Polish lawmaker releases anti-Semitic booklet

A Polish lawmaker published a booklet suggesting Jews are unethical, obsessed with separateness and a “tragic community” because they don’t accept Jesus as the Messiah. On Wednesday, European Parliamentarian Maciej Giertych, a former head of the nationalistic, Catholic-based League of Polish families, released the 32-page “Civilization at War in Europe” at European Parliament headquarters in Strasbourg, France. The League is now led by Giertych’s son Roman, who is Poland’s education minister and deputy prime minister. The book is devoted to proving that European culture, education and morality should be the province of only one civilization, based on Christianity; Jews are presented as detrimental to this goal. “It is quite amazing that a member of the European Parliament referred to racial theories of the pre-World War II era reflecting empty prejudices and the ugliest anti-Semitic cliches,” European Jewish Congress head Serge Cwajgenbaum said after reading the book on Giertych’s Web site, www.giertych.pl. Cwajgenbaum said the EJC would investigate the legality of the publication. He also called upon the younger Giertych to renounce his father’s work.