Poland is not known as a country that is at the forefront of hosting refugees. For years, the Catholic country has been among the hardliners who refuse to accept people from EU countries such as Italy and Greece, where many refugees from the Middle East entered the EU. “A good Christian is one who helps, but not necessarily by taking in refugees,” said Elzbieta Witek, head of the Prime Minister’s Officefor example in 2017.
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On the other hand, since last week Poland has been particularly hospitable to the hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians fleeing Russian violence. The country is poised to host perhaps a million refugees from the neighboring country. Reception centers for aid and food will be established at the border, and each of the 16 Polish provinces will create shelters especially for Ukrainians.
Why the difference? The simple explanation, says Polish analyst Magdalena Milenkovska of the European Stability Initiative think tank, is that according to the state narrative, Ukrainians are simply more like Poles than Syrians. “When the Syrians came, Poland said it was not ready to receive people. But really, it was a lack of political will. The population was also not very enthusiastic.”
Why is she now?
Milenkovska; “Because they know the refugees: there were already about two million Ukrainians in Poland before this war. The countries also share a history of fighting for their independence against Russia. And Russian attacks are being carried out 70 kilometers from the Polish border. So they rush to help their neighbors.”
Is the image of the Ukrainians also different from that of the Syrians?
“You can say that, yes. The 2015 Middle East refugees were said to carry diseases and rape Polish women. Ironically, the Ukrainians were also used as an argument at the time: ‘We already have too many Ukrainians to accommodate Syrians.’ Even though they were not refugees, but workers.
“The Poles didn’t really understand where those Syrians came from, or what was going on in the Middle East. On the other hand, they understand Putin’s threat all too well. The Polish authorities also understand that labor is needed. And Ukrans already speak Polish, or they can learn it quickly.
The fact that Poland could not receive Syrians was a lack of political will
Magdalena Milenkovska geopolitical analyst
“Russia will now be fully committed to spreading disinformation about ‘fascist’ Ukrainians, in order to divide the European Union internally. That disinformation remains dangerous. But all in all, I sense Slavic solidarity. Yesterday, a protest against Russia here in Berlin, where I am, also included Belarusians, Georgians and Poles. And just like Poland, Slovakia was also immediately ready to receive Ukrainian refugees.”
Does that also apply to Hungary? Prime Minister Viktor Orban is on good terms with Vladimir Putin.
“That is true, but you can still see that the Hungarians are also ready for the Ukrainian refugees. I think hosting Ukrainians for Orbán can be helpful in showing that he’s not the bad guy he’s thought to be. In this way he can maintain his story that he is really human to strangers, as long as the Hungarians can choose for themselves who they let in. So only people who look like them.”
How will the rest of Europe treat the Ukrainians towards the Syrians?
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“The main difference is that Ukrainians can travel visa-free, as a result of an association agreement. So they can just take the train or plane within the EU, and can stay there legally for three months. And that term is likely to be extended: the EU wants to grant all Ukrainian refugees a temporary residence status valid for one year, which can be extended to two years. I therefore think that the redistribution of refugees across Europe will not be as much of an issue this time as it was with the Syrians.”
Do the reception centers in the EU countries still have enough space?
“Of course there is not enough space in the shelters. However, many Ukrainians who now arrive in the EU will not seek help there. They come to join families and friends who are already here or even people they interacted with who offered help. Polish and German activists have set up groups to help with transport and housing. I believe that whoever does not have family or friends in Western Europe will stay in Eastern Europe or in Germany.”
A version of this article also appeared in NRC on the morning of March 1, 2022