In recent years, the media in the United Kingdom have regularly portrayed Poles as being homophobic, anti-Semitic, stealing British jobs, draining money from the economy by claiming benefits like child support and even eating swans.  It may surprise some but this negative stereotyping of Poles is not and can be traced back to at least 1919 and the rebirth of Poland, if not well before.

 

Poland is one of the oldest countries on the planet and for much of the Middle Ages was the European superpower.  There have long been ties between Poland and UK.  Cnut the Great, King of England from 1016 to 1035, had a Polish mother^{Trow1 Davies4}.  Still, knowledge of Poland was limited.  In the Middle Ages often it was via knights who had gone abroad such as those on crusades^Davies5.  This may not be what the British members in the audience may take that term to mean i.e. the crusades in the Middle East.  This crusading was against those in Central and Eastern Europe.  The first official contact was when our first ambassador arrived in England in 1522^Sword1.

 

Some of the attacks made against Poles are regarding discrimination.  One wonders what those who make such attacks against Poland concerning our relationship with Jews would make of the first major historical contacts between the countries.  Casimir the Great, King of Poland from 1333 to 1370^Davies3, was on the throne when the first wide scale anti-Semitic incidents happened in Europe.  This was not in Poland but in this country, England.  Casimir offered sanctuary to Jews being persecuted by the English^Wikipedia1.  This is not the only time in our history that Poland has offered sanctuary to those from these shores.  The famous solidarity leader Lech Wałęsa surname is said to be derivation of the Scottish ‘Wallace’ and likely to come from Protestants who also fled to Poland to escape persecution here in the UK^Davies6. 

 

Poland, however, from the late 17^th century onwards found herself in decline. This resulted in her being partitioned between Russia, Germany (known as Prussia at the time^Ascherspn4) and Austria^Sword1.  Anti-Polish rhetoric increased enormously following its disappearance from the map.  This was in part to justify the taking of Polish land^Anti1 and the suppression of Polish culture.  Still there was a lot of sympathy around the world for Poland as a result of the partition^Zamoyski2.

 

It was following one of a series of uprisings against the partitions that the origins of the Polish community here in the UK came about.  In late December 1833, Poles fleeing to the US found themselves in England due to a storm.  Some of them chose to stay, and start the first Polish community.  They then spread out to vary places including Jersey, London and Edinburgh^Gula1.  More Poles followed after further uprisings against the partitioning powers^Sword1.

 

It was during the partition era that Poland received the most compassion in this country as it was seen as “the greatest crimes in modern history”^Kutolowski1.  Many newspapers carried articles, letters and advertisements ^{Kutolowski1 Kutolowski2}.  The 1863 uprising saw the whole of the British press supporting Poland ^Kutolowski3.  The media views were reflected in the British parliament and in public support ^Kutolowski4.  The British public only started to lose interest due to other world events such as the American Civil War ^Kutolowski5. 

 

As the war persisted, Russia propaganda started to have some effect, with the Times carrying a number of leaders^Kutolowski6.  The Russians supplied anti-Polish material ^Kutolowski7.  Much of the press continued to support Poland but the Times worked against them ^Kutolowski8.  English anti-Catholic views also helped support these prejudices against Poles ^Kutolowski9.  The American Ambassador still felt that if the Poles could hold out for another six months then British sympathy for Poland would force her into war with Russia ^Kutolowski10.

 

Following the 1863 uprising, Poland was never to be seen in such a positive light here in the UK.  Still, by the end of World War 1, the powers that had partitioned Poland were exhausted^Ascherson1, allowing Poland once more to emerge as country in her own right.

 

The British government from the start was very much against the idea of the emergence of an independent Poland after years of subjugation^Stachura3 and certainly wanted her to be a small country.  For example, the government in the UK supported German claims on Silesia ^{Cienciala1 Stachura4}.  The press in this country, especially the liberal and left wing elements, showed a German bias^Raczynski1.

 

David Lloyd George, British prime minister from 1916 to 1922, regularly vilified Poland saying that it was like a "child that gave trouble” ^Davis1 and he would give no more give Poland Silesia “than he would give a clock to a monkey”^News1.  Lloyd George would later support the Soviet invasion of Poland at the start of World War Two ^{Raczynski4 Stachura4}.

 

The rebirth was not easy for Poland.  The British continued not to help, for example, when Soviet Russia invaded Poland with Lloyd George wanting to sell arms to the Soviets.  The Labour party published a booklet saying that British workers would not support Poland as an ally^Magdeburg1.  The unions in the UK supported the Soviets and blockaded war supplies bound for Poland.

 

It was during this time that false claims of pogroms in Poland started.  A breakdown of law and order, combined with a series of wars with countries including Lithuania, Ukraine and Soviet Russia, resulted in a number of Jews being murdered ^{Zamoyski1 Stachura1}.  However the British and American commissions which investigated these claims found that they were largely false or vastly exaggerated ^Stachura1.  Many of the atrocities were carried out by Russian forces rather than Poles^Anti1.

 

The interwar years didn’t show any real change as Poland was a minor issue to the British^Raczynski1.  This would continue to be true even during World War Two as Eastern Europe took second place to the British Empire^Prazmowska1.  The Polish community had expanded due to POWs capture by the British during World War 1 deciding to stay in mostly in London rather than return to an independent Poland.  Still, there were still only a few thousand Poles in Britain in the 1930s with most in London, Manchester and Scotland^Barnes1. 

 

Shortly prior to the start of World War Two, things did change for the better.  Poland found herself an ally and the newspapers respond in kind^Raczynski1.  Poland strength was even overrated.  Parts of the British continued their attacks on Poland especially the Express and Evening Standard^Raczynski2.  The embassy in London had to work hard to keep the British press on the Polish not German side ^Raczynski3. 

 

Not all British propaganda was necessarily negative.  The BBC radio broadcaster Denis Delmer in his book wrote about meeting a “gay, slim-waisted young Polish aristocrat” from occupied Poland.  In the scores of couriers from occupied Poland, none were from the aristocracy^Newcourt4.

 

Some British propaganda is hard to categorise, such as the campaign to make the Germans in the Wermacht distrust non-Germans such as Poles who had been forcibly conscripted.  Clearly it caused issues for Poles but was for the Allied cause^Newcourt5.

 

As the rest of Europe fell to Nazi Germany, Poland became a key ally in the defence of Britain against invasion.  Upon their arrival in the UK, Poles were met with enthusiasm by both the government and the British people ^Raczynski5.  This was particularly true in Scotland ^Stachura7; Polish forces there were greeted with sympathy as well as enthusiasm^Stachura3.  Polish airmen were praised for their contribution to the Battle of Britain ^Raczynski6 being both the second largest after the British^{Defence1 Garlinski1} and also shooting down the second largest number of enemy planes.  The BBC director-general wrote: “The BBC sends warm greetings to the famous 303 Polish squadron, with lively congratulations upon its magnificent record and all best wishes for its future.  You use the air for your gallant exploits, and we for telling the world of them.  Long live Poland!”^Freedom1.

 

The Germans did their best to counter this with their own propaganda even before the war started^{Shirer1 Herf1}.  They invented Polish crimes or vastly overstated the numbers involved and even made out it was them who wanted peace^{Shirer2 Herf2}.  They claimed Poland started the war by attacking Germany^Newcourt1.  German media associated words such as Pole, Poland and Polish with poor conduct^Herf1. The war was forced on Germany by alleged Polish atrocities^Welch1.  In the US, German propaganda continued to be available such as “Polish Acts of Atrocity the German minority in Poland”^German1.  The campaign of hatred against Poles continued throughout the war^Welch2.  The German propaganda had little impact on British attitudes. However, a minority did still hold pro-German views and showed this with anti-Polish slogans painted on walls^Linehan1.

 

Later in the war, Germany would try to use propaganda to recruit Poles or at least to get them to fight the Soviets independently.  It produced a number of publications claiming to be from the Polish resistance such as Nowa Polska, new Poland, or even fake issues of official Polish resistance newspapers.  Tens of millions of copies were produced^Newcourt3.  These cause problems as they appeared to put Poles in a bad light.

 

Sadly this period of positive spin in the UK stopped prior to the German attack on Soviet Union ^{Raczynski7 Stachura4}.  Overnight the Soviets went from a threat to key ally.  With the Soviets taking the bulk of the German onslaught, the contribution by Poland was overshadowed.  The British, fearful that Stalin would cut a deal with Hitler, did everything they could to keep in the Soviets’ good books.  They put the alliance with Russia ahead of Polish needs ^Raczynski10. 

 

It should be remembered that Poland suffered at the hands of the Soviets, with up to 1.7 million of its citizen’s deported ^Walker1 and tens of thousands murdered in the Katyn massacre^Walker2.

 

From the start the Soviets spread lies, even their invasion of Poland was justified as coming to assist locals^Ascherson5.  To the Soviets, anyone against them was automatically a facist^Newcourt2.  The British allowed Soviet propaganda to vilify Poland^Davies2 and even helped to cover up the Soviet massacre of 22,000 Polish officers and other key individuals in what was generally referred to as the Katyn massacre^{Paul1 Cienciala2}.   The media in the UK took the Soviet side as part of a carefully run propaganda campaign to support positive views of the Soviets^Stachura9.  It should be pointed out that the press in the US did the same^Freedom2.    It was not possible until 1976 to get a monument to the Katyn massacre built here in the UK^Sword9 and even then it could not say who was responsible.

 

The British government even tried to suppress UK based Polish newspapers ^Raczynski12 during the war.  These papers criticised the British government for their censorship on issues such as referring to Wilno and Lwow as Polish cities^Freedom3.

 

The press hassled allies of Poland in favour of Russian supporters^Raczynski9.  As the war progressed, Poland was increasing made out as a trouble maker.  Newspapers ran stories making Poles out to be anti-Semites and fascist collaborators.  The assistant editor of The Times, Edward Carr, even question the right of the Polish government based in London to speak for Poland^Haslam1.  The Times also felt Britain should not defend Eastern European states’ independence ^Raczynski13.  The view of Poles being fascist is still common today.  In Robert Winder book “Bloody Foreigners”, it is claimed Poles were embarrassing when it came to Jews^Winder1.  This ignored the facts.

 

Poles never collaborated with Nazi Germany such as there were no Waffen-SS units.  Nor did they work as guards in death camps. Indeed, they wanted to bomb the concentration and death camps, unlike the British, who vetoed such a move.  British governments suppressed knowledge of the death camps, while the Polish government did its best to spread news of the camps.  The underground press also published details of the Holocaust.  Some Jews in occupied Poland first learned the truth of the deportation in this way^Polin1.

 

Poles make up the largest number of the righteous, i.e. those who aided Jews.  Poland has as many righteous as Germany, Italy, Russia, Spain, and the UK and 32 other countries COMBINED.

 

Poland was the only country in occupied Europe where aiding a Jew meant risking instant execution, and yet Poles created and operated the largest resistance army during the entire war.  Part of this was Żegota the only dedicated secret organization for aiding Jews in Nazi German occupied Europe^Freedom5.  Still the Poles fighting alongside the British were ridiculed with cartoons showing them causing trouble^Raczynski8. 

 

The British saw giving control of Eastern Poland to Stalin as a way to break his bond with Hitler^Alliance1.  By 1943, Britain had already agreed to Stalin’s claims for almost half of pre-war Poland’s territories^{Hope1 Stachura7}.  Papers such as The Manchester Guardian, New Statesman, New Chronicle and Daily Express were complaining bitterly about Poles^Freedom4.  The Times proposed giving half of Poland to Russia^{Raczynski11 Freedom3}.   The coverage in the media regarding Polish-Soviet differences was distorted “Every statement is divorced from reality” as one Polish diplomat put it^Raczynski14.  Churchill tried to play it that his actions saved Poland^Alliance2.  Britain was flooded with Communist propaganda, especially little booklets on why Soviet claims were correct.  The Polish government, now based in London, did its best to counter these claims.

 

In the forward for After the Holocaust, Wojciech Roszkowski^{Chodakiewicz1} said: “It is really amazing to see how much of the recent charges of Polish anti-Semitism and collaboration with the Nazis reflects the Communist propaganda of the years 1944-47”.  The claims of Polish anti-Semitism became so common that they were raised in the British parliament ^Raczynski15.

 

These claims include that Poland ran a concentration camp in Scotland, the Polish Dachau as Pravda put it.  These stories were repeated in British newspapers, forcing the Polish government to deny it was true and allow British journalist to inspect the camps in Scotland^Herald1.  Another claim by Pravda which made the press here was that Poles in Italy were planning a war in Italy^Stachura12.

 

Polish pilots once seen as heroes were told to “Go home you dirty Pole!”^Freedom3.  The adulation was over^Freedom4.  The first case of a Polish serviceman being spat at occurred in London in 1944 ^{Stachura11 Silverman2}.

 

Winston Churchill in a speech to the House of Commons said: “Her Majesty’s government will never forget the debt they owe to the Polish troops who served them so valiantly”^{Barnes1 Hope3 Soldiers3}.  This didn’t stop the British from abandoning Poland at the end of WWII.  The first to stand up to Germany and a key of member of the alliance against Hitler, Poland suffered the biggest loses at the end of World War Two.  Over 20% of its population died, over 60% of its infrastructure was destroyed, almost 50% of pre-war lost and a Soviet controlled communist government forced upon it for a further 45 years. 

 

The Poles were even excluded from the parade to celebrate the Allied victory so as not to offend the Soviets^{PSR1 Winslow1}.  As one Polish serviceman put it: “But being excluded from the London Victory Parade, in June 1946, really hurt. By the end of the war, Polish servicemen fighting on the Allied side were tired and it felt as if our efforts had not been recognised”. He went on to say: “So it was beyond belief when Britain excluded Poles from the parade to which Allied forces were invited to celebrate victory”^FT1.  Most Poles believe the West, including Britain, abandoned Poland^Acherson3.

 

A few in the country such as King George VI did recognise the Polish contribution to the victory ^Soldiers1.  Some inside the government tried to register their protests but the country at large was indifferent^Hope2. 

 

The only major way the British paid back the Poles was the Polish Resettlement Act, which allowed Poles to live in Britain^{Barnes1 Soldiers4}.  The anti-Polish campaign in the press made it difficult for the government to do more^Stachura12.  In this way Poles found themselves in the ‘hotel for the homeless’ as Matthew Kelly put it^Kelly1.

 

Sadly to this day most people do not know of these misdeeds by the British against Poland. They rarely get much press.  Claire Francis deserves some praise for her book Homeland as it covers anti-Polish propaganda^Francis1 and the terrible treatment the British gave Polish servicemen^Independent1.

 

The press even sided with the Germans against Poland over the expulsion of Germans from the so-called ‘recovered territories’ given to Poland by the big three including Britain as compensation for the lost of the land in the east^Frank1.

 

The post war campaign against Poles had the additional aspects of the pressure on jobs, salaries, housing and food as rationings was in force^Stachura12. Mirroring much of the recent bad press, Polish refugees were seen as stealing British jobs and housing.  Poles found the attitude changed from their initial welcome as Allies^Winslow1. Supporters of socialists continued to make out Poles as “warmongers”, “black marketers”, “womanisers”, “anti-Semites” and “fascists”^{Stachura2 Winslow1}.  Poles were said to be ‘strutting around’ as if they owned the place ^Stachura13.

 

There was an anti-Polish campaign launched by the TUC and other leading unions to turn public attitudes against Poles^{PSR1 Winslow1 Stachura9.}  The anti-Polish views of major unions and large parts of the Labour party matched their pro-Soviet views^Stachura5.  The union position was especially strange as there were labour shortages in many areas such as building and agriculture ^Stachura13 similar to where the more recent influx of Poles have found work in.

 

There were protests in the streets against the Poles^Stachura2.  Walls had “Poles go home” painted on them^{PSR1 BBC3}.  One Pole commented how in Leicester it was common for jobs to say "Poles don't need to apply"^Dobski1.  Boarding houses in Coventry had signs "No Irish, No Blacks, No Poles"^BBC3.

 

Most Polish qualifications were not recognised, forcing many skilled Poles to take alternative, lesser well paid jobs such as in agriculture, coal mining and hotel work^{Sword7 BBC3}.  This also mirrors the recent influx of educated Poles taking jobs in bookshops and McDonalds.  The government was forced to accept TUC conditions that jobs could only be offered to Poles if no British workers were available^Stachura13.  The job issue was mostly covered in the local press but ‘fascists’ and ‘Jew-baiters’ was never far behind ^Stachura13. 

 

The continued hostility of the British trade unions had an interesting affect in that Poles often preferred to set up their own businesses^Sword2.  Those choosing to work in factories were forced to accept these prejudices^Sword4.  The younger generations encountered prejudice at school^Sword6.

 

Some Poles did find the racism too much and settled everywhere.  One such person is my uncle, who moved to the US.  Others under these pressures anglicised their names so as to pass as British^Sword5.  Still the census in the UK from 1951 showed 162,329 Polish-born individuals amongst the population UK, a significant increase over 1931 census. 

 

In the 1950s, Poland was part of the Soviet block and treated as an enemy.  MI6, the British Secret Intelligence Service, wrote anti-Polish propaganda for the media^Weldon1

.

 

Accounts of British racism continued for years^Sword4.  Government agencies were known to practice discrimination well into 1960s^Sword4.  One of the worst examples of British racism involved my parents.  After the loss of their first child, the doctor involved had to go in front of a medical tribunal.  As a result an unknown individual sent a letter using cut out from newspapers which said that a child from an immigrant father should have been happy to have any treatment.  The police weren’t interested.

 

Another much lesser example was when they tried to buy their first house.  They had the deposit but the bank strangely wanted a guarantor because my father was an immigrant. 

 

The removing of some restrictions on movement in Soviet dominated Poland saw a new exodus, but only a small percentage of people settled in Britain^Sword3. 

 

Poles in the late 1960s found themselves under more pressure, such as when the Wilson government chose to withdraw funding of the Polish library and there were attempts to get Poles to move away from their own parishes to British ones^Sword8. 

 

Poles were refused entry to the British armed forces even if British born with a British parent and above average exam results.  For once the press questioned this prejudice.  The Daily Express asked how long you needed to live in the UK to have the same rights.  A special government enquiry into the matter didn’t change anything^Sword8.

 

On a personal note, in the late 1980s I was told by a recruitment agency if I heard back over a job with BAe quickly then I had failed but if not then it was subject to a security check.  Almost six months later and in a new job, I was finally turned down.  It seems those with Polish connections in the 1980s were still not trusted.

 

The negative image was also apparent when I was at school during the 1970s and other children portrayed Poland as a communist and a backward country.  I was bullied in 1973 because Poland had dared to knock England out of the football World Cup qualifiers.  This was strange as I actually supported England at the time; in fact my Mum who is of Irish/Welsh origin, was the only one supporting Poland.  This was the trigger for my interest and love of Poland.  If I was going to be bullied for being Polish then I might as well support the Polish football team, who of course went on to 3^rd place in the 1974 football World Cup. 

 

During my childhood the British attitude changed little apart from brief periods such as when Solidarity was founded in 1980 or during his Holiness Pope John Paul II visit to the UK in 1982.  Later there was some good will after Lech Walesa was elected and came on a state visit to Britain^Sword11.

 

Mind you, it has been said that such signs of good will were more to do with hopes that Polish actions would aid the West^Giertych1.  Still at least one author said there was a ‘passionate interest’ in Poland and even ‘sympathy’^Ascherson2. 

 

Propaganda at the start of the 80s against Poland wasn’t limited to the mass media.  Individual intellectuals helped propagated prejudices, and as a result Poles came across propaganda in everything from encyclopaedias to cartoons in the popular press^{Giertych2 Raczynski8}.

 

The intolerance against Poles continued into the 1990s.  The BBC invited Konrad Bartelski, considered the best British skier since the War, to cover 1992 Olympic Games.  When a presenter mispronounced his name, instead of apologizing, he instead said: “in your position I would have changed my name long ago”.  This type of discrimination almost affected my name in 1965.  The priest initially refused to use Jan at my christening, wanting to substitute it with John.  Only my Dad’s insistence on using Jan stopped this from happening.

 

By 1990s Poles had started to fight back.  The Federation of Poles in Great Britain started a committee in 1991 to campaign for Poles and Poland.  The fifth of six tasks was “to protect Poles against ‘Polonophobia’”^Sword14. However, it would have required large funding to keep a permanent organisation to fight for Poland and Poles^Sword15.

 

Articles appeared in the Polish press on the issue of media bias, with one in 1992 entitled “How to deal with the British press”^Sword15.

 

One of the most hurtful things is not only for Poland not to be recognised for its contribution to the allied cause against Nazi Germany and the downfall of communism but also to be portrayed as a villain.  It is particular spiteful when the German extermination camps in occupied Poland are referenced as being Polish^Paul2.  In a blog on the Warsaw Business Journal, Ewa Blaszczynska said: “due to sheer ignorance or perhaps outright disdain for Poland, columnists in mainstream media outlets like the UK’s Guardian and the Washington Post keep referring to “Polish concentration camps” (rather than German or Nazi) when writing about the Holocaust.”^Warsaw1.

 

David A. Harris, as executive director of the American Jewish Committee, issued a statement on this topic in 2005 saying The camps were located in German-occupied Poland, the European country with by far the largest Jewish population, but they were most emphatically not "Polish camps".  This is not a mere semantic matter. Historical integrity and accuracy hang in the balance^Harris1.

 

Other Jewish individuals and organisations including The Ambassador of Israel to Poland^{rzeczpospolita1}, Anti-Defamation League^ADL1and the head of Warsaw's Jewish Theatre have echoed these words ^ADL1.

 

The British press regularly use terms such as Polish death camp, with examples in Stourbridge News 19^th May, Daily Telegraph 30^th April and Carmarthen Journal on 24^th March this year, Yorkshire Post on 23^rd February described a German prisoner of war camp as a Polish camp and Watford Observer on 18^th January used the term Polish concentration camp.  Some 24 issues this year alone have been found in the UK, plus a further 42 abroad.  This does not include those article using terms such as Polish ghetto, Polish Holocaust survivor and simply saying the camps where in Poland without making it clear who ran than.  If we include these lesser issues regarding the German occupation of Poland during World War Two then the number of issues would more than double in the UK media.

 

This issue does not date as far back as in the US, where newspapers from the 1940s made misleading statements such as “Polish concentration camps”.  By the 1980s it was becoming increasingly common to see such terms in the US.  Apart from the previously mentioned claim of there being such a camp in Scotland during 1940s, the first such reference to camps in occupied Poland in the UK to my knowledge was not until May 1999 by the BBC^BBC2 and Daily Telegraph^Telegraph1.   The article, entitled “Lessons of Auschwitz”, saw the UK first “Poland's Auschwitz concentration camp”^Hemel1

 

This does not mean that the British media didn’t use such terms.  No doubt there were others which I have failed to find, especially as there are many variants. 

 

Not all issues that are found are related to the Second World War.  The enlargement of the European Union has resulted in a new influx of Poles.  Lack of historical ties affected how Poles arriving here were seen^Stopski1.  Polish immigration is further affected by the dislike of the EU^Stopski7.  All newspapers gave a large amount of coverage to those from Central and Eastern Europe, though especially Poles.  This coverage was conflicting^Stopski2.  The UK was only one of three existing EU member states not to limit new member’s workers from these countries ^Stopski3.  The Daily Mail spent much time guessing the number of Poles who would come here^Stopski8.

 

Racist motivated attacks against Poles in the UK have more than doubled in recent years.  This has resulted in calls for more action by the British government to combat anti-Polish hate crimes^Silverman1.  Examples include a taxi driver who was beaten for being Polish, anti-Polish graffiti in Wrexham, a man in Reading being called a “fucking Pole” and then having a car driven over him and a pregnant woman called a “Polish cow”, beaten and having a doberman set on her in Glasgow^Earth1.

 

The blame for this rise in racist attacks has in part has been placed with BBC coverage of Poles, according to one Conservative member of parlaiment^BBC1.  Daniel Kawczynski accused the BBC of focusing on Poles when “in reality, nine out of 10 immigrants to Britain were not Poles or other East Europeans, but people from the Indian sub-continent, Africa and the West Indies” going on to say they were going “for the soft touch, the white Christians from Poland, and I am sick and tired of it”^Monster1.

 

These hate crimes are said to generally take place in rural areas, where Poles stand out more^{ZPWB1 Guardian2}.  Another form of discrimination is the way insurance companies charge higher premiums to Poles than to locals^Polskie1.

 

Most of the main daily newspapers have run strange stories about Poles such as we sleep in toilets^Stopski10, eat swans and have sex with a vacuum cleaner^Earth1.  The Daily Mail is often criticised for its coverage of Polish immigrants to the UK since EU enlargement.  After a series of stories that were commonly thought of as racist and unfair ^Earth1, the Federation of Poles in Great Britain was forced to turn to the Press Complaints Commission. ^Guardian1. 

 

As was the case at the end of World War Two, we have seen the appearance of anti-Polish graffiti.  There have been a number of places including Edinburgh where racist slogans have told Poles to go home or accused them of stealing jobs^Edinburgh1.

 

It is the affect on jobs that has caused the most discussion in the media and amongst the general public, with a majority of people favouring limits in order to maintain jobs and standards of living^Stopski4.

 

Facebook, a large social networking site, has a number of British groups with anti-Polish views such as “Save UK jobs for UK people”, “give the Brits the jobs not the Polish”, “do not employ a Polish builder”, “Keep Britain British NO jobs for foreigners sod off Poles, Italians etc” and “get the POLISH OUT OF THE UK!!! SEND THE C**TS BAKK !!!”.  Most of these sites use very bad English such as back actually spelt with a double K.  One group amused me with the title “Save FULL TIME BRITISH Jobs and GIVE THE POLISH AGENCY WORK”.  Most of these groups have been shut down thanks to the work of Federation, Polish media and members of the Polonia complaining^Orla1.

 

Although need for more manpower has been recognised in the UK, there is still a requirement for Poles to register under the workers registration scheme (WRS)^Stopski5.  The image of Poles changed between 2004 and 2007 from one of taking jobs to being part of the community.  The latter however included criminals and those sleeping rough. ^Stopski9.

 

There were also worries about” Social tourism”, though this hasn’t occurred.  Poles have not become a strain on the British social care system and almost never claim unemployment, sickness or disability benefit^Stopski6.  Brits were portrayed in the tabloids as paying twice for Poles.  Whilst taking jobs here, Brits were expected via the EU to pay for projects in Poland such as road building^Stopski12.

 

The Daily Mail has also claimed that Poles will put a strain on education, medical and other services^Stopski10.  Another claim in the tabloid press is that Poles do not follow rules or even bother to learn them^Stopski11. 

 

The situation is made worst as Poles find themselves not part of any protect groups.  Using racist terms about Jews, blacks and homosexuals, for example, are no longer acceptable by the media in the UK.  Even if they don’t break the law, the media would not use such terms. 

 

A good example of how Poles don’t find themselves in this protected group was when the Times columnist Giles Coren was allowed to use the racial slur Polack^Times2.  There was support from some in the UK, such as an early day motion in the UK parliament signed by 23 Members of Parilament^Early1 calling for action against the Times.   The Times refused as it was a personal opinion rather than an official Times position.  The Press Complaints Commission claim they only protect individuals not groups.  The Equality and Human Rights Commission refused as they said it as Press Complaints Commission job.  Apart from a few signs of support, nothing was done to the author or the newspaper itself and the slur still stands available on-line for anyone to read today.

 

Another major example was the way Chris Moyles, a leading DJ for BBC’s Radio 1, was able to say Poles made good prostitutes.  He did make a half hearted apology^Mirror1.

 

Sadly anti-Polish prejudice is still socially acceptable when other prejudices such as anti-Semitism are not^Economist1.

 

My involvement in the fight for Poland’s good name started almost five years ago.  I had occasionally tried to help out by writing letters of complaint or asking for more/better coverage of Poland.  There was an incident involving a radio station here in London.  I didn’t hear it but was informed via an internet chat group.  Having checked with the radio station that they did say it, I went about trying to raise support to get a correction on air.  Sadly someone had reported them to OFCOM, the independent regulator authority for the UK communications industries, meaning the station itself would do nothing as they were awaiting the ruling and friends refused to help as I had no proof.  When OFCOM ruled they had done nothing wrong I found myself on the losing side. 

 

This resulted in a meeting of five individuals here in the downstairs café in POSK to discuss how we might improve things.  This small group of Polonia came together to form a group originally called the UK media monitoring group but is now the Polish Media issues group.

 

We currently have 60 members spread around the world, from Australia to Poland, Belgium to the UK and Canada to the US.  We encountered 170 issues, or roughly three a week, in 2009.  Most were related to incorrect references to the German extermination programme in occupied Poland such as “Polish concentration camps” but we also tried to deal with Pollack jokes^Anti1 in the US, immigration issues in the UK and other matters such as correctly portraying Soviet crimes against Poland.  The UK accounts for about 22% of alerts raised by the Polish Media issues group.

 

The Polish Media Issues group sees itself as a group of individuals.  We are a group of friends, so no one is more equal than any other.  I have the title moderator.  This simply means I have offered to do some of the administration for the group.  No-one can talk upon behalf of the group, including myself, without group approval.

 

The group to date has been low profile, partly because we are a private group.  This means you have to be a member to read the postings on the internet.  This reflected again the wishes of the founders to have a forum where freedom of expression was allowed without the fear of criticism those beyond the group.

 

Many of the group are active members of the Polonia, hence we only discuss media issues and general conversation is, in the main, not allowed.  Apart from asking members only to discuss issues in the media related to Poland, banning racist remarks and asking members not to fight amongst themselves, members are free to raise and discuss anything they feel important.  A copy of our rules is attached to the back of the document you found on your seats.

 

The Polish Media Issues Group works by individual posting to our internet site and alerts, as we call them.  Depending on the nature of the alert, a discussion may take place to ensure members agree it is an issue or on what actions are best to take.  With a standard, such as “Polish death camp”, members will simply move on to taking actions to get it corrected.  Members often share information such as contact details for the media involved and post copies of their letter of complaint.  The group then monitor the situation to see if a correction appears.  Generally the issue is handled in less than a week, but with serious problems in which there is no initial resolution, members can action it for over a year.  Our goal depends on the issue and type of media involved but generally it involves trying to get any internet version of the story corrected and a clarification in the printed version.  With each issue, what is a successful outcome is will vary.

 

We get successful results in slightly over 40% of our alerts.  This is shown in our alert log show as CLOSED.  A cut down version of the log is also included in the documents found on your seat.  The version you have is only for the most recent issues and doesn’t have as much information as the full log available on-line to Polish Media Issues Group members. 

 

The failure rate is slightly under 40%, which is shown in the log as OPEN.  The other appropriately 20% are shown as IMPERFECT.  This indicates a partial success such as the online version having been removed but no clarification ever given.

 

The first such alert was raised on 19th July 2005.  The Economist referred to “Polish concentration camp”.  The PMI protest didn’t make the magazine but the Ambassador of Poland here in London had a letter of protest was printed. 

 

This was followed on 23^rd July when the History channel claimed Poland surrendered.  The Producers committed to removing it from future airings.  This alert was actually with an American organisation.  This lecture has focused on the UK but with the internet, satellite TV, foreign newspapers available in shops and the like, it is not possible to consider an issue solely in one country.  That was why we expanded from our roots here in UK and now have an international membership.

 

The Polish Media Issues Group is independent of other organisations.  We work/liaise/ communicate when necessary with other Polonia action groups such as Chicago based StopJack, Polish Organisations such Federation of Poles in Great Britain and the Polish government such as in the case of an issue in Italy, which we escalated by getting the embassy in Rome to take action.

 

At times these issues may seem minor, but regrettable people don’t know the truth.  One in six British children think Auschwitz was a theme park^Times1.  This comes from children who believe “Eggs come from sheep, crisps are made of plastic and butterflies produce cheese”^MSN1.

 

The issue of anti-Polish sentiment is sadly not something authors have chosen to write about.  There are few books on the topic such as the Defamation of the Poles from 1979 and a new book out this year called Hollywood's War with Poland 1939-1945 which I have here if anyone would like to look at.

 

Some have written books to counter these issues,  In the preface for ‘In Defence of my country’, the author said the idea for the book came from the ‘incessant anti-Polish propaganda conducted in the western world, in the form of numerous books, articles, TV and radio programmes and many other manifestations’.

 

Further I have examples of some of the Soviet propaganda published in the UK.  They are originals, some up to 70 years old, so please be careful with them.  In addition, I have on the table examples of issues and letters of complaint that you may like to look at.

 

After the fall of communism, there was much debate about the future and role of the Polish community here in the UK^Sword12.  I would argue that one purpose is to continue its work to defend Poland and Poles against media bias.

 

The Polish community must not divide itself.  Intolerance has caused issues such as ‘one cannot be at the same time an Englishman and a Pole’^Sword6.  This has marginalized parts of the Polonia such as myself who fail to meet the high standards required.  His Holiness John Paul II said we were torn from Poland^Sword10.   Many of the most active members of the Polish Media Issues Group are unable to speak Polish fluently but we show our love of Poland by our contribution to her defence.

 

British Polonia is on the front line, we may not face death but our goal is still to defend Poland’s name, which is as important as ever.  As one Polish solider put it “One must continually maintain one’s guard and repulse the dangers that lie in wait”^Soldiers5.

 

I thank you for your time and would like to take any questions or hear any comments you have.

 

 

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Monster1. “British MP "sick and tired" of alleged anti-Polish bias” 4^th June 2008

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