The Polish ruling party is relying on a decidedly anti-German campaign in the election campaign. The EU and the opposition are portrayed as agents of Germany – which wants to oppress and exploit Poland.
It’s a telling election commercial from the Polish ruling party PiS: party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski gets a call – from the German embassy in Warsaw.
A voice with a thick German accent says the Chancellor would like to talk to Kaczynski about the retirement age in Poland. This should please be as high as it was under Donald Tusk, the former Polish Prime Minister. Kaczynski answers: “The Poles will decide on that in a referendum. Tusk no longer exists, these conditions are over” – and hangs up with a determined expression.
The spot paints an image that the PiS likes to spread of itself: as a defender of Polish interests against foreign powers, especially Germany. And these interests, according to the message, must be defended – with a cross to the right party.
Refugees, homosexuals, Germany
A new parliament will be elected in Poland on Sunday and the incumbent PiS is under a lot of pressure. According to surveys, it is still the strongest political force with 32 percentage points. But the polls are around ten percentage points worse than four years ago, when the PiS won the election with a good 43 percent.
The PiS needs external enemies in order to present itself as a protective force. In the 2015 election it fueled fears of refugees and in 2019 of homosexuals. Now she is mobilizing with fear of Germany – the neighbor that has repeatedly invaded, divided and cruelly occupied Poland. In the commercial she sums up the voting decision like this:
Poland or Germany: the choice is yours.
opposition candidate “Agent of Germany”
The PiS also portrays the European Union as an extension of Berlin; after all, the Germans have the greatest influence in Brussels. And the opposition’s leading candidate, Donald Tusk, former President of the European Council, is defamed by the PiS as an agent of German interests because of his pro-European stance.
As evidence, the PiS cites a greeting that Tusk recorded for the CDU in 2021, in German. In it he says: “Your way of governing was a blessing, not only for Germany, but for all of Europe.”
“For Germany” – these words have been constantly used to Tusk on pro-government television ever since, always with the insinuation that he and the opposition are not interested in Poland. In reality, they instead served Germany, the country with which Poland has a difficult history.
Rhetoric has far-reaching consequences
The anti-German sentiments that the PiS is using in the election campaign have a clear goal, says Agnieszka Lada-Konefal from the German Poland Institute in Darmstadt. They are primarily intended to mobilize Poles who are critical of Germany. For this you need “such a vocabulary”.
“The group is generally not large, but it is very relevant for the PiS,” explains Lada-Konefal. These are regular voters or those voters who want to vote for PiS or the far-right Konferedacja party out of conviction – and the PiS is fighting very hard for this group. “The PiS serves the other groups with social promises and family benefits.”
According to the scientist, this anti-German rhetoric has far-reaching consequences. Surveys for the German-Polish opinion barometer show that Poles’ image of Germany is no longer as good as it was ten to fifteen years ago. This damage is likely to continue after the parliamentary elections on October 15th.