The prominent liberal newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza published polling data on Polish help for refugees, and conservative commentators can’t help pointing out that the newspaper guilty of creating the myth of a xenophobic Poland has now written about a poll proving that to be false.
The poll, carried out by the Kantar polling agency, shows that 73.5 percent of all Poles have participated in some form of assistance for Ukrainian refugees.
“These pictures will remain with us forever: Ukrainian women, children and pensioners welcomed in Poland with open arms, scores of volunteers handing out food and drink, medical first aid, and thousands of people selflessly offering a roof over the refugees’ heads and help with living in a foreign country,” the opposition newspaper wrote.
Gazeta Wyborcza even cited a political scientist stating that the myth of Polish xenophobia has been debunked, as 82.5 percent of all those surveyed said the refugees from Ukraine are no threat to Polish traditions, religion or culture.
In addition, 64.5 percent agreed that the current conservative government in Poland had done enough to help refugees fleeing the war. Poland has even given the refugees social security numbers so that they can work and granted them full rights to healthcare and education for their children.
Conservative journalists have mocked Gazeta Wyborcza’s findings. “They spent decades creating the myth of Polish xenophobia and now they’re trying to debunk it,” wrote TVP journalist Cezary Gmyz on Twitter.
Others recalled how several years ago a Gazeta Wyborcza journalist, Jacek Hugo-Bader, had provocatively donned blackface and attended a nationalist march. He expected a violent reaction but was ignored. All that he could report was that he “sensed hostility,” an incident which was widely mocked in Poland’s conservative press at the time.
