On January 26, 2024, a demonstration was held in Cracow, Poland, on the eve of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp, under the slogan ‘Never again for anyone’ (pl ‘Nigdy więcej dla nikogo’). However, instead of commemorating the victims of the Holocaust or appealing for peace and justice, the demonstration was a spectacle of antisemitism, of the promotion of terrorism as well as of the distortion of history. The events of the day showed how far the normalization of hatred against Jews in the public sphere has gone.

– ‘PALESTINE FIGHTS AND WINS’ – OR REPRESSED POLISH GUILT SPEAKS

At the head of the march, which passed through Cracow’s Kazimierz district – the Jewish quarter of Cracow – a banner with the slogan ‘Palestine fights and wins’ (pl ‘Palestyna walczy i zwycięża’) was visible – a direct reference to the war in Gaza, where Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad are ‘fighting’. It would be hard to find a more blatant example of propaganda of violence. Hamas is a terrorist organization that, on October 7, 2023, carried out the largest killings of Jews since the Holocaust. Its ‘fight’ means murdering civilians, rape, torture and kidnapping.

Such slogans directly glorifying terror against Jews on the eve of the day commemorating the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp are particularly alarming. They point to a deep-seated anti-Jewish resentment associated with the Polish share of the guilt for the Holocaust. The passivity, but also the complicity of the Polish population in the murder of Jews during World War II are well enough documented. For example, in the research of Prof. Jan Grabowski, who estimates that about 200,000 Jews were killed due to the denunciation or direct actions of Polish neighbors [2]. The denial of this guilt, which is part of Polish national identity, results in identification with the murderers of Jews – Hamas – and in a pathological imaginary experience of complicity in violence against Jews.

– SELECTIVE “ANTI-IMPERIALISM” – NOT MENTIONING IRAN, CHINA, RUSSIA

The demonstration described itself as being against imperialism. But this ‘anti-imperialism’ is selective – hitting only the US and Israel, while leaving out authoritarian regimes like that of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which funds Hamas and other terrorist organizations. China, which supports Hamas politically, or Russia, which maintains relations with Hamas and cooperates with Iran in destabilizing the region [3], find no resonance in this “anti-imperialism.” Thus, in reality, this was not an anti-imperialist demonstration, but an anti-Western spectacle in the service of pro-Russian and pro-Iranian propaganda.

Such schematic left-wing anti-imperialism, dividing the world into oppressors and oppressed, which constructs for itself its own ‘oppressed people’ with their supposed ‘liberation struggle’, proved to be a left-wing thought structure highly susceptible to antisemitism. From this Manichean worldview, dividing the world into good, non-Western peoples and those evil, ‘white’, Western ones, it is only a step to the construction of an antisemitic image of the enemy-Israel – the Western, white, colonial plunderer, symbolizing modernity with its inherent contradictions. This complicated modernity is contrasted by Hamas’s volunteer ambassadors with an idealized pre-modern ‘simple people’, with their supposed anti-colonial struggle.

– ‘DOWN WITH ZIONISM!’ IN A JEWISH NEIGHBORHOOD – OR THE POLISH LEFT AS A PRISONER OF MARCH ’68

Demonstrators marching through the streets of Kazimierz shouted the slogan ‘Down with Zionism!’ (pl ‘precz z syjonizmem!’). This slogan has an infamous history in Poland – It became a symbol of the antisemitic campaign of 1968, because of which between 13,000 and 25,000 people of Jewish origin were forced into exile, losing their Polish citizenship and their previous lives.

From the same Jews who were forced by the leftist regime to leave Poland in 1967/8 and decided to settle in Israel (as well as their descendants), Polish leftist pro-Palestinian demonstrators now want to take away the safe haven they found when they were expelled from Poland. For the slogan ‘Down with Zionism!’ is a call for the destruction of the State of Israel, for which the idea of Zionism is constitutive – without the idea of Zionism there is no Jewish state. The slogan ‘Down with Zionism!’ is an expression of the desire to deprive Jews of their right to self-determination and of the main instrument they have to defend themselves against global antisemitism – their own state. This anti-Zionist slogan, chanted as early as 1968, continues to be an expression of Polish left-wing antisemitism of anti-imperialist provenance in 2025.

– SHOCKING PERFORMANCE WITH DYBBUKIM – OR A MAGICAL ATTEMPT TO DEAL WITH ONE’S OWN GUILT

To begin the demonstration, the pro-Palestinian group staged a performance inspired by Jewish mystical tradition, with a dybbuk figure at its center. According to this tradition, dybbukim – sinful spirits or demons – unable to find peace, roam the world, possessing the living. In the shocking interpretation of pro-Palestinian demonstrators, dybbukim carried Palestinian ‘martyrs’, as Islamic martyrdom refers to the victims of the Palestinian ‘liberation struggle’. While doing so, the ominous atmosphere was built up by music with the looped slogans ‘never again for anyone’ or ‘no freedom without a free Palestine’.

This shocking spectacle, in which pro-Palestinian demonstrators instrumentalize Jewish tradition to supposedly express their own solidarity with the Palestinians, is not a political criticism of the State of Israel, but a manifestation of antisemitism. Here, Jews as a whole, including the dead, are blamed for events in the Middle East and – through the wearing of the bodies of ‘martyrs’ by dybbukim – are symbolically forced to admit their alleged crime and guilt.

The choice of place and time is particularly scandalous in this regard. The choice of Kazimierz for this antisemitic performance, like the space inextricably linked to the Jewish community in Poland, disturbed its residents, preventing them from commemorating the victims of the Holocaust with dignity. The manipulative use of Jewish traditions on the eve of celebrations commemorating the victims of National Socialist crimes – just as at a time when the tragic fate of 6 million murdered Jews, including 3 million of fellow citizens, should be commemorated – indicates the serious problem of post-Holocaust antisemitism in Polish society. This antisemitism is related to the denial of Polish complicity in the crimes of the Holocaust and the resulting sense of guilt.

– NEVER AGAIN ANTISEMITISM!

The demonstration, under the slogan ‘Never again for anyone’, took place a day before the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp 50 kilometers from Cracow. Auschwitz is a symbolic place, a reminder of what antisemitism leads to. But instead of remembrance and reflection, the organizers of the demonstration chose to attack Jews in this context, question their right to self-determination and legitimize violence against them. A demonstration of contempt for Holocaust victims and promotion of terrorist organizations took place.

The demonstration was organized by a number of pro-Palestinian organizations headed by the Akademia dla Palestyny [3]. Foreign guests were invited, who in Poland – due to the lack of expected legal consequences – were able to promote antisemitic and anti-Israeli narratives without restraint. Notable here is the presence of Omar Faris – a Holocaust denier who spreads antisemitic content entitled ‘The Jews created the Holocaust fable’ [4]. This Hamas apologist consistently denies any crimes committed against Jews, claiming, for example, that Hamas never killed civilians [5].

In doing so, it is no coincidence that pro-Palestinian organizations are trying to claim for themselves the anti-fascist slogan ‘Never Again!’ in an effort to purge it of its reference to antisemitism and National Socialist crimes against Jews. The ‘pro-Palestinian’ slogan ‘Never Again for Anyone’ expresses the relativization of the Holocaust by equating it with the alleged Gaza genocide. At the same time, however, this charge of genocide is already nothing new in the history of antisemitism, and after October 7, 2023, it is part of the permanent repertoire of anti-Israel protesters.

The same is true of putting an equal sign between Israeli Jews and Nazis – also this antisemitic motive, putting Jews in the role of their past executioners, is contained in the slogan ‘Never Again for Anyone’. By equating the Holocaust with the alleged Gaza genocide, pro-Palestinian propagandists imply that Jews/ Israelis are currently committing the same crime on Palestinians that the Nazis already committed on Jews – this is not only deceitful, but belittles German crimes against Jews motivated by eliminationist antisemitism.

Thus, the slogan ‘Never Again!’, which was intended to stimulate reflection on the crimes of the Nazis, in the “pro-Palestinian” version relativizes the Holocaust, and makes the very victims of the antisemitic crimes into criminals. The slogan ‘Never Again for Anyone’ is thus an expression of the Polish left’s historical obliviousness, active denial of historical truth, and a contemporary form of relativizing the Holocaust.

So we remind you that antisemitism was the main ideology of the Nazis and the driving force behind the Holocaust. The lesson to be learned from the Holocaust is the necessity of the State of Israel in the face of antisemitic violence like that of Hamas.

We cannot allow the further normalization of antisemitism. Whether it manifests itself in a classic far-right form or, as in this case, in a left-wing anti-imperialist form.

Never again to antisemitism!

EXCERPT FROM MARIAN TURSKI’S SPEECH AT THE 80TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE LIBERATION OF AUSCHWITZ

“So do not be afraid! We see in the modern world today, now, a great increase in antisemitism, and it was antisemitism, after all, that led to the Holocaust. Deborah Lipstadt called it a “tsunami of antisemitism.” And it was her courage and her persistence and perseverance in the fight against Holocaust denial that culminated in her success after winning the trial in London against David Irving.

Let us not be afraid to show the same courage today when Hamas makes attempts to deny the October 7 massacre. Let’s not be afraid to counter conspiracy theories saying that everything bad in the world is the result of conspiracies set up by unspecified groups in society. And Jews are often mentioned here.” [7]

Marian Turski – Holocaust survivor

REFERENCES
[1] https://www.holocaustresearch.pl/index.php?show=478
[2] https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/03/technology/israel-hamas-information-war.html
[3] Akademia dla Palestyny, Wschód, Czerwoni, Akcja Socjalistyczna, Akcja Antyimperialistyczna, UW z Palestyną, Klub Plan B, Nomada Stowarzyszenie, Black Jewish Alliance (UK), Jüdische Stimme (Germany), BDS Norway, Nina Michnik, Inicjatywa Kaktus, Kolektyw Kefija, Reorient, Katowice dla Palestyny, UKRAїNATV, FFIPP Europe/Polska, Dr Ahmed o Palestynie, Emil Al-Khawaled
[4] http://sitwa.org.pl/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Zrzut-ekranu-2025-02-08-214635.png
[5] http://sitwa.org.pl/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/SaveTwitter.Net_XmRybanh5X13h2tz_720p.mp4
[6] https://szih.org.pl/marian-turski-na-80-rocznicy-wyzwolenia-auschwitz/