According to Szymon Banna, a spokesman for the prosecutor’s office, the District Prosecutor’s Office in Warsaw has initiated ex officio proceedings into Tuesday’s events in the Sejm with the participation of the Member of the Polish Parliament. Confederation MP Grzegorz Braun, using a powder extinguisher, put out Hanukkah candles lit in the Sejm.

The Sejm on Tuesday 12 December hosted a ceremony dedicated to the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah. It commemorates the story recorded in Books I and II of Maccabees, which tells of the War of Liberation in 164 BC.

In the evening, Confederation MP Grzegorz Braun, using a powder extinguisher, put out the Hanukkah candles lit in the Sejm. He then appeared at the Sejm pulpit and claimed that the event was of a satanic nature. The Speaker of the Sejm excluded Mr Braun from the proceedings and announced that a motion would be filed against him with the public prosecutor’s office for disturbing a religious rite.

“Firstly: this is not Poland. This act does not represent the Polish nation, but some marginal fanaticism,” Chief Rabbi of Poland Michael Schudrich told Catholic News Agency, commenting on the scandalous behaviour of MP Grzegorz Braun.

“We lit Hanukkah candles in the Sejm, unfortunately one man extinguished them. We lit them, immediately, again”, said the rabbi. “This is also our Sejm, we have been in Poland for thousands of years”, he reminded.

Michael Schudrich admitted that he was very moved by the fact that Cardinal Grzegorz Ryś immediately reacted to the incident by publishing a statement. “I am ashamed and apologise to the entire Jewish community in Poland”, wrote the chairman of the Committee of the Polish Bishops’ Conference for Dialogue with Judaism.

Rabbi Schudrich revealed in an interview with Catholic News Agency that during a telephone conversation with Cardinal Ryś, the Metropolitan of Łódź asked him for forgiveness.

“But we are on the same side. We are all proud citizens of Poland, so you cannot say: we and you. The incident fills us all with shame”, said Michael Schudrich.

Adrian Andrzejewski