As soon as news of the Krakow massacre broke and the Polish authorities said the attacker was believed to have been fascinated by far-right ideology, it was obvious what would follow. The political right began looking for evidence that the attacker had actually been a leftist. Naturally, they found it. A rainbow flag, a gas mask, mocking the Pope and a few photographs from 2019. Enough to construct a new story about a left-wing terrorist? Apparently so, for some. But for anyone who cares about the facts, not even close. The truth is rather different from the version Grims & co want to present.
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On Saturday, 7 November, 24-year-old Michał Oksiński killed six people and injured fifteen in Krakow’s main square. Police later found three more dead members of his family at the family home. Based on the initial information, Poland’s interior minister Marcin Kierwiński said that the attacker was connected to extremely radical views and fascinated by far-right ideologies. Naturally, the spinning and distortion began immediately.
First, a photograph appeared showing a rainbow flag and a gas mask. Some have presented it as evidence of his left-wing leanings. But there is rather important context that they conveniently leave out. The photograph dates from 2019, when far-right movements in Poland were calling for the streets to be ‘disinfected’ after LGBT marches. This was documented at the time, in 2019. Whether this particular photograph was taken in precisely that context has not yet been independently confirmed. But that is exactly why it is so absurd for some people to declare it proof of a left-wing ideology today.
Among the photographs supposedly proving the attacker’s political beliefs was one showing beer and the Pope. In this case, it was allegedly a screenshot from another profile with similar details. Once a photograph starts circulating with a particular political interpretation attached to it, it no longer matters where it came from, who is in it or when it was taken. All that matters is whether it fits the story someone wants to sell.
Interestingly, the same people insisting that the shooter was a leftist do not mention his father’s links to the Normalny Kraj party. According to published information, his father was nominated to an electoral commission by that party in 2023. Normalny Kraj is generally placed on the political right, and its programme includes nationalism, Euroscepticism and social conservatism. But this does not prove that he was a member or activist, let alone that his son adopted his political beliefs. Investigators will have to establish what role the attacker’s environment, interest in weapons and possible online communities played in his radicalisation. It might also be worth mentioning ‘Motyw Falangi’, which in Polish means the Falanga symbol. It is a recognisable emblem of Polish radical nationalist and far-right movements. For those who know what they are talking about.
Some are willing to turn a single rainbow flag into proof of left-wing terrorism while ignoring testimony about an interest in Nazi ideology and the Polish authorities’ initial findings. But neither should those findings be proclaimed as the final truth before the investigation is complete. If we point out manipulation, we cannot afford to do the same thing ourselves.
Nine people died in Krakow, if we include the three victims from the attacker’s family. They leave behind relatives, friends and people who will live with the consequences of this act for the rest of their lives. Yet the political propaganda machine turned the tragedy almost instantly into a contest over who could assign the killer to the opposing ideology.
For a change, perhaps it would be wise to wait for the results of the investigation. Above all, to understand that a photograph with a rainbow flag is not automatically proof of support for the LGBT community, just as a uniform in itself is not proof of Nazism. Context matters. Facts matter. But evidently, political spin matters more to some people than nine lost lives.