They should be chipped, just like dogs are put on, and of course it is cheaper to tattoo numbers on their left arm – said Marek Król, who spoke about migrants, on Republika Television. The television said it “deeply disagrees” with the publicist’s statement. This is another recent statement of this type about migrants on this station. Jan Pietrzak recently talked about “immigrant barracks in Auschwitz”.
On Wednesday, the guests of Telewizja Republika were a publicist, former secretary of the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers’ Party and former editor-in-chief of the weekly “Wprost”, Marek Król, and a journalist and columnist of the weekly “Przegląd” Jakub Dymek, who discussed the relocation of migrants under the EU migration pact.
– The idea of relocation is a typically Nazi idea. The Nazis have experience with bringing people to Auschwitz in cattle wagons and, unfortunately, they repeat it, said the King, among others.
In response, Dymek stated that he would like to protest “against the abuse of associations with Nazism and the use of the memory of the Holocaust for this debate.” – Because in my opinion it’s abuse. I certainly do not subscribe to these statements and I believe that such associations should not be used, he said.
The interviewer, Łukasz Jankowski, did not comment on this and continued to ask “what to do with these people.”
The king said that “the simplest way is to put chips on them like you do on dogs.” – And of course it is cheaper to tattoo the numbers on the left hand and then you will find them easily – he said.
Dymek also protested against this statement. Jankowski left the statement without comment and ended the conversation.
Marek Król in an archival photo from 2014Jakub Kamiński/PAP
Pietrzak on Telewizja Republika about “immigrant barracks in Auschwitz, Majdanek, Treblinka, Stutthof”
This is another such statement on Telewizja Republika recently. On Sunday, right-wing satirist and publicist Jan Pietrzak said:
I have a cruel joke with these immigrants that they count on Poles being prepared because we have barracks. We have barracks for immigrants: in Auschwitz, Majdanek, Treblinka, Stutthof. We have a lot of barracks built here by the Germans. And there we will stop… (here he stammered – editor) these immigrants, pushed to us illegally by the Germans, because people who escape to a better world are not illegal. The authorities that let them in are illegal, i.e. the Germans are illegal. Their slogan welcoming the newcomers was illegal, outside the treaty, and inconsistent with any laws. This is illegal German activity. We should be sensitive to this in the coming year, because it seems that it is starting to bother us a lot.
Proceedings relating to the broadcast started by the National Broadcasting Council. The prosecutor’s office also initiated proceedings earlier.
The Auschwitz Museum reacts to Jan Pietrzak’s words. The prosecutor’s office also initiated an investigation into the statementArleta Zalewska/Fakty TVN
Television reaction
Republika Television stated that it “deeply disagrees” with the King’s statement.
She also shared an entry by Michał Rachoń, the station’s program director, who wrote that “European immigration policy is dangerous for Poland and for Europe itself”, “however, this does not justify the dehumanization of people illegally crossing the EU borders”. He also repeated his position of “deep disagreement” with the King’s statement.
There will be a notification to the prosecutor’s office
KO MP Klaudia Jachira announced a notification to the prosecutor’s office about the possibility of committing a crime under Article 256 of the Penal Code by Marek Król. “Auschwitz did not fall from the sky,” she recalled.
§ 1. Whoever publicly propagates a fascist or other totalitarian state system or incites hatred on the basis of national, ethnic, racial or religious differences or due to lack of religious denomination, shall be subject to a fine, restriction of liberty or imprisonment for up to 2 years. (…)
The Auschwitz Museum reacts
Representatives of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum in Oświęcim referred to the matter.
“Auschwitz was the only German camp where prisoners had numbers tattooed. In the fall of 1941, Soviet prisoners were marked in this way, from March 1942, Jews and Poles transferred from Auschwitz to Birkenau, and from the beginning of 1943, other prisoners,” it was recalled.
tvn24.pl, Telewizja Republika
Main photo source: Jakub Kamiński/PAP