Bridge over Oder in Słubice, Monday night. 2 men in yellow vests and a 3rd in a cap with the word "Trump" are waiting for German police to send back migrants who were refused entry into Germany. They belong to the Border defence Movement (ROG). The abandoned stall that utilized to sale vegetables serves as a checkpoint. It has leaflets with GG postulates on it. There is simply a banner on the bridge barrier: “stop immigration” and the Polish flag. Traffic is smooth.
– We're not doing anything we're not expected to do, say men.
A day earlier, the officers of the Polish Border defender took over from the German national Police [who is liable for the protection of German borders – ed.] 3 Afghans. ROG and tv members of the Republic tried to "interpret" the substance with the aid of cameras and accusations. In their opinion, receiving migrants from the Germans who crossed the border illegally is simply a crime.
W The storm and the West Pomeranian border towns of dozens of angry young men formed on the cordon border, harassing travelers. In Słubice, specified scenes did not occur.
Mr Andrzej saves Poland
At 20 AM ROG, he called residents of Słubic through a local Facebook group to a common “control” at the railway bridge, 2 kilometres south of here. It's a delicate point. It's easy to get to us – says a tall man in a sun hat, to whom a young boy in a yellow vest sent me back.
"Patrol" has already set off – 4 słubiczans have gone by car towards the railway bridge. I'm staying with a man in a hat. His name is Andrzej Piwnicki and he is simply a retired sailor.
– We can inactive save ourselves. For you Germans, it is besides late – he says. He means migration and all its challenges. For Mr Andrzej, life in Germany, France and the United Kingdom is simply a nightmare: women are afraid of rape, girls are married at the age of 12, Sharia law prevails, and everything increases the advanced fertility of migrants. “Your country committed suicide,” he says.
Mr Andrzej came all the way from Mazur to save Poland, as he says. He has been sleeping in the car for respective days, changing with his colleagues at “border control”. First he was in Gubin, for respective days he has been stationed in Słubice. He plans to stay here until July 6.
He says he witnessed the national Police turn back 5 Somalis from Guben in June. erstwhile they returned to Gubin, to the Polish side, ROG sent them back to Germany. “The Border defender did not arrive to choice them up,” he says. So the Somalis went back to Guben, due to the fact that how would they know that people in yellow vests didn't have any authority? German policemen then transported them to Coschen, a tiny border town. The police car would turn around erstwhile they saw a associate of the ROG. He supposedly came to the border from the Polish side and recorded an incidental to prevent Africans from entering Poland. Where they were yet blown up – it is not known.
The national Police Press Office – which usually needs quite a few time to answer it – did not answer my questions about ROG.
– It cannot be that the Germans dictate to us who will enter our country – says Mr Andrzej, eating cherries. In his opinion, Poland is now threatened with a "hybrid war" on 2 sides.
I've been standing with him on the bridge for a good hour. erstwhile a man joins us in a MEGA hat, the conversation goes on war reparations. I find that Germany has no free media, and Angela Merkel has fled Germany to Switzerland. We're getting hit by more cars. I number 5 drivers, who, passing by us, honk in a motion of support for the station of “yellow vests”; any show their thumb up, 1 slows down to shout out the window: “Good job!”. And only 1 of the passers-by people shouted something unfavorable in our direction.
The Germans bring migrants they don't want anymore?
When I visited the ROG “post” at the Słubice bridge for the first time, inactive in May, a słubian female got into a dispute with activists. “Are you even from Słubice?” she asked. “Do you want to close all boundaries? It is not a solution!” she argued. She got into a discussion with men. Słubice has a fear of returning to being a dead place on the planet map. The border with Germany is increasingly hard to cross, and the city frequently feels forgotten by distant Warsaw.
– For any time, locals have besides joined us – says Mr Andrzej.
The fresh communicative of the Polish right-wing state that Germany brings migrants from all over the country that they no longer want to bring to Poland. “If essential even across the river,” explains Andrzej. To confirm his thesis I find only rumors, second-hand accounts and blurry recordings.
I'm asking a friend from the national Police. He's outraged that I'm even considering whether that might be true. shortly he is to go to a business gathering in Poland – but in fear of safety he will not drive in a service car, due to the fact that the officers were to receive threats from Poles.
The national Republic of Germany has not accepted asylum applications at the border since 7 May and refuses to enter without documents. My friend thinks it's right. “Poland has let besides many people go,” he says. And the Berlin Administrative Court judgment, which in June ruled in favour of 3 migrants, declaring refusal to enter to be contrary to EU law? In his opinion, as in the opinion of the Minister of the Interior of Germany, only this 1 case is concerned.
The German authorities justify this tightening of the "exceptional state" law – local governments are overburdened by the adoption of more migrants. The weakness of the alleged Dublin strategy has contributed to this. Under this EU law, Germany has no reason to deport people who have arrived in the country by another EU countries without leaving traces (e.g. fingerprints). In turn, migrants who could be sent back to Poland in the light of the Dublin strategy frequently disappeared before deportation took place. And even if they were deported to Poland – they frequently reappeared at the border after a fewer days.
This is why the German police are "turning around" now almost all people known to have come to Germany from Poland – for example, due to the fact that they were detained on the Flixbus bus from Warsaw in Frankfurt. According to national Police data, 6193 specified "turnovers" were carried out in all Germany by the end of June. They are not only migrants who came to Germany through the Polish-Belarusian border. This includes Ukrainians who reside in Poland legally, but do not have the right to travel to another countries of the European Union.
The Border Guard, which has about 3 times less personnel on Oder and Nysa than the German police, is incapable to accept any "turned back" after notification from Germany. Then migrants are simply blown up at the border in Poland.
Behind the “turnover” stands a akin logic, which is guided by the Polish Border Guard, making “pushbacks” of migrants to Belarus. However, the difference is that Belarus is simply a hostile and authoritarian country and Poland is an ally of Germany and an EU member. However, Poland is usually not a destination country for migrants – they are sent to it against their will.
Borders in traffic and slowed Berlin
Earlier in October 2023, Germany introduced random checks at border crossing points with Poland. They are the most susceptible to border residents who are not white. Africans working at the Tesla mill in the area, abroad students from the Frankfurt University of Viadrina. In May, Border defender officers did not pass a student from Kenya to a seminar at the Collegium Polonicum – just a fewer metres behind the bridge. This was a shock for the European University.
On the Polish side, German controls have caused increasing discontent for months. In 2 cities specified as Frankfurt-Słubice or Zgorzelec-Görlitz traffic jams are formed, especially on Sundays and Mondays. Disgruntled slave carriers say they lose 1 day of work a week. They complain that regular movements have become burdensome due to the fact that even side streets are blocked. There have been protests in this case. Since last year the mayors of Słubic and Frankfurt and politicians from western Poland have been trying to convince Berlin to widen the road section at the checkpoint in Frankfurt – so that 2 lanes can be utilized again. But Berlin remains sluggish – and nothing has changed to this day.
How negative emotions are caused in Poland by German border controls – in Germany almost nobody knows. So far, national media has barely written about self-proclaimed "citizen patrols". They only mentioned that Prime Minister Donald Tusk decided to introduce border checks on the Polish side as well.
Controls won't solve the problem
In Słubice it was amazingly quiet erstwhile Tusk announced the introduction of control on Tuesday – thereby gathering the demands of the ROG and the right-wing opposition. Andrzej Piwnicki, a sailor from ROG, considers the actions of the Polish government to be "appearable". Many locals support border controls, although opinions on this issue are divided. – On the 1 hand, something needs to be done about migration force and German ignorance, on the another hand – many see severe limitations in the regular lives of students, workers, entrepreneurs surviving on both sides of the border – Daniel Shurka, councillor of Słubice, admits. Deputy Mayor Tomasz Stefański, a supporter of the thought of a "two-city", commented on Tusk's decision in the local paper "MOZ": "Maybe this is the right way. Diplomatic measures have done nothing."
Two cities are looking for fresh forms of resistance. Mayor Zgorzelca Rafał Gronicz announced a complaint to the European Commission on German border controls. And Słubice unveiled a fresh mural this week on the library wall at the bridge to Frankfurt – with a quote from Wisława Szymborska: “Oh, how impervious the boundaries of human states are!”.
Meanwhile, the mayors of Frankfurt and Słubic issued a joint statement. It expressed concern about the escalation of tensions between EU countries and called on politicians to find common solutions to reduce migration and save the Schengen area. In their opinion, border controls do not service this intent – they only deepen social costs and tensions.
The candidates for mayor of Frankfurt nad Oder – elections will take place in September – express "anxiety over developments in the heart of Europe". Like the Minister of Interior of Brandenburg and Chancellor Friedrich Merz, they propose common Polish-German patrols. specified cooperation has been going on for years and has long been considered a model project. present it seems difficult, due to the fact that the presence of German officers in Poland creates negative emotions. However, even if it did, it will not solve the most crucial problem: who will accept unwanted migrants? And how can we prevent a humanitarian crisis like the 1 on the border with Belarus?
Meanwhile, the prosecutor's office in Gorzów conducts proceedings against members of the ROG on the unauthorised performance of public office duties and the insult of Border defender officers in Słubice. On Thursday, Robert Bąkiewicz, the patron of ROG, published the latest video from Gubin. “Hit!” he commented proudly. He claims that the Border defender had almost taken back Nigerian from Guben, but the force and engagement of the residents were to prevent it.
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Nancy Waldmann – writer ‘Märkische Oderzeitung’ in Frankfurt am Oder. He writes about Poland, the Polish-German border and east Europe.
She postponed Kaja Puto from Germany.
