Death and the Theater

On the evening of November 21, 2015, a scrum of protesters blocked the glass doors of the Teatr Polski in Wrocław, Poland. They were members of the Catholic organization Krucjata Różańcowa za Ojczyznę (Society of the Rosary) and far-right groups such as the All Polish Youth and the National Resurrection of Poland. Piotr Rybak, a notorious nationalist who later served jail time for burning a Jew in effigy, was spotted in the melee. The Catholics prayed for the souls of the director, the actors and the members of the audience. The skinheads hurled insults as they passed. Piotr Rudzki, a former historian and literary director at the Teatr Polski, told us it was “the day when the fight against Polish liberal culture began.”