Grzegorz Braun seen shortly after using a fire extinguisher on a Hanukkah menorah in Poland’s parliament building in Warsaw, Dec. 12, 2023. (Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
(JTA) — A far-right Polish member of the European Parliament with a history of antisemitic statements disrupted a moment of silence for the victims of the Holocaust in order to decry “the Jewish genocide in Gaza.”
Grzegorz Braun, chairman of the far-right Confederation of the Polish Crown party, known as KKP, interrupted the minute of silence on Wednesday, two days after International Holocaust Remembrance Day. In footage of the moment, voices were audible as Roberta Metsola, the European Parliament’s president, called for silence. Then, Braun began to speak in a loud voice.
“Let’s pray for the victims of the Jewish genocide in Gaza,” he said. After a pause, he added, “Thank you, everybody, for praying for the victims of the Jewish genocide in Gaza.”
After the minute of silence, Metsola said, to applause, “Mr Braun, you leave the chamber now.”
Braun’s party website, which features his photo on the homepage, also includes a link to an 18th century encyclical by Pope Benedict XIV recommending that Poles deprive Jews of property, restrict them from holding office and avoid doing business with them.
This is not his first antisemitic action in as a public official. In December 2023, he used a fire extinguisher to put out a Hanukkah menorah in Polish parliament. He was temporarily expelled from parliament and penalized as a result. Earlier in the year, he shut down a lecture by Polish-Canadian historian Jan Grabowski by storming the podium and damaging it.
On Wednesday, the European Jewish Congress called Braun’s interruption “A vile display of antisemitism in the heart of European democracy.”
The group added, “Disrupting a solemn moment of silence with hateful rethoric is not only a grave insult to the memory of the Holocaust victims but also a disturbing reminder that the same antisemitic narratives that fueled history’s darkest times continue to persist today.”
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