WARSAW (EJP)--- The office of the Polish public prosecutor has launched an investigation after a movie clip featuring a group of youngsters gathering around a burning swastika and chanting “Sieg Heil” was sent to one of the country’s daily newspapers.

The editors of Dziennik reported on 28 November that they were sent the 60-second-long film portraying the activities of the All-Polish Youth (APY), creating massive controversy around Poland over the group.

All-Polish Youth is a radically nationalist and anti-Semitic organization associated with the League of Polish Families – a right-wing party that is currently in the government coalition.

Polish deputy primer minister and minister of education Roman Giertych is a creator and honorary president of the APY.

Journalists, when watching the movie clip, have recognized Leokadia Wiacek and Pawel Schmidt. Wiącek is currently a personal assistant of MEP Maciej Giertych, father of Polish deputy prime minister and gained notoriety recently for his call to remove evolution theory from Polish schools.

Schmidt was a candidate from the list of Prime Minister Jarosław Kaczyński’s Low and Justice Party in the municipal elections that took place a month ago. However he was not elected to the Council of the City of Zabrze is southern Poland.

Prison possibility

The public prosecutor general office already started an investigation. According to the Polish Criminal Code propagation and publish showing of Nazi symbols is prohibited and punished even by imprisonment. Prosecutors are now trying to identify as many people from the movie as possible to indict them.

“Stand up and beat this canting Jewish mug / And proudly fight and proudly shout: / For the white race, for the Polish blood! / Without mercy kill it, without scruples beat the evil” – these are words of the song that was played during the “swastika party”.

This is not the first time when Polish media reveal this kind of materials about the All-Polish Youth. It the past all Poles could watch some other short movies or photos depicting similar behavior of this youth.

In October 2005 Polish newspapers have published a photo showing APY members with gestures of “Sieg Heil”. They explained afterwards that they have been calling a waiter in a restaurant.

The Polish Left Alliance, the biggest left-wing party in Poland, announced already that is going to apply to the Supreme Court to delegalize the All-Polish Youth as a fascist organization.

Marek Edelman, the last living commander of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, who lives in Polish city of Lodz, told the Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper: “All-Polish Youth should have been delegalized years ago. The Prime Minister said that this is a scandal, but he invited Roman Giertych to his government and because of this he doesn’t have clean hands in this case”.