GDANSK, Poland - A Polish priest who was once banned from preaching for anti-Semitic remarks lashed out at laws made by "Jewish bankers," during celebrations of the 25th anniversary of the anti-communist Solidarity union.
Former trade union leaders, including several prominent politicians, had gathered in the Baltic port city of Gdansk to celebrate the anniversary of the shipyard strike launching a movement that would shake the foundations of the communist system.
Father Henryk Jankowski, who participated in the strikes and for a time was confessor and confidant of union leader and democracy icon Lech Walesa,
made his remarks at a mass that began the celebrations.
"The recommendations of Brussels commissars and Washington economic gurus are threatening Poland's identity and sovereignty," he said from the pulpit.
"We are filled with horror when laws are imposed upon us that are thought up by anti-Catholic Masons, Jewish bankers and hell-born atheistic socialists."
Anti-Semitic reputation
Walesa, who has distanced himself from Jankowski, told journalists he was not at the service because he had other matters to attend to.
Jankowski has a reputation for anti-Semitic remarks, including a 1997 incident that led to him being banned from preaching for a year.
Former Solidarity activist Bogdan Lis said Jankowski had lost his credibility, comparing him to a small-town eccentric who shocks outsiders but is ignored by locals.
"Every country has its curiosities. Monsignor Jankowski, despite his merits in August 1980 - and he should take part in the celebrations, as someone connected to those events - later somehow evolved into a kind of local oddity," Lis told Reuters.
Poland is marking Solidarity's anniversary throughout August with events including a conference on human rights and democracy set to feature former Czech and South African presidents Vaclav Havel and Nelson Mandela.
"Twenty-five years ago ... events took place in the Gdansk shipyard that brought about the greatest transformation since the end of
the second world war in the history of Poland, Europe and the world," former opposition leaders said in a joint statement.
In a letter to Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz, Anti Defamation League
National Director, Abraham Foxman called on the Church "to officially sanction Father Jankowski and bar him from public preaching." Foxman said, "An event that was intended to mark a key moment in Poland's courageous struggle for democracy was sullied."
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