Poland condemns Israeli fans’ “murderers since 1939” banner at match against Polish club

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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Fans of Israeli Maccabi Haifa have faced criticism – including from Poland’s president and even Israel’s own embassy in Warsaw – for displaying a banner during a match against Polish side Raków Częstochowa saying “murderers since 1939”. They also desecrated a Polish flag.

The Israeli embassy called the display “disgusting behaviour” that has “no place anywhere”. But it added that “these shameful incidents do not reflect the spirit of the majority of Israeli fans”.

Polish President Karol Nawrocki, meanwhile, said that the “scandalous banner insults the memory of Polish citizens, the victims of World War Two, including three million Jews”. Poland’s government has called on European football governing body UEFA to take action against Maccabi Haifa.

The incident took place during a qualifying match for the UEFA Conference League on Thursday evening, which was held in Debrencen, Hungary. The Israeli fans displayed a banner that said, in English, “murderers since 1939”.

That appears to suggest that Poles were responsible for the deaths of Jews during World War Two. In fact, Poland was invaded and occupied by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union in 1939 and it was Germany that was responsible for carrying out the Holocaust on occupied Polish territory.

Poland never had a collaborationist government and Poles were themselves subjected to brutal persecution and often death at the hands of the occupiers. Among those honoured by Israel for saving Jews from the Holocaust, there are more Poles than any other national group.

However, there were also cases during the war in which Poles blackmailed Jews, sold them out to the Germans, or even were involved in massacres themselves.

After the match, Poland’s government spokesman Adam Szłapka called on UEFA to make a “clear response” to the “outrageous behaviour of Israeli fans towards Poland and Poles”. A number of other government ministers also issued similar condemnations and demands.

The head of Poland’s football association, Cezary Kulesza, confirmed that he would “urgently ask UEFA to take a position and hold [those responsible] accountable for the scandalous banner and outrageous behaviour in the stands”. He called the banner a “falsification of history”.

Meanwhile, Poland’s foreign minister, Radosław Sikorski, expressed saisfaction that the Israeli embassy had condemned the banner. “I hope that Israeli youth are taught that, in 1939, it was Nazi Germany that attacked Poland and began murdering its citizens of all faiths and nationalities,” he added.

Poland and Israel have regularly clashed over the history of World War Two and the Holocaust.

In 2021, the two countries withdrew their respective ambassadors amid a dispute over a proposed restitution law that Israel said would make it much harder for Holocaust survivors and their descendants to reclaim property in Poland stolen during or after the war.

In 2022, they again clashed over the issue of Israeli Holocaust education trips to Israel. This year, Israel expressed outrage over the possibility that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could be arrested under an ICC warrant if he visited Poland for the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.

Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Main image credit: Łukasz Ciona/X

Daniel Tilles

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.