Polish constitutional court docket choose apologises after likening Tusk to Hitler

A choose on Poland’s constitutional court docket – appointed by the ruling social gathering in 2019 after serving as one among its MPs – has apologised to opposition chief Donald Tusk after a tweet through which she appeared to liken him to Hitler. Nonetheless, she added that he ought to cease “giving causes for such jokes”.

The controversy started when Krystyna Pawłowicz – recognized for her outspoken and sometimes offensive remarks on social media – commented on Twitter underneath a picture displaying Tusk along with his grandchildren.

Tusk had himself initially posted the photograph displaying the youngsters watching Winnie the Pooh on tv, however an nameless Twitter person then posted an edited model through which it appeared that they have been taking a look at Hitler. Beneath the tweet, Pawłowicz requested: “And which one is Hitler?”

Figures related to and supportive of the ruling national-conservative Legislation and Justice (PiS) social gathering typically declare that Tusk and his centrist Civic Platform (PO) social gathering characterize German pursuits. They’ve often likened him and different PO figures to Hitler and the Nazis.

As a constitutional court docket choose Pawłowicz is theoretically speculated to be apolitical, however since being appointed to her present function she has continued to be a vocal presence on social media. “Why does the Polish opposition not need the existence of the Polish state?” she tweeted final 12 months.

After dealing with condemnation for her newest remark about Tusk and Hitler, Pawłowicz initially informed one critic to cease being “hysterical” about her “joke”. Nonetheless, this morning she introduced that she had deleted the tweet and “apologises to you [Tusk] for it”.

But in the identical assertion, Pawłowicz additionally accused Tusk of “talking publicly concerning the present state of affairs in Poland within the spirit of pre-war Germany” and known as on him to “not give causes for [making] such jokes”.

As examples, she cited two latest statements by Tusk. In Might, the PO chief talked about desirous to “clear up [Poland] with an iron broom” as soon as he got here to energy, which critics famous was a time period additionally utilized by the Nazis.

Earlier this month, referring to an environmental catastrophe within the Oder river, Tusk tweeted that “PiS is just like the mercury” allegedly poisoning the water, making the “entire nation useless underneath the rule of [PiS chairman Jarosław] Kaczyński”.

Final month, PO introduced that it was suing Gazeta Polska, a newspaper supportive of PiS, for a canopy that seems to liken Tusk to Hitler. Information broadcasts on state tv, which is a authorities mouthpiece, have proven a clip of Tusk saying “Für Deutschland” (“For Germany”) over 100 occasions since final 12 months.

Whereas a PiS MP from 2011 to 2019, Pawłowicz often courted controversy. She declared that Poland is in a “tradition struggle” towards the “Soros agenda, leftist ethical pathologies”; condemned “fifth columnists with out Polish genes”; known as the LGBT group “sexually disturbed, sick individuals who ought to be handled”; and described Poland becoming a member of the EU as a “unhappy day”.

Final 12 months, whereas already serving as a constitutional court docket choose, she drew criticism for publishing the private particulars of a 10-year-old transgender youngster. She additionally suggested that the EU was searching for to “pressure via a German into the workplace of the president of Poland” on the subsequent elections.

This 12 months, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Pawłowicz suggested that maybe “Germany tolerates Russia’s aggression towards Ukraine as a result of – like Russia – they’ve a plan to revise their borders with Poland?” and “they assist aggressive actions weakening Poland?” utilizing “their brokers in Poland”.

Principal picture credit score: Slawomir Kaminski / Agencja Wyborcza.pl

Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a variety of publications, together with International Coverage, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.