Minister Sikorski

Two leading Polish dailies have apologised to Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski in the wake of his announcement that he has begun legal proceedings to combat abuse on newspaper comment forums.

Sikorski set the case in motion in a bid to confront anti-semitic rants by anonymous members of the public.

“People across the whole world can read this,” Sikorski expressed, adding that the comments will contribute towards the image foreigners have of Poland.

Sikorski insists that the newspapers are responsible for the posts, and that unacceptable comments should not be activated, or that they should be immediately removed, depending on the individual system.

Comments forwarded to Poland's Attorney General, Andrzej Seremet, include such anonymous insults as “What Hitler started, we shall finish. To the ovens. Fry Jews, to the ovens.”

The case is also a personal one for Sikorski, whose wife, the acclaimed historian Anne Applebaum, is of Jewish descent.

One poster on the forums of the Puls Biznesu daily denounced Minister Sikorski as being “the husband of a Jew” and “an enemy of Poland...controlled by his father-in-law” and bent on the “the destruction and destabilisation of Poland,” a mission he “picked up from Adam Michnik,” [the editor of the liberal daily Gazeta Wyborcza who has Jewish roots].

Sikorski defended his wife, who he feels is indeed an earnest ally of Poland. Applebaum has written a Pulitzer prize-winning book about victims of the Soviet Gulag. Thousands of Poles died in the camps.

Both Puls Biznesu and the tabloid Fakt have apologised, adding that the offensive comments have been removed.

However, Sikorski is pressing on with the case, as he hopes to ensure that such comments never find their way onto newspaper forums again. (nh)