Who is Grzegorz Braun? Poland MP uses fire extinguisher on Hanukkah candles in shocking viral video

Before a vote of confidence in the new administration, far-right Polish MP Grzegorz Braun extinguished the candles on a menorah that was lit for Hanukkah in the Polish parliament, disturbing the proceedings.

In a viral video, he was seen dousing the menorah with a fire extinguisher. The place was hazy with smoke. As a consequence, the speaker of the lower house gave him an order to leave the assembly, and he was suspended for the remainder of the day. Furthermore, the parliament took a break from its business to address the event.

Addressing this incident, Szymon Holownia, the Marshal of the Sejm, told the reporters of media agencies like T24 News and WRAL,

"This should have never happened."

Grzegorz Michał Braun is a far-right Polish politician who is the leader of the monarchist party Confederation of the Polish Crown. He supports Polish ultranationalism and harbors anti-German, anti-American, anti-Protestant, anti-Ukrainian, anti-Semitic, anti-LGBT, and pro-Russian views. His actions throughout his time in the Sejm have been marked by a number of anti-Semitic episodes and pro-Russian actions.

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Grzegorz Braun began his political career in 2015

Braun recently embroiled himself in a controversy for extingushing a Hanukkah candle (Image via Facebook / Grzegorz Braun )

Grzegorz Braun is a far-right, pro-Russian Polish politician who was born on March 11, 1967. His anti-Semitic outbursts have been well-known in the past. In addition, Braun was a lecturer at the University of Wroclaw and also a journalist. Moreover, he also directed 30 feature-length and short films. Among these, Transformation and New Poland are noteworthy. Additionally, Braun was a scriptwriter as well.

After earning his degree from the University of Wrocław in 1987, he went on to study at the University of Silesia in Katowice. He has had an active political life since he was a student. He co-organized Orange Alternative operations starting in 1987, for which the Polish People's Republic's communist authorities persecuted him. He also took part in the University of Wrocław student protests in 1988 and 1989. He was also involved in the Solidarity of Polish, Czech, and Slovene.

Furthermore, he participated in the Polish Monarchists Organization, gave talks, and produced works for them. He has founded the organization Wake-up Call to support religious groups in becoming more self-sustaining. He also runs an online TV channel called Sumienie Narodu.

Braun declared his intention to run for Polish president on January 24, 2015. He began campaigning in the US in February 2015, targeting Polish immigrants and Americans descended from Poland. He established his own campaign committee, God Bless You!, on August 5, 2015. It garnered 13,113 votes, or 0.09% of the total votes cast.

In 2020, he also ran for the office of Confederation presidential primary. He advanced to the decisive round of voting, where Krzysztof Bosak defeated him. Moreover, recently, he declared that he would run a campaign for Bosak.

Additionally, Braun allegedly has a history of bizarre behavior and is well-known for his anti-Semitic remarks. He interrupted historian Jan Grabowski's May 2023 talk at the German Historical Institute in Warsaw. The presentation was canceled following his attack, in which he destroyed the speakers and the microphone.

When Braun grabbed the microphone from lecturer Jan Grabowski's hand and stormed out of a Holocaust lecture earlier this year, it made national news.

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Grzegorz Braun was shown in the viral video using the extinguisher before crossing the parliament lobby to where the candles were. This caused a white cloud to form, prompting security personnel to hustle people out of the area.

Later, as per CNN, Holownia announced that Grzegorz Braun would forfeit all of his parliamentary expenses for six months and half of his salary for three months.