Polish Youth (Młodzież Wszechpolska), which along with ONR is one of the organisers of the annual Independence March.

Main image credit: Robert Kowalewski/Agencja Gazeta

Maria Wilczek

Maria Wilczek is deputy editor of Notes from Poland. She is a regular writer for The Times, The Economist and Al Jazeera English, and has also featured in Foreign Policy, Politico Europe, The Spectator and Gazeta Wyborcza.