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agitated people congregating around the entrance. On my way in, I noticed hostile stares and overheard obscenities shouted in my direction. If I were a politician, or a media personality, the scene might somehow have made sense. But for a researcher, and a historian, whose publications were usually absorbed by a small circle of academic colleagues, all of this was very unusual. The demonstrators, as I learned, had been mobilised by Robert Bąkiewicz, a right-­wing extremist, a candidate for the parliament and darling of the Polish authorities, well funded by the state. In front of me, protesters (some of them with children in tow), held banners which read: “German crimes, German responsibility!”, “Poles were the victims” and “Germans murdered six million Poles”. This last poster would have come as a surprise to the 3 million murdered Polish Jews who, posthumously and unceremoniously, have been recruited to the cause of Polish martyrdom with which they had little, or nothing, to do. It echoed the recently revealed email exchange between the then Polish PM Mateusz Morawiecki and his friend, right-­wing publicist Bronisław Wildstein, in which Wildstein suggested, that “Polish martyrdom should be promoted with the help of Jewish martyrdom – and it ’s possible”. The protesters were proof that, indeed, it was possible. Some of the banners and posters were in German, as if to reveal the face of the enemy lurking inside the building. Across 2 the jewish quarterly
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the street I saw a van from the ubiquitous TVP, the Polish state-owned TV station, which, after the nationalist electoral victory in Poland in 2015, became an unapologetic centre of primitive and pervasive pro-­government propaganda. Inside the German Historical Institute, in the lecture room, the atmosphere was tense. Seated in the front row, glaring at me, was Grzegorz Braun, a member of the Polish Parliament (Sejm) and a militant antisemite, with his entourage. Further back, I saw several other nationalists, employees of the Institute of National Remembrance, a state institution charged with the enforcement of the official “party line” in matters of history. I knew that this crowd was not here to discuss history but to confront me, and to vent their anger at the “anti-­Polish lies and conspiracy”, as the government propaganda refers to the work of historians trying to shed light on the more controversial parts of the national past. Nevertheless, while I was prepared for a hostile Q&A session, I was not ready for the physical confrontation and violence which ensued. Finally, the police made their appearance. And did nothing I had barely finished the introduction when Braun jumped to his feet, crossed the floor, grabbed the heavy microphone from the stand and – shouting, “Enough!” – started to smash whitewash 3

agitated people congregating around the entrance. On my way in, I noticed hostile stares and overheard obscenities shouted in my direction. If I were a politician, or a media personality, the scene might somehow have made sense. But for a researcher, and a historian, whose publications were usually absorbed by a small circle of academic colleagues, all of this was very unusual.

The demonstrators, as I learned, had been mobilised by Robert Bąkiewicz, a right-­wing extremist, a candidate for the parliament and darling of the Polish authorities, well funded by the state. In front of me, protesters (some of them with children in tow), held banners which read: “German crimes, German responsibility!”, “Poles were the victims” and “Germans murdered six million Poles”. This last poster would have come as a surprise to the 3 million murdered Polish Jews who, posthumously and unceremoniously, have been recruited to the cause of Polish martyrdom with which they had little, or nothing, to do. It echoed the recently revealed email exchange between the then Polish PM Mateusz Morawiecki and his friend, right-­wing publicist Bronisław Wildstein, in which Wildstein suggested, that “Polish martyrdom should be promoted with the help of Jewish martyrdom – and it ’s possible”. The protesters were proof that, indeed, it was possible.

Some of the banners and posters were in German, as if to reveal the face of the enemy lurking inside the building. Across

2

the jewish quarterly

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