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- Politics
What to know about Karol Nawrocki, Poland's newly elected conservative president
WARSAW, Poland -- The final result of Poland's presidential election only became clear after a long, nail-gripping night of counting as both candidates were locked in a near dead heat in the first exit polls after voting ended. Poles awakened Monday to a clear albeit close result that returns a nationalist politician to the presidency who has pledged to hinder the centrist, pro-EU government for the remainder of its term. Here's what to know about Karol Nawrocki, Poland's newly elected conservative president: Nawrocki is a 42-year-old historian who had no political experience prior to the campaign and who was not even a party member until he was tapped by the conservative Law and Justice party that governed Poland from 2015 to 2023. Nawrocki heads the Institute of National Remembrance, which embraces nationalist historical narratives. He led efforts to topple monuments to the Soviet Red Army in Poland. Russia responded by putting him on a wanted list, according to Polish media reports. Nawrocki's supporters describe him as the embodiment of traditional, patriotic values. Many of them oppose abortion and LGBTQ+ visibility and say Nawrocki reflects the traditional values they grew up with. He was also the preferred favorite of U.S. President Donald Trump, with the American conservative group CPAC holding its first meeting in Poland last week during the campaign to give him a boost. Kristi Noem, the U.S. Homeland Security Secretary and a prominent Trump ally, strongly praised him and urged Poles to vote for him. His campaign echoed themes popular on the American right. A common refrain from his supporters is that Nawrocki will restore 'normality,' as they believe Trump has done. U.S. flags appeared at his rallies. Nawrocki performed better in the first round than expected, an indication he was underestimated in the polling. Nawrocki's quick political rise has not been without controversy, with reports linking him to underworld figures whom he met while boxing or working as a hotel security guard in the past. Nawrocki has also been linked to a scandal involving the acquisition of a Gdansk apartment from an elderly pensioner named Jerzy. Allegations suggest Nawrocki promised to care for Jerzy in return but failed to fulfill the commitment, leading the man to end up in a publicly funded retirement home. His shifting explanations raised questions about his transparency and credibility. After the scandal erupted he donated the apartment to a charity. It recently emerged that Nawrocki took part in a 2009 Gdansk brawl involving about 140 rival soccer fans, some later convicted of crimes. Nawrocki described the fight as a form of 'noble' combat. Polish media have also reported on his connections to gangsters and the world of prostitution. His critics say all of these things make him unfit to represent Poland as the head of state but many right-wing voters don't believe the allegations and accuse the media of using its power to hurt him, creating what appears to be a rallying effect around him.
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Germany lays to rest Margot Friedlaender, Holocaust survivor key to remembrance culture
BERLIN (Reuters) - Margot Friedlaender, a Holocaust survivor who played an important role in Germany's remembrance culture ensuring the country's Nazi past is not played down with the passage of time, was laid to rest on Thursday after dying last week aged 103. A funeral ceremony took place at a Jewish cemetery and Holocaust memorial site in Weissensee, Berlin, the city where Friedlaender was born and to which she eventually returned. Among the mourners were President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who bowed to her coffin which was covered in pink and white flowers. Friedlaender died on May 9, almost exactly 80 years after the Soviet Red Army liberated the Theresienstadt concentration camp where she was imprisoned. For Steinmeier, she embodied the "miracle of reconciliation" between Germany and Jews around the world, while Merz called her "one of the strongest voices of our time: for peaceful coexistence, against anti-Semitism and forgetting". Friedlaender was born in Berlin in 1921 to Auguste and Arthur Bendheim, a businessman. Her parents split in 1937 and Auguste tried in vain to emigrate with Margot and her younger brother, Ralph, in the face of intensifying persecution of Jews. Her father was deported in August 1942 to the Auschwitz death camp where he was murdered. In early 1943, on the day Margot, Ralph and Auguste were set to make a final attempt to leave Germany, Ralph was arrested by the Gestapo secret police. Auguste was not with her son at the time but turned herself in to accompany him in deportation to Auschwitz where both later died. Margot went underground and managed to elude the Gestapo by dying her hair red and having her nose operated on. But she was finally apprehended in April 1944 by Jewish "catchers" - Jews recruited to track down others in hiding in exchange for security - and sent to the Theresienstadt concentration camp in what is the Czech Republic today. She survived Theresienstadt and met her future husband, Adolf Friedlaender, there in early 1945, shortly before the liberation of all Nazi camps at the end of World War Two, and they emigrated to New York in 1946. In New York, Margot worked as a dressmaker and travel agent, while her husband held senior posts in Jewish organisations. Both vowed never to return to Germany. After her husband's death Margot revisited Berlin in 2003, among a number of Holocaust survivors invited back by the German capital's governing Senate. She moved back for good in 2010, at age 88, regaining her German citizenship and giving talks about her Holocaust experiences, particularly in German schools. "Not only did she extend a hand to us Germans – she came back; she gave us the gift of her tremendously generous heart and her unfailing humanity," Steinmeier said this week. Friedlaender's autobiography, "Try To Make Your Life - a Jewish Girl Hiding in Nazi Berlin" was published in 2008, titled after the final message that her mother managed to pass on to Margot. She was awarded Germany's Federal Cross of Merit in 2011 and in 2014, the Margot Friedlaender Prize was created to support students in Holocaust remembrance and encourage young people to show moral courage. In a 2021 interview with Die Zeit magazine marking her centenary, Friedlaender reflected on the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party's rise since 2015 on the back of anti-immigrant sentiment, saying it made her uncomfortable. "I remember how excited the 10-year-old boys were back then (in Nazi era) when they were allowed to march. When you saw how people absorbed that - you don't forget that," she said. "I always say: I love people, and I think there is something good in everyone, but equally I think there is something bad in everyone." (Writing by Miranda Murray and Matthias Williams; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
Reuters
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
Germany lays to rest Margot Friedlaender, Holocaust survivor key to remembrance culture
BERLIN, May 15 (Reuters) - Margot Friedlaender, a Holocaust survivor who played an important role in Germany's remembrance culture ensuring the country's Nazi past is not played down with the passage of time, was laid to rest on Thursday after dying last week aged 103. A funeral ceremony took place at a Jewish cemetery and Holocaust memorial site in Weissensee, Berlin, the city where Friedlaender was born and to which she eventually returned. Among the mourners were President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who bowed to her coffin which was covered in pink and white flowers. Friedlaender died on May 9, almost exactly 80 years after the Soviet Red Army liberated the Theresienstadt concentration camp where she was imprisoned. For Steinmeier, she embodied the "miracle of reconciliation" between Germany and Jews around the world, while Merz called her "one of the strongest voices of our time: for peaceful coexistence, against anti-Semitism and forgetting". Friedlaender was born in Berlin in 1921 to Auguste and Arthur Bendheim, a businessman. Her parents split in 1937 and Auguste tried in vain to emigrate with Margot and her younger brother, Ralph, in the face of intensifying persecution of Jews. Her father was deported in August 1942 to the Auschwitz death camp where he was murdered. In early 1943, on the day Margot, Ralph and Auguste were set to make a final attempt to leave Germany, Ralph was arrested by the Gestapo secret police. Auguste was not with her son at the time but turned herself in to accompany him in deportation to Auschwitz where both later died. Margot went underground and managed to elude the Gestapo by dying her hair red and having her nose operated on. But she was finally apprehended in April 1944 by Jewish "catchers" - Jews recruited to track down others in hiding in exchange for security - and sent to the Theresienstadt concentration camp in what is the Czech Republic today. She survived Theresienstadt and met her future husband, Adolf Friedlaender, there in early 1945, shortly before the liberation of all Nazi camps at the end of World War Two, and they emigrated to New York in 1946. In New York, Margot worked as a dressmaker and travel agent, while her husband held senior posts in Jewish organisations. Both vowed never to return to Germany. After her husband's death Margot revisited Berlin in 2003, among a number of Holocaust survivors invited back by the German capital's governing Senate. She moved back for good in 2010, at age 88, regaining her German citizenship and giving talks about her Holocaust experiences, particularly in German schools. "Not only did she extend a hand to us Germans – she came back; she gave us the gift of her tremendously generous heart and her unfailing humanity," Steinmeier said this week. Friedlaender's autobiography, "Try To Make Your Life - a Jewish Girl Hiding in Nazi Berlin" was published in 2008, titled after the final message that her mother managed to pass on to Margot. She was awarded Germany's Federal Cross of Merit in 2011 and in 2014, the Margot Friedlaender Prize was created to support students in Holocaust remembrance and encourage young people to show moral courage. In a 2021 interview with Die Zeit magazine marking her centenary, Friedlaender reflected on the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party's rise since 2015 on the back of anti-immigrant sentiment, saying it made her uncomfortable. "I remember how excited the 10-year-old boys were back then (in Nazi era) when they were allowed to march. When you saw how people absorbed that - you don't forget that," she said. "I always say: I love people, and I think there is something good in everyone, but equally I think there is something bad in everyone."
NDTV
10-05-2025
- Politics
- NDTV
Slovak PM Derides Europe's Attempts To Keep Him From Moscow War Commemorations
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said on Friday his country wanted to develop relations with Russia, and he derided those in the European Union who he said created obstacles to his attendance at World War Two commemorations in Moscow. Fico broke ranks with the EU by visiting Moscow late last year, more than two years after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. He met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin late on Friday evening following the Red Square parade marking the 80th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany. China's Xi Jinping was among several dozen leaders at the commemorations, but nearly all Western leaders stayed away. Fico arrived after a circuitous journey made necessary by EU members' barring his aircraft from their airspace. "As a head of government, I want to assure you that it is in my interest to have pragmatic relations with the Russian Federation," Russian news agencies quoted Fico as telling Putin. He said he opposed the creation of any new "iron curtain and pledge to do everything so that we can shake hands across a curtain". "Let us consider as a childish joke all the technical problems we confronted, created by our European Union colleagues." Putin said Russia appreciated Fico's decision to attend despite the "logistical obstacles that were created. But you are nonetheless here." Kaja Kallas, the EU's top diplomat, had criticised Fico's attendance at the Moscow ceremonies. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said attending the victory parade and "applauding President shame to everyone who is there." In a response to Kallas' comments on Facebook, Fico said he was paying tribute to Soviet Red Army soldiers who had liberated Slovakia in the war. Kallas had no right to criticise him, Fico said, as it was normal to hold a dialogue with other leaders. Fico also told Putin he was prepared to use a national veto to oppose plans by the 27-nation EU to phase out Russian energy purchases should the proposal come up for a unanimous vote. But under the European Commission's legal proposals due in June, approval would require a qualified majority of member states - which means one or two countries could not block the plan and Slovakia would likely be outvoted. Slovakia and Hungary had earlier voiced opposition to the plan. Fico described the proposal as "simply economic suicide".
eNCA
08-05-2025
- Politics
- eNCA
Germany slams Russian 'lies' on Ukraine in WWII commemoration
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Thursday criticised Russia's "historical lies" over the Ukraine war, as he marked the Nazi defeat that ended World War II in Europe 80 years ago. Steinmeier's speech to parliament expressed gratitude to the Allied soldiers and resistance movements who, "with all their strength and at great sacrifice", defeated Nazi Germany. He also praised the Soviet Red Army -- in which Russian and Ukrainian troops fought side-by-side -- for their role in the Nazis' defeat, noting it had liberated the Auschwitz concentration camp in Nazi-occupied Poland. "We do not forget this," Steinmeier told the Bundestag, during a sombre commemoration on the May 8 anniversary of Nazi Germany's unconditional surrender to the Allies. "But precisely because of this, we firmly oppose the Kremlin's historical lies today," he added. Russia has cast its three-year offensive against Ukraine as a fight against "neo-Nazis" and has channelled its own wartime legacy to try to justify the war. But Steinmeier went on: "The war against Ukraine is not a continuation of the fight against fascism. "(President Vladimir) Putin's war of aggression, his campaign against a free, democratic country, has nothing in common with the fight against Nazi tyranny in World War II." Steinmeier's speech received lengthy applause from MPs, although many from the far-right AfD -- now the biggest opposition party after coming second in February elections -- did not join in. Others in the West and Kyiv, including independent experts, have also rejected Moscow's narratives. Germany has been a key backer of Kyiv in its fight against Moscow. Russia's ambassador to Berlin was not invited to Thursday's commemoration, which was being marked with a public holiday in the capital. - 'Extremist forces' - Moscow is on Friday set to hold a large Victory Day parade to mark the anniversary of the Nazis' defeat. AFP | John MACDOUGALL During his 25 years in power, Putin has elevated May 9 to Russia's most important public holiday, using it to champion his army as defenders against fascism. Steinmeier also said it was a "shock of unprecedented proportions" that the United States was "turning its back on" the international, rules-based order which Washington had helped to forge. Even such an old democracy "can quickly be endangered when the judiciary is disregarded, the separation of powers is undermined and academic freedom is attacked," he said. Europe has been rattled by US President Donald Trump's return to office, and is particularly fearful that his administration is no longer committed to helping protect the continent. Steinmeier expressed fears about "extremist forces" gaining strength in Germany, following the AfD's recent electoral success. He did not mention the party by name but noted that such forces "mock the institutions of democracy and those who represent them". Steinmeier's speech recalled former president Richard von Weizsaecker's watershed address in 1985 when he became the first to call on Germans to remember May 8 not as a day of defeat, but one of liberation from Nazi tyranny. Nevertheless, Thursday's commemoration was not taking place in "calm certainty," Steinmeier stressed.
