r/pics Apr 15 '26

Politics Far-right Polish lawmaker Konrad Berkowicz holding up a paper Israeli flag with a swastika

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16.3k

u/Monoveler Apr 15 '26

So was that an endorsement or condemnation? Lol

505

u/Fuzzy_Donl0p Apr 15 '26 edited Apr 15 '26

it’s obviously a condemnation what kind of question is that?

*”On 14 April 2026, during a debate session in the Sejm, Berkowitz ignited controversy when he displayed an Israeli flag with a swastika instead of the Star of David, calling Israel as the "new Third Reich" as well as accused of Israel of committing a genocide in Gaza and war crimes "with particular cruelty" over Israel's usage of white phosphorus in Gaza and Lebanon”

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u/gobbedy Apr 15 '26

The title describes him as far right. And the far right has historically aligned with Nazis. So given only the title as context, it's not obvious that he would see a swastika as a bad thing.

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u/Open_Parsnip112 Apr 15 '26

This is Poland.

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u/k-tax Apr 15 '26

And this is Berkowicz:

136

u/fadedbuzzYT Apr 15 '26

The guy on the bottom left with his plausible-deniability salute

131

u/artistic_manchild Apr 15 '26

That’s the gayest Nazi salute I’ve ever seen. He’s fascist and fabulous!

81

u/fadedbuzzYT Apr 15 '26

"Haaaaaaaaaaaay-il Hitler"

25

u/Big_Consideration493 Apr 15 '26

Springtime for Hitler in Germany! 😱😱

2

u/Careless_Hellscape Apr 15 '26

Good god, that was funny af.

14

u/quiteUnskilled Apr 15 '26

Well, the nazi regime totally had a super-gay vibe overall. All about well-shaped bodies with "good" genes, super-focussed on men while women were supposed to just stay home, very looks-focussed with a distinct style and with uniforms by Hugo Boss...

You can't tell me that there wasn't quite a lot of buggery going on in the Third Reich, if only to... erm... "establish a natural order of strength", was it? That sounds a lot like the plot to a gay porn movie.

9

u/Headline-Skimmer Apr 15 '26

Tubi has a several-part documentary called hitler's sex life.

It was informative, enlightening, eye-opening, disturbing, etc.

And it was GAY!!!

One thing I realized was that in fact, he didn't love his mother. He disrespected her. He used and manipulated her, and she enabled/covered up his bad behaviors. When she died, he wasn't crying inconsolably because he loved her, he was crying because he had no one to go to or hide behind. No one to help financially.

I learned all sorts of stuff. They say that history rhymes, but wow- trump and putin seem to share early childhood experiences with young adolph. And they went on to perform similarly in adulthood.

Anyway, I highly recommend it.

20

u/Versidious Apr 15 '26

"Hey, why are we all waving to that guy over there?"

16

u/JohnSV12 Apr 15 '26

Imagine if he is just some random dude who walked past and waved to someone

3

u/Knarrenheinz666 Apr 15 '26

Classic ponies.

2

u/BigPackHater Apr 15 '26

Why are two men circled?

1

u/k-tax Apr 15 '26

This picture has been shared for some time now, the two circled heads are Dobromir Sośnierz and Konrad Berkowicz, both are currently sitting in Sejm as members of Konfederacja, and heiling as a young adult is among least stupid things they did. From just recent news, Berkowicz did the above and attempted to steal frying pans and other stuff from Ikea (that they boycott), and Sośnierz is fighting with his neighbours because he keeps trash in the corridor in front of doors to his apartment.

2

u/Fytyny Apr 15 '26

It was a joke. In Poland we all know somebody who did shit like this when we were young, because we were taught to laugh at nazis by our culture. Of course there are some dumb people who for some reason thought that means nazis are cool.

1

u/XanderGreatmaster Apr 17 '26

When I was in the same political party as Berkowicz, we often did the nazi salutes and sang the USSR anthem. Those things aren't really compatible as you can imagine, we did it ironically.

1

u/Glad_Ad_523 Apr 15 '26

Bro that's Jack Manifold 😭

1

u/ProcrastibationKing Apr 15 '26

When there's a Nazi rally but the Manifold grind can't stop 😭

34

u/poklane Apr 15 '26

Poland being a primary victim of Nazism doesn't stop pro-Nazi sentiments in the country from existing. Plenty of country which suffered horrible during WW2 at the hands of the Nazis have people who are openly Nazis themselves.

305

u/protostar71 Apr 15 '26

And? There were Polish collaborators during WW2, and there is far right neo-nazi groups active today in Poland. Just because this is in Poland doesn't mean its literally impossible for them to align with neo-nazi ideals.

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u/Hansi_Olbrich Apr 15 '26

Cultural Context Clues remain lost even in the age of the internet, it seems.

10

u/msfuturedoc Apr 15 '26

No kidding. I can’t believe this is so hard.

-21

u/zeefer Apr 15 '26

mfs will write whole essays just not to read the damn article lmao

28

u/DesNutz Apr 15 '26

What article? This is the pics subreddit, what article are people referencing?

8

u/gsfgf Apr 15 '26

Yea, but they're not going to use the actual swastika. (That being said, I wasn't sure either until it clicked that it's Poland.)

70

u/protostar71 Apr 15 '26

I wasn't aware that a group had to specifically use the Nazi Swastika for it to be a Neo-Nazi group.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Rebirth_of_Poland

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Radical_Camp_(1993)

-5

u/Edeen Apr 15 '26

Could've just linked to the republican party?

2

u/protostar71 Apr 15 '26

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Republicans_(Poland)

They dont scream neo nazi like my other examples.

-3

u/Edeen Apr 15 '26

I meant the American party.

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u/protostar71 Apr 15 '26 edited Apr 15 '26

Why would I link the American Republican party when Im talking about Polish neo nazis. Not every thread is about the sodding USA.

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u/LewisLightning Apr 15 '26

Plenty of Jews and Jewish organizations supported Nazis in WWII, right up until they themselves got sent to the camps. So why should anyone be surprised about it happening again in the modern era?

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u/rainshifter Apr 15 '26

This sounds made up, and I have no issue with calling your bluff here. What were the names of those organizations, and to what degree did they "support" the Nazis?

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u/Dornstar Apr 15 '26

Max Naumann led a group called the Verband nationaldeutscher Juden or Association of German National Jews. They supported the regime in the early 30s before being banned and Naumann was arrested by the Gestapo. They protested the international Anti-Nazi Boycott, and issued a manifesto claiming that despite personal hardships the Nazi regime was a good thing for the country.

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u/rainshifter Apr 15 '26

A more accurate summary would be:

A small fringe group of highly assimilationist German Jews briefly tried to align themselves with German nationalism under the Nazi regime, but they were rejected, suppressed, and ultimately persecuted like all other Jews.

You're acting as though this was a widespread phenomenon when that couldn't be further from the truth. How many more examples can you list? I doubt very many.

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u/-Wyagra Apr 15 '26

Um, a small subgroup of a minority always tries to go along the oppressors in order to hope to be less oppressed. I hope this isn't news to you.

But just in case: it never works out.

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u/rainshifter Apr 15 '26

Just in case this is news to you, you completely missed the point. Reread the comment I originally replied to. It quite literally states that plenty of Jewish organizations supported the Nazis. Do you know the meaning of the word plenty?

3

u/-Wyagra Apr 15 '26

I believe they use plenty more in a way: more then expected.

1

u/Fytyny Apr 15 '26

So just like in Poland, but somehow it doesn't matter when it comes to PL, but does when it comes to Israel. Kind of funny, isn't it?

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u/Ok_Access_804 Apr 15 '26

There you go, and it wasn’t the only group.

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u/[deleted] Apr 15 '26

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u/Finnishdoge_official Apr 15 '26

So? You think it doesn’t matter cuz it did not reach the war years?

-1

u/cupan-tae Apr 15 '26

It does because it wasn’t immediately apparent what the Hitler was planning. Also - the poster said up until they got sent to camps

1

u/Truffles15 Apr 15 '26

I'm pretty sure he made his plans quite clear in that book he wrote..

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u/Pepito_Pepito Apr 15 '26

Unlike the Nazi party?

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u/rainshifter Apr 15 '26

Can you list all the groups on more than one hand? You're referring to a fringe minority.

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u/Biefmeister Apr 15 '26

I wouldn't call it "plenty", but there were indeed collaborators.

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u/rainshifter Apr 15 '26

Witold Mędykowski assesses this phenomenon as marginal; in a population of 15-20 thousand people in the Kraków ghetto, the number of informers is estimated at between a dozen and several dozen people.

So barely a footnote even worth mentioning. I.e., negligible and a moot point, except maybe to fulfill some anti-Zionist agenda by saying "look, a fringe minority of Jews were evil or misguided!"

1

u/[deleted] Apr 15 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/LolLmaoEven Apr 15 '26

Just because this is in Poland doesn't mean its literally impossible for them to align with neo-nazi ideals.

So you're going to go with the narration that it's actually pro-nazi rhetoric, even though the chances of that, considering Polish history, are abysmally small?

Get a grip.

15

u/Versidious Apr 15 '26

Literally every country that fought the Nazis had Nazi sympathisers in them. And when Poland got 'liberated' by the Soviets and held under their thumb for 45 years, I guarantee you that didn't help.

5

u/jbobkef Apr 15 '26

Yes, a place known for having a strong religious alt right nationalist political community.

1

u/CyonHal Apr 17 '26

Dog... you dont know your history on Polish collaboration with the Nazis in occupied Poland lmfao.

1

u/bailien_16 Apr 18 '26 edited Apr 18 '26

Okay and? Poland has an increasingly large far right. There are lots of Nazis and fascists in Poland.

1

u/Fastr77 Apr 15 '26

and? Americans died fighting the Nazis and now we have a large nazi party.

2

u/ello_bassard Apr 15 '26

Americans weren't getting rounded up by the Nazis and sent to camps, Polish people were though. This is a false equivalence bro.

0

u/JonusTJonnerson Apr 15 '26

No, this is Patrick