Poland is marking 50 years since mass student protests against the Moscow-backed communist regime of the time that were in turn exploited by the communist party to purge Jews from the party and from Poland.
The result was the expulsion of 13,000 Jews, including Holocaust survivors and prominent intellectuals like philosopher Leszek Kolakowski and sociologist Zygmunt Bauman.
Floral respects
Poland’s President Andrzej Duda placed flowers Thursday beneath a plaque at a railway station in Warsaw which was the departure point for some of the Jews who were expelled 50 years ago. He was also scheduled to later pay his respects at the site at Warsaw University where the mass student protests began.
Many other events were being held across the country on Thursday, including lectures recalling the dramatic events of 50 years ago.
The anniversary had long been expected to be commemorated with a celebratory message about how far Poland has distanced itself from anti-Semitic demons of the past. Instead, it follows a new wave of anti-Jewish prejudice sparked by a recent diplomatic dispute with Israel over a law that criminalizes some Holocaust speech.
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki on Wednesday also denounced anti-Semitism. While claiming the legacy of the student protests for Poland, he also sought to shift the blame for the anti-Semitic purge onto Moscow, which controlled Poland for the decades of the Cold War.
‘A reason for pride’
“Today we often hear that March ‘68 should be a reason for shame for us,” Mr. Morawiecki said in a speech at Warsaw University, where the mass protests began. “I believe that March’68 should be a reason for pride.”
In March 1968, students staged mass protests against censorship and in support of academic freedom that were brutally quashed by the regime.
The protests were triggered when the regime banned a play by the Polish Romantic-era poet Adam Mickiewicz which was seen as having an anti-Russian message. When two students contested the ban they were expelled from Warsaw University, prompting other students to hold a demonstration on March 8, 1968 and triggering other protests nationwide.
Rival factions in the communist party exploited the protests in their pursuit of party control, with the crisis climaxing in the purge of Jews from within the party. Without party membership, many lost their careers and were forced to renounce their possessions, their Polish citizenship and to leave the country.
