Troll of the Month - Jacek Miedlar

Jacek Miedlar is a Polish, ex-priest who was suspended from public speaking by the Catholic Church for his inflammatory sermons, in which he propagated antisemitic narratives, but also hate speech towards other nations and immigrants.   

Recently he was convicted two times; the first sentence for antisemitic and anti-Ukrainian hate speech during a march in Wroclaw on the Polish Independence Day in 2017. The second time was for homophobic remarks that he made during a speech at street protest against the Pride parade in 2018.    

During two interviews he recently gave to far-right YouTube channel wRealu24, he repeated his homophobic, anti-Ukrainian, and antisemitic comments, for example:  

‘All I had mentioned was that […] Jews in synagogues get intoxicated with Talmudic hatred and that «Gazeta Wyborcza» (a major liberal newspaper) is a propaganda tube for the Jew-Ukrainian Adam Michnik (a Polish intellectual and editor-in-chief of «Gazeta Wyborcza» ).’ 

During Miedlar’s service as a priest, he was known to speak at meetings of NationalRadical Camp (Obóz Narodowo-Radykalny) - a fascist, far-right ultranationalist organization, taking its roots from pre-WWII, nationalist ideology. He was seen wearing nationalist symbols related to this movement, and openly supported actions of hooligan football groups. 

Branded a ‘fanatical hate preacher’ by anti-racism campaigners in Poland, Miedlar also has extensive contacts with British far-right movements. In 2017, he was stopped by border control from entering the country at Stansted Airport, on his way to attend far-right party, Britain First’s rally in Shropshire.  

Our Polish partner organisation, Never Again Association, alerted mainstream media to the two interviews he gave in spite of the recent court verdicts. ‘Comments given by nationalist Jacek Miedlar can be treated as a model of Putin’s propaganda [in Poland]’ stated Dr Anna Tatar, in an interview with Gazeta Wyborcza covering the events.