Americans and Israelis — Stop!

“Guests from the U.S. and Israel are not served here” – such an annotation, boldfaced, can be found on the website of the hotel and spa Farma Zdrowia (Farm of Health) in Znamirowice, Poland. Judging by reading this website, we are dealing with an elegant boarding house and spa; there are even bedside lamps and bamboo chairs at the patio, but not for everyone.

In the first moment, I thought it was a stupid joke. I could not believe my eyes, so I called the telephone number given. It turned out that all of this is true. The telephone was answered by a gentleman, who did not introduce himself. He said that he was not the owner, but a farm employee who knows what is going on. I will call him the manager. During an otherwise nice conversation, the Manager told me he is 65-years-old and confessed that he used to be one of my readers. Then, after this small talk, we reached the Americans and the Israelis. (“Not every inhabitant of the Israel is a Jew,” said the manager, clearly well-informed.)

“Indeed, we do not accept guests from the U.S. and from Israel,” said the manager. “Why?” “Because, we are not prepared. We do not know their culture, cuisine or customs. We find them alien spiritually and mentally, even in the matter of clothes. American and Israeli groups travel in flocks in big buses, blocking the narrow entrance. They have their own armed bodyguards, who behave arrogantly and violently — they even knocked the manager over once. They appear unexpectedly and check if everything is safe; they look in the kitchen and pantry. The manager even called the police, but he heard that they have to cope with it themselves. The state leaves us alone, without any help. Polish citizens are discriminated against, and the state is a fascist-police. The only one who does anything is Kaczynski, but we do not have anything in common with him.* How they behave was clearly seen in the cafe on the Szeroka Street in Krakow, where it turned out that they are armed. Here is a small village, and we want to have peace of mind.”**

When I asked if the refusal of service to guests from the U.S. and Israel is in accordance with the law, I heard that over the last three years, the Farm [of Health] received around 1,500 emails — only a few insulting. The majority of them are tokens of support and recognition, since someone finally had the courage to say it loudly and to get down to this. … (I did not manage to note.)

I asked if it is not a kind of discrimination of Americans and Israelis, and the manager replied that the law forbids discrimination based on sex, race or nationality, but not on being a citizen of this or another country. In this moment, the manager asked if I find this explanation satisfying, as he had to go back to frying pancakes. Here, the conversation finished. I did not manage even to ask if the Farm is culturally, linguistically, culinarily and spiritually prepared to accept guests from other countries, such as France or Japan.

I decided to ask what lawyers think about it. They answered that the Farm of Health contravenes the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, as well as article 32 of our constitution, which states that everyone is equal before the law; no one can be discriminated in political or economic spheres for any reason.

The so-called anti-discrimination act of 2009 forbids unequal treatment of individuals, including when using publicly provided services — there is a compensation for it. I could no longer take notes, but lawyers ensured me that Farm of Health violates the principles of decency. Piquancy is added by the fact that the Farm is located close to former concentration camp Auschwitz and — as the manager says — is geared towards German guests.

* Translator’s note: Jarosław Kaczynski is a leader of the (often extreme) Right, known for controversial homophobic, anti-U.S. and anti-Russia statements; surely not a favorite of this text’s author.

** Translator’s note: An incident which took place this July in Krakow — a group of Polish and Israeli Jews received strongly anti-Semitic treatment in one of the restaurants (e.g., “f*cking Jews, you will not be served here”). One of the victims said that restaurant manager threw a newspaper at one of the girls and threatened them with broken bottle. Of course, the Jews themselves had no weapons on them.