HFHR intervenes in response to anti-Semitic assaults in the Lublin region

The Foundation requested General Krzysztof Bondaryk, head of the Internal Security Agency, to take decisive actions in the case of repetitive anti-Semitic assaults in Lublin.

In its intervention, the HFHR recalled the case of Tomasz Pietrasiewicz, leader of The Grodzka Gate –Theatre NN in Lublin. In 2010, unknown perpetrators threw bricks with the swastika symbol painted on them into his flat. One of the bricks had an explosive charge attached, which went off in one of the rooms. The authorities launched investigation but it was discontinued in August 2011 due to the failure to identify the offenders.

In May 2012, another assault against Mr Pietrasiewicz took place. Anti-Semitic posters with his image were hung in busy areas of the city of Lublin. As reported by the press, a poster resembled a theatrical poster announcing a fictional performance staged by “The Grodzka Gate – Theatre Obsessive Compulsive Neurosis” under the title “Ike’s streets, Heeb’s tenements, or how to plunder Poland with the sanction of the law”.

In its request, the Foundation also referred to the case of Dr. Dariusz Libionka, a historian and Holocaust specialist from Lublin. The attack against Dr. Libionka resembled that directed against Tomasz Pietrasiewicz. This time the offenders used stones with explosives attached to them and threw them at Dr. Libionka’s house. In September 2011 his car was painted with swastika symbols.

According to the HFHR, such incidents are not isolated cases and are not accidental. “The review of the described cases reveals that the attacks in Lublin were directed against specific individuals involved in cultural, educational and scientific activity related to the history of Jews in Poland”, reads the statement.

The Internal Security Agency is responsible for identifying, preventing, detecting and prosecuting offenders who threaten the safety of citizens and the legal order of a democratic state. In the HFHR’s opinion these values were violated in the reported cases.