29 May, 2006
Poland's chief rabbi was attacked with pepper spray and two Jewish student leaders have received anti-Semitic messages on their telephones. The acts happened in the run-up to Pope Benedict’s visit to Poland last weekend, JTA reports. The text messages received by the Jewish student in Warsaw threatens to blow up the synagogue and put Jews in concentration camps. The police are trying to find out the source of the text messages, and the Polish Prime Minister’s Office is working to give the case top priority, according to JTA.
The man who assaulted chief rabbi Michael Schudrich shouted “Poland is for Poles” as the rabbi was accompanying several worshippers out of a Polish synagogue over the weekend. Schudrich attempted to detain the attacker, witnesses said, but the assailant escaped. The rabbi did not sustain injuries. The attack came a day before Schudrich joined Pope Benedict XVI during the a visit to Auschwitz. The police and government are taking the incident seriously, Piotr Kadlcik, chairman of the Union of Religious Jewish Communities in Poland, told JTA.
The anti-Semitic incidents come only a few weeks after the stabbing of an anti-fascist activist in Warsaw, allegedly by two skinheads who remain at large. The stabbing victim’s contact information and picture had been listed on a xenophobic website that also lists Jews, gays and their supporters. It is believed that the skinhead attack was connected to the Red Watch extremist website, which Polish authorities want to shut down.
