Anti-semitism in Polish stadiums...

They need to really work on this....

The stands surrounding the soccer field of the Resovia sports club in the Polish city of Rzeszów were quite full. The two local soccer teams, Resovia and Stal, which play in the Polish Second League, met for a local derby.

Both clubs have a distinguished history: Resovia is one of the oldest sports clubs in history, while Stal won the Polish championship in the mid 1970s. As in most derby matches worldwide, the rivalry is bitter and filled with hatred.
Even before the start of the game, Resovia's fans took to the streets of Rzeszów and chanted, "The Aryan masses are coming."

During the game, some of them waved a huge cloth banner carrying a cartoon showing a Jew with a curved nose, wearing a striped yarmulke in the meaningful colors of blue and white – the colors of the flag of Israel, the colors of prisoners' uniform in Auschwitz and the official colors of the rival camp. On the devout Jew's face they scribbled the international "no entrance" sign. A poster held next to the cartoon read, "Death to those with curved noses."

Although the Nazis massacred masses of Polish people, the anti-Semitic racism raging in the Polish football stadiums lacks any historic cognition. It is based on pure hatred.

The recent anti-Semitic incident in Rzeszów sparked a fervent response in Poland. After the incident was revealed to the media by organizations fighting anti-Semitism, the Polish Football Association decided to penalize Resovia with a ridiculous fine and close the fields to its fans for two months. A number of inciters were arrested by the police.

The club's chairman, former Justice Minister Aleksander Bentowski, referred to the incident as "outrageous," and the team released a late apology saying that "the Jews of Rzeszów were starved to death and executed in the Rzeszów Ghetto, which later turned into a concentration camp for the entire region. Some of the city's Jews were sent to the death camps, while the others were shot in nearby forests. 'Death to the Jews' calls in this place must be punished."

Before World War II, one-third of Rzeszów's residents were Jews. The city even had a name in Yiddish – "Reisha." Nearly all of the Rzeszów's Jews were murdered by the Nazis, and today there is no information on Jews residing in the city, all the more so on Jews playing with the Stal club.

Nonetheless, the club is considered "Jewish" by the fans of its rival club in the city – not only because of its symbol and its players' clothes, but simply because it's considered "the enemy."

Despite the anti-Semitic posters and slogans, the heads of the rival clubs and representatives of the Polish Football Association who were present at the match kept silent. After all, anti-Semitism is a life's routine in Polish football. In nearly every city, as well as among the First League clubs, there are "Jewish teams" which are despised by their rivals and are subject to shocking anti-Semitic propaganda.

Fans of certain teams, which absurdly refer to themselves as "Aryan," arrive at the games with a racist belief about the need to create a "white Poland." They wave Nazi flags and posters sending the Jews to the gas chambers.