Hate Crimes In Poland And Germany

Britta Grell
Timm Köhler
Rafal Pankowski
Natalia Sineaeva
Marcin Starnawski

The dramatic rise in homophobic, racist and anti-Semitic violence in many European
countries over the past decades lends new urgency to the issue of combating
discrimination and hate crimes. Poland and Germany, two neighboring countries
with a particularly difficult historical relationship are no exception inthis respect.
Both have seen extreme nationalistic movements and right-wing organizations
and parties gain influence inside and outside the parliaments over the past few
years. Furthermore, various studies and public-opinion polls indicate that both are
challenged by a wide range of intolerance and ethnic and religious biases within the
population.1
Some of the hate crimes that accompany thesetroubling developments will be
documented in this report to illustrate they are not isolated cases. We will also
present official and unofficial aggregated figures on recorded incidents of right-wing
violence and hate speech in both countries for the past three years; however, the main
focus of the report will be on the strategies and activities of those organizations
and projects that givemarginalized groups a platform where they can be heard
and represented. While there has been mounting public and academic interest in
comparing organized forms of far-right activities with xenophobic tendencies across
Europe, less common has been the transnational study of policies and projects that
counteract right-wing movements and related violence. This is particularly true
regarding thedynamic role played by non-governmental actors and organizations
that represent the interests of groups most affected by hate crimes, such as Roma,
migrant and LGBT communities, religious minorities, anti-Fascist and anti-racist
activists, as well as young people involved in alternative cultural scenes. Furthermore,
despite various formal and informal NGO networks dedicated to counteractinghomophobia, racism and anti-Semitism on the European level, programs that could
foster transnational cooperation on practical issues are difficult to implement. This
is often due to several factors, including lack of resources, dissimilar working and
operational conditions between the countries, and structural differences within civil
society that create political opportunities.
The funding of theFoundation “Remembrance, Responsibility and Future”
(Stiftung “Erinnerung, Verantwortung und Zukunft”) provided us with a rare
opportunity to take a closer look at potential forms of cooperation and mutual
support between German and Polish NGOs in the field of human rights activities,
specifically monitoring right-wing assaults and providing assistance to victims of
hate crimes. The idea forthis research project is based on the shared conviction
of all project partners that these two elements are crucial if broader national and

1

Heitmeyer, Wilhelm (ed.) 2006. Deutsche Zustände (Folge 4), Frankfurt/Main; Decker, Oliver; Brähler, Elmar 2006. Vom Rand
zur Mitte: Rechtsextreme Einstellungen und ihre Einflussfaktoren in Deutschland, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, Berlin; StosunekPolaków do innych narodów 2008. Komunikat z badań CBOS Nr. 193, Warsaw; Prawa gejów i lesbijek 2008. Komunikat z
badań CBOS Nr. 88, Warsaw.

international strategies to counter right-wing extremism, homophobia, racism
and anti-Semitism are to be effective. All efforts and public policies that seek to
address the problem of bias-motivated violence and hate speech require detailed
information on thefrequency of these incidents and their circumstances, including
the perpetrators and the victim groups affected. Unfortunately, the national
governments and related institutions do not sufficiently provide this information,
as will be illustrated in the following chapters. Outreach and support services to the
victims are not only a matter of humanitarian commitment, solidarity and social...