Finnish PEN supports the statement by Polish PEN:
Statement of the Polish PEN Club
22 November 2015
Following a series of physical and symbolic Nazi acts of violence in Wrocław and other cities around Poland, the demonstration of extreme nationalist groups performed an act of burning the figure of a Jew in the Wrocław market. This constitutes a neo-Nazi act of executing a death sentence in effigie – of the representation of an imaginary condemned convict. The direct doer of this act was one of the closest – till quite recently – collaborator of a member of the Committee for Matters Relating to the Special Forces of the Polish Parliament, of a leader of a strong Parliamentary alliance.
Genocide is not part of the tradition of the Polish Wrocław. It is rather a reference to the most Nazi city of the 3rd Reich. If Wrocław is to aspire to become the European Capital of Culture and not of KuKluxKland, it needs to quickly come to terms with its own disgrace.
We express our support for the stand taken by the President of the City of Wrocław who as the first representative of local government approached the law enforcement institutions demanding an immediate initiation of proceedings. We appeal to the highest authorities of the Republic of Poland to promptly bring to a stop the increasingly more and more insolent racist acts that are taking place in Poland.
The Board of the Polish PEN Club
