One Happy Family
The Giertychs and Their Ideology
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
Polish Minister of Education Roman Giertych, a member of the archconservative League of Polish Families, comes from an extremely politically active family. As a young man, he founded the nationalist movement “All-Polish Youth” (Młodzież Wszechpolska). Roman’s father, Maciej Giertych, represents the League in the European Parliament, who, in his published works, speaks out for traditional family values and against Germany’s alleged striving for hegemony in Europe. Jędrzej Giertych, Roman’s grandfather, made a name for himself as a nationalist publicist. In its political creed, the family Giertych invokes the national-democratic politician Roman Dmowski and the Catholic historiosoph Feliks Koneczny. Among the constants in the Giertychs’ ideological worldview are a close connection between the Polish nation and Catholicism, a defensive position towards Europe as well as conspiracy theories in which the Germans, homosexuals and, interchangeably, the Jews or Free Masons appear as the enemy.
(Osteuropa 11-12/2006, pp. 69–80)