Posted on 09/11/2026 5:17:00 AM PDT by Cronos
Polish far-right leader Grzegorz Braun has published a video of himself using a hammer to attack a monument in Poland dedicated to soldiers from the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), a World War Two partisan formation that fought against the Soviet Union but was also responsible for massacring Poles.
Braun declared that the monument, which was also recently vandalised by other unknown perpetrators, should be removed as it “insults the memory of victims of the Ukrainian genocide against Poles” and “glorifies Nazism”.
The incident comes amid recent tensions between Warsaw and Kyiv over World War Two history, and in particular the fact that the UPA continues to be honoured in Ukraine.
The monument in question is located in the village of Liski, a few kilometres from the border with Ukraine, and marks the burial site of 41 UPA soldiers killed while fighting against the NKVD, the Soviet secret police, in 1946, in the aftermath of World War Two. The area previously had a large ethnic-Ukrainian population.
The memorial was vandalised last month, when it was sprayed with black paint and its arch was damaged. On Monday this week, further damage was discovered to the inscription on the monument.
Police announced that they had launched an investigation into vandalism, property damage and ethnic hatred, but had not yet identified the perpetrators, reported the Polish Press Agency (PAP).
On Wednesday evening, Braun published a video showing himself and another man using a hammer to repeatedly strike the front of the monument, causing visible damage to the stone, which contains the names of the killed UPA soldiers. They also appear to attempt to remove a separate plaque.
During the video, Braun, who is a member of the European Parliament and finished fourth in last year’s Polish presidential election, claimed that local residents are “afraid they would be set on fire” if they attempted to remove the memorial themselves. It is not clear when the video was recorded.
Shortly after Braun published it, local police in Hrubieszów county, where the monument is located, issued a statement saying that officers were investigating damage to the monument. Interior ministry spokeswoman Karolina Gałecka shared their statement and declared that “the perpetrators will not go unpunished”.
Braun regularly carries out stunts intended to demonstrate his anti-Ukrainian, antisemitic and anti-LGBT views, and is already facing multiple legal cases over such incidents.
He is currently on trial for attacking a celebration of the Jewish festival of Hanukkah in parliament using a fire extinguisher. Last month, he was charged with the crime of denying Nazi crimes for claiming that the gas chambers at Auschwitz are “fake”.
He was also charged with theft over incidents in which he tore down Ukrainian and European Union flags, and with vandalism of an LGBT+ exhibition. If convicted, some of the crimes Braun is charged with carry potential years-long prison sentences.
Nevertheless, Braun’s party, Confederation of the Polish Crown (KKP), continues to enjoy support of around 8-9%, according to polling averages. That could make it a key player in deciding who can form a government after next year’s parliamentary elections.
Polish far-right leader Grzegorz Braun has been charged with denying Nazi crimes, a criminal offence in Poland that carries a prison sentence of up to three years, for statements he made suggesting that the gas chambers at Auschwitz are "fake"
At the time of writing, there had been no response from Ukrainian authorities to Braun’s latest stunt. However, when the same monument was vandalised last month, the Ukrainian embassy in Warsaw issued a statement expressing its “deep indignation”.
“Regardless of the difficult and tragic chapters of our shared history, burial and memorial sites should remain outside the realm of political disputes and be treated with respect,” they wrote.
The embassy also expressed “particular concern that this incident occurs against the backdrop of a rising number of hostile acts toward Ukrainians in Poland, including reports of aggression and attacks on Ukrainian citizens”
“Any attempts to shift historical disputes into the realm of vandalism, intimidation or hostility toward modern Ukraine and Ukrainians are dangerous and must be met with an appropriate legal response,” they added.
Poland and Ukraine have been embroiled in a diplomatic dispute since May, when President Volodymyr Zelensky named a military unit after the “heroes of the UPA”. His Polish counterpart, Karol Nawrocki, responded by stripping Zelensky of Poland’s highest honour.
Tensions have since cooled, and Ukraine has made moves to defuse the crisis. However, significant differences remain, in particular over memory of the so-called Volhynia massacres, in which the UPA led the killing of around 100,000 Polish civilians.
Poland regards the episode as a genocide. Ukraine strongly rejects that label, and also continues to honour the UPA for its role in fighting against Moscow-imposed Soviet rule.
Recent months have also seen a rise in anti-Ukrainian sentiment in Poland, including a series of cases of verbal or physical attacks against Ukrainians, who are by far Poland’s largest immigrant group. Reported anti-Ukrainian hate crimes were up 30% in the first half of this year.
In 2017, Ukraine responded to the dismantling of a UPA monument in Poland by introducing a ban on exhumations of Polish victims of the Volhynia massacres on its territory. It is believed that tens of thousands still remain buried in unmarked mass graves.
However, last year, in a diplomatic breakthrough, Kyiv allowed such exhumations to resume, and since then the remains of dozens of victims have been found, researched and reburied.
Earlier this month, Poland also granted Ukraine permission to conduct a search for the remains of Ukrainian civilians killed by Polish resistance fighters during World War Two.
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0.03% of Poles are jewish. Why would there be a menorah in the Polish Parliament?
Did they throw in a Voodoo shrine as well?
“Far right”?
Here is an article on the giant Menorah incident, it is less shocking when seen in context, one can have an opinion on the act either way but it probably shocked the Poles far less than an American unfamiliar with what Poland endured in WWII, and its modern discussion of it.
https://theconversation.com/why-did-a-far-right-mp-take-a-fire-extinguisher-to-a-jewish-menorah-just-as-polands-new-government-was-being-voted-into-power-219789
Did the poles hand over millions of Haitians to the nazis to slaughter?
The guy isn’t prejudiced - he hates everyone equally. He is a complete, raving, antisemitic, anti-American, anti-Russian, anti-Ukrainian, anti-Protestant, anti-foreigner lunatic. But on the other hand, he is for eliminating personal income tax, eliminating the wealth tax, greatly reducing the VAT, massively cutting back social spending and turning social spending into voluntary social insurance. So at least he has that going for him . . . . .
Dominik Tarczynski and Ewa Zajączkowska-Hernik are much better representatives of the good side of Polish politics.
Braun is just a nut.
The Polish nation didn’t “hand over” anyone to the Nazis.
Poland ceased to exist as a functioning territorial state on October 6, 1939, when Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union fully partitioned and annexed the country’s territories. Earlier in the campaign, on September 17, 1939, Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov had explicitly declared that the Polish state and its government had “ceased to exist” to justify the Soviet invasion.
De facto Poland was resurrected only in late 1944/early 1945.
Yup, you are correct.
They didn't have the chance, but I can tell you with pretty high confidence what they would have done.
Furthermore, not one single Pole served as a guard at the German Death Camps.
Plenty of Ukrainians did.
Chanukkah is "satanic???"
I thought Catholics considered the Maccabees to be saints and martyrs and the Books of the Maccabees to be inspired?
Chanukkah is "satanic???"
I thought Catholics considered the Maccabees to be saints and martyrs and the Books of the Maccabees to be inspired?
What did that have to do with post 4?
You are quoting some post and it isn’t mine.
As you said, Christianity “broke your heart” because it turned out to be “ahistorical.”
Yet, to soothe that heartbreak, you have anchored your soul to a religious track - Noahidism - that has zero historical expression prior to the late 20th century. - in fact just to stick it to Christianity, joining a cult that is just about the same age as Scientology is pretty pathetic
>> 0.03% of Poles are jewish.
It was 10% during the time of the 2nd Republic.
But it was a loaded question, your posting history shows you have an axe to grind against Jews for some reason.
If the "some reason" isn't clear enough you can read more of my posting history, or this bulletin from the White House:
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