WARSAW — The murder of Gdańsk Mayor Paweł Adamowicz lays bare divisions that are wider than at any time since Poland shook off communism three decades ago.
The man who killed Adamowicz at a fundraising event on Sunday was described by authorities as a mentally ill bank robber who blamed the mayor’s former party, Civic Platform, for the time he spent in prison.
The death “illustrates the scale of political tensions that function in our country,” Jarosław Wałęsa, a member of the European Parliament and a one-time rival of Adamowicz for the mayor’s job, told Poland’s TVN24. “What happened yesterday is unfortunately a result of politicians not taking responsibility for their words.”
Adamowicz, 53, was a high-profile liberal critic of the ruling right-wing Law and Justice (PiS). He supported issues like gay rights and accepting asylum seekers, in stark contrast to PiS ideology, and his murder is being treated as a symptom of an illness in Polish society and politics.
The mayor had been subjected to barrages of abuse from pro-government media and other right-wingers. The nationalist All-Polish Youth even issued a “political death certificate” for Adamowicz two years ago.
The Mayor of Gdańsk Paweł Adamowicz died after being stabbed on Sunday, January 13, 2019 | Simon Krawczyk/AFP via Getty Images
‘Fascist’ language
The charity event Adamowicz was taking part in on Sunday is an even more prominent target of pro-government attacks.
Founded by rocker Jerzy Owsiak in 1993, the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity (WOŚP) has become the country’s largest non-government charity. Every January, Polish streets are filled with children collecting money as part of an annual fundraising drive, and millions of Poles sport the foundation’s red heart stickers on their clothes to show they’ve donated.
The money goes to buy hospital equipment that the underfunded medical system is unable to afford. But Owsiak’s success, coupled with his unapologetic liberalism, has made him a target for right-wingers, government backers, PiS members of parliament, and some Catholic clergy. The church’s rival fundraising drive was less high-profile than Owsiak’s effort. The anger was so deep that one priest even announced that he would not pray for Adamowicz after he was attacked.
Poland’s people have increasingly isolated themselves into hostile camps.
In the wake of Adamowicz’s death, Owsiak announced he is quitting the charity, placing the blame on people who have threatened his foundation for years — with little reaction from the police.
The criticism “approaches the language of Nazism, of fascism, of threats,” Owsiak said.
Political disunity
Adamowicz’s death shocked the country. Politicians from across the political spectrum called for calm and to refrain from politicizing the killing.
But the tension stilled for only a moment.
President Andrzej Duda, a PiS ally, called for a meeting of political leaders in the wake of the killing, but Civic Platform refused to attend. Duda had to back away from the idea of holding a silent march on Tuesday in Gdańsk, after other parties accused him of trying to politicize Adamowicz’s death.
“I decided that any kind of a march led by the authorities is not in order,” Duda said, adding: “We can all examine our consciences.”
People wait to donate blood in Gdansk for the city’s mayor on January 14, 2019 | Krzysztof Mystowski/AFP via Getty Images
Poland’s people have increasingly isolated themselves into hostile camps. Urban liberals and right-wing backers of the government get their news from different sources, socialize increasingly rarely, and have deeply divergent views of their country’s place in Europe and the world. Social media has become a war zone — with anyone straying from the party line subjected to attack.
Even charity fundraising has become politicized. WOŚP saw its proceeds soar when it was attacked by PiS backers in recent years, because PiS opponents saw donating to the charity as a way of demonstrating their hostility to the country’s rulers.
Divisions will deepen
Poland’s largely pro-EU liberal wing looks to Donald Tusk, a former prime minister and current president of the European Council, as a possible leader to snatch back power from PiS in this year’s parliamentary election and next year’s presidential vote.
“We will defend Gdańsk and Poland against hatred and contempt,” Tusk said in the city on Monday evening.
PiS loyalists want Jarosław Kaczyński, the country’s de facto leader, to carry out his program of rebuilding the country based on traditional national virtues, and pride in their country’s history and religion.
The roots of Poland’s current division date back to April 10, 2010, when a plane carrying Poland’s then-President Lech Kaczyński and other senior officials crashed while trying to land in Smolensk, Russia. Poland united in the immediate aftermath of that disaster.
But within days society split.
A majority saw the crash as a tragic accident caused by undertrained pilots breaking a host of rules while trying to land during dense fog. But many Law and Justice loyalists saw a conspiracy with Tusk in cahoots with Russian President Vladimir Putin to cause the crash.
On Monday evening, thousands of people took to the streets to remember Adamowicz and to protest against violence. But the current moment of unity around Adamowicz’s death looks set to last for an even briefer time.
“These divisions will not go away,” said Marek Migalski, a political scientist at the University of Silesia. “If anything they will deepen.”