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<\/a>A winding line of traffic starts well before the bridge itself. Cars honk and lorry drivers stare out of their windows in frustration. The root of the delay is a group of armed border guards at the other end of the bridge, flanked by police vans and dressed either in full camouflage, or high-viz jackets and red berets. They watch hawkishly, peering through vehicle windows and questioning drivers intensely.<\/p>\n
Such are the new controls<\/a> on the Polish side of the Polish-German border. They were introduced in July, in response to domestic concern about checks first set up on the German side in October 2023<\/a>, as Germany opted increasingly to return illegal migrants to Poland. They reflect Tusk\u2019s attempt to outgamble the Polish far-right, which has stoked domestic concern, taking on board their policies in hopes this will snuff out their momentum.<\/p>\n I arrive on Monday 7 July 2025, the day on which these controls were first put in place. The bridge in question connects the German town of Frankfurt an der Oder and the Polish town of S\u0142ubice across the River Oder, which today denotes the border between the two countries.<\/p>\n European Union flags that have adorned the bridge for 20 years are now accompanied by posters declaring \u2018No Immigration!\u2019, in both Polish and English. A bridge that was once seen as a sign of hope and post-war European unity between former enemies has become an emblem of the way borders are being shut and states retreating into themselves.<\/p>\n Both towns are relatively small, and it took three trains and a bus to make the 50 mile journey east from Berlin. Yet, this so-called twin city holds immense significance, as a key transit route between Poland and Germany, and as a long-standing symbol of the European story, where cooperation could grow to transcend borders. It is now also afflicted by the immigration-based political turmoil that manifests itself in various ways around the world.<\/p>\n Standing resolutely behind the \u2018No Immigration!\u2019 posters and closely watching the border guards is a member of the Border Defence Movement (\u2018Ruch Obrony Granic,\u2019 ROG), a right-wing organisation that summons citizens\u2019 patrols<\/a> to block perceived illegal immigration from Germany into Poland.<\/p>\n The ROG member has no official capacity. He\u2019s wearing a high-viz jacket over an AC-DC t-shirt, shorts and Adidas sliders. Nevertheless, he praises the new controls, complaining only that they were not introduced three years ago when Germany first started their checks.<\/p>\n The firebrand, far-right leader who set up the ROG, Robert B\u0105kiewicz, later tells me that they are protecting Poles from Germany\u2019s \u2018policy of expansion\u2019 over Poland.<\/p>\n Marzena S\u0142odownik, the Mayor of S\u0142ubice, introduces herself to me as the leader of a town in \u2018the heart of Europe\u2019. She speaks fondly about her grandmother who, working on the German side, would bring home novelties like oranges and bananas when she was a child.<\/p>\n S\u0142odownik also recalls how international attention turned to this bridge on 1 May 2004, when the twin city celebrated Poland\u2019s entry into the European Union. The Polish Foreign Minister at the time, W\u0142odzimierz Cimoszewicz, declared joyfully that \u2018I don\u2019t believe this is happening\u2019.<\/p>\n \u2018I don\u2019t believe this is happening,\u2019 says S\u0142odownik. \u2018I cannot imagine us going back to the times when there were border controls, when the Schengen area ceases to exist.\u2019<\/p>\n Collaboration in a Place of Division<\/b><\/p>\n As I cross for the first time from the German side into S\u0142ubice, I immediately notice signs for hair salons and tobacco stores. Neon advertisements line the riverside, inviting passersby to venture into the many shops packed into and below the street. Most of these are stacked high with cigarette packs, and costs are clearly labelled in both Polish zlotys and euros.<\/p>\n Inhabitants of Frankfurt have long crossed into S\u0142ubice in search of lower prices, fueling the smaller, poorer Polish town\u2019s growth. Such mutual development was a staple of the European story, but this has changed since random checks were introduced on the German side. One shop keeper tells me that \u2018traffic is terrible\u2019, another that \u2018trade is smaller\u2019, and another that \u2018the Germans at the moment are afraid of driving here. Well, it\u2019s a tragedy\u2019.<\/p>\n Now, businesses fear more thorough border controls on the Polish side will reduce growth even further. ROG members patrol the bridge in what they say is the defence of Polish territory, but they look more like a cosplay version of border guards \u2013 while local communities suffer.<\/p>\n Tucked behind a tobacco store and up a flight of stairs is Lila\u2019s Flower Shop. The store is filled to the brim with colourful bouquets, but Lila Syrek-Jermakowicz herself looks dejected. \u2018Customers know there are traffic jams, so no one wants to come here\u2019, she tells me, adding that she is \u2018100% sure\u2019 that trade has dropped at least by half because of controls. \u2018I\u2019m considering closing down,\u2019 she admits, \u2018after running my flower business for 40 years.\u2019<\/p>\n A similar atmosphere is apparent at the S\u0142ubice Polenmarkt. This sprawling bazaar on the other side of town is made up of rows and rows of stalls, selling everything from fresh cheeses and hams, to kids\u2019 games and clothing. It\u2019s a kaleidoscope of colours and smells, yet empty stalls here and there reveal a darker decline.<\/p>\n \u201930 years ago, when border markets started to open, I could earn more money than I would earn in a normal workplace\u2019, explains Marzenna Januszkiewicz, a seamstress at the Polenmarkt. As she greets me, she looks up from her well-used sewing machine with a smile, surrounded by silky frocks and dresses hanging from the roof of her stall. \u2018But we\u2019ve had a bad situation for two years because of the queues, the traffic jams. It has nothing to do with the prices, because they have been the same for 10 years.\u2019<\/p>\n Agnieszka Zdziabek-Bollmann and her husband moved to Frankfurt in 2000, after searching for a place where they could feel at home as a Polish-German couple. She now runs a Polish-German management consultancy, and tells me happily that they have managed to create their \u2018own little ecosphere, part of a shared Europe and a shared urban space\u2019. Zdziabek-Bollmann works in both languages and has customers on both sides of the border.<\/p>\n Nonetheless, she says \u2018the greatest satisfaction was simply walking across the bridge \u2013 to go to the other side, buy Polish bread without standing in line, come back and not have to tell anyone why.\u2019 She tells me that \u2018the controls since Monday mean that 20 years after [Poland\u2019s EU entry] I am faced by the same obstacles as before.\u2019<\/p>\n Zdziabek-Bollmann established her consultancy when a greater number of Poles started to work in Germany, observing that these first companies struggled to understand their German counterparts. Today, she tells me, cooperation will once again be more difficult \u2013 and not just in Frankfurt and S\u0142ubice. The companies she deals with have 4,000 cars in transport on most days, for example, and they are likely to all get stuck in traffic on the highways along the border. Shortages and delays will affect the automobile industries in both countries.<\/p>\n In fact, nearly 30,000 people cross the bridge between S\u0142ubice and Frankfurt every day, according to the Frankfurt-S\u0142ubice Cooperation Centre, which is run by Zdziabek-Bollmann\u2019s husband, S\u00f6ren Bollmann. Around 50,000 cross over from the larger Lubusz voivodeship in western Poland into the Brandenburg region of eastern Germany.<\/p>\n The week I arrived marked not only the start of new border controls, but also the Hanseatic City Festival (\u2018Miejskie \u015awi\u0119to Hanzy\u2019) \u2013 an annual celebration of areas like S\u0142ubice and Frankfurt, which in Medieval times belonged to the Hanseatic League of merchants and trading cities. These supported each other economically much like this twin city does today.<\/p>\n The first event is a marathon across the bridge, for which the new controls are temporarily stopped. Hundreds of locals from both sides of the river assemble to cheer on friends and family, both young and old, despite increasing rainfall. Commentators shout into megaphones in both Polish and German, while spectators are offered a hearty combination of German beer and Polish herring.<\/p>\n Tomasz Pilarski, head of Frankfurt\u2019s marketing, tourism and events team, tells me that a lot of activities are created deliberately to develop \u2018a cross border character\u2019.<\/p>\n \u2018I was born here and I\u2019m really engaged in this idea of creating a common society on the border,\u2019 Pilarski continues, so \u2018[the new controls] hurt me personally. It feels like we are punished for trying to grow closer together.\u2019 He points to the Hanseatic City Festival and all the companies and suppliers who are now worried they won\u2019t make the journey in time.<\/p>\n Nevertheless, Pilarski hopes Frankfurt and S\u0142ubice will \u2018grow more and more together\u2019. He says that the people are \u2018quite resilient\u2019, having already faced challenges like complete border closure during the pandemic, and have \u2018more and more appreciation for cross-border activities\u2019. \u2018Who would have thought 20 years ago that we could enjoy a festival with both Polish and German headliners?\u2019.<\/p>\n As the final runners cross the finish line and I start to leave the mass of spectators, I stumble upon Claus Junghanns, the Mayor of Frankfurt, half-way through a Bratwurst. He only has a few seconds \u2013 and manages to hand the Bratwurst to his wife before I can take a picture \u2013 but he points to the runners and tells me proudly: \u2018This is what Europe can do\u2019.<\/p>\n \u2018Some people live on the Polish side and work on the German side, or vice versa. Children also study on both sides of the Oder. We even have common cultural and sporting goals\u2019, Mayor Marzena S\u0142odownik tells me. \u2018This is why I think [controls are] bad, because we\u2019ll have chaos here.\u2019<\/p>\n I came to find division along the Polish-German border, prompted by new controls and talk of the citizens\u2019 patrols. Instead, I found two towns with a real drive to work together.<\/p>\n The \u2018<\/b>True Miracle\u2019 of the European Story<\/b><\/p>\n When Agnieszka Zdziabek-Bollmann first arrived in Frankfurt at the turn of the century, almost no one spoke both Polish and German. It is only through the hard work and vision of a few pioneers, she stresses, that so much cooperation has developed \u2013 across a border that was once seen by Germans as \u2018the edge of Europe\u2019.<\/p>\n One of these pioneers was Dr Krzysztof Wojciechowski. I met him in his Frankfurt home, replete with books, paintings and antiques from around the world. As he talks he leans back, his eyes close and powerful stories flow one after another.<\/p>\n \u2018When I was four years old, my friends in kindergarten would say, \u2018What do you want to be? A firefighter, a policeman, a bricklayer, a doctor?\u2019. I\u2019d say I want to be a traveler. That always fascinated me, seeing other people, a different world,\u2019 he says.<\/p>\n Wojciechowski recalls hitchhiking around the communist German Democratic Republic (GDR) in 1972, at the age of 15. Visa-free travel had been introduced between Poland and its eastern neighbour for the first time since the Second World War. Over the following decade, more than a million young people from either side would holiday across the border.<\/p>\n Later, as a student, he hitchhiked between northern Greece and Yugoslavia and met a German travelling in the famous \u2018Duck\u2019 Citroen 2CV. This broke down in the middle of the night, he says, but his new friend promptly took his belt, tied it to the engine and kept driving.<\/p>\n The following years were \u2018schizophrenic\u2019 in terms of Polish-German relations, Wojciechowski summarises. Despite the idyllic opening of the 1970s, tensions had been steadily growing and reached boiling point when the anti-communist Solidarity (\u2018Solidarno\u015b\u0107\u2019) movement arose in Poland around 1980.<\/p>\n The border only opened again in 1989 with the fall of the Berlin Wall, but mistrust remained on both sides. Wojciechowski recalls infamous situations where German customs officers would cut up tennis balls and squeeze out toothpaste to make sure Poles weren\u2019t smuggling goods across the border.<\/p>\n By this point, however, a brutal transformation had started in Poland and a very strong drive towards Europeanisation was born. Germany, too, wanted to be ambassadors for Poland in their accession, as a way to \u2018equalise historical wrongs against the Poles\u2019, Wojciechowski says. Over the following thirty years, he continues, \u2018a true miracle occurred\u2019.<\/p>\n \u2018We dreamed of overcoming this boundary in both the physical and mental sense between Poles and Germans,\u2019 he tells me, \u2018so that a Pole would no longer think that every German was a murderer and a fascist, and so that a German would no longer think that every Pole was a scumbag and a thief.\u2019<\/p>\n The idea was born to create a Polish branch of the Frankfurt-based Viadrina European University, called Collegium Polonicum. Wojciechowski became long-time director and a \u2018beautiful, modern university\u2019 was eventually unveiled in S\u0142ubice in 1998, less than 100 metres from the border. It was the physical product of a time when \u2018people first started talking positively about either side\u2019, Wojciechowski says.<\/p>\n Dr Norbert Cyrus, a leading anthropologist and researcher at the Viadrina University\u2019s B\/ORDERS IN MOTION programme, says that what is usually referred to as the Polish-German border has really included several different entities \u2018dissolving and reemerging\u2019 over time. At this point, however, the border was established in its fullest sense as \u2018a boundary that is collectively binding\u2019.<\/p>\n This transition was aided by many Polish-German projects. Piotr Firfas was a teenager when given the rare opportunity to join one of the first Polish-German schools. \u2018It was a breakthrough moment in my life\u2019, he tells me, having since gone on to work for Euroregion, the transnational organisation who coordinated the project.<\/p>\n Today, Euroregion continues to \u2018create a Euroregional identity\u2019 along the entire Polish-German border, Firfas says, bringing together Polish and German administrations, organising opportunities for inhabitants to learn their neighbour\u2019s language, share information and more.<\/p>\n In his own way the most visionary of the pioneers was Michael Kurzwelly, a visual artist from Germany who back in the 1990s began his \u2018S\u0142ubfurt\u2019 project<\/a>. Kurzwelly tells me that he had wanted to \u2018play a little bit with the question of identity\u2019 after raising children who were Polish and German, and found in S\u0142ubice and Frankfurt the perfect place to do so.<\/p>\n After the Second World War ended, Poland\u2019s borders were shifted west to align with the River Oder. People living in what was once eastern Poland (now annexed by the Soviet Union) migrated across the country to what was previously eastern Germany. Before the war, however, S\u0142ubice and Frankfurt had been part of one German city called Dammvorstadt \u2013 and Kurzwelly questioned why they couldn\u2019t now become one Polish-German city.<\/p>\n With a mixture of pride and childish glee, Kurzwelly shows me the crest of S\u0142ubfurt, depicting a chicken perched on an egg against a blue background \u2013 in reference to \u2018the primary philosophical question of what came first\u2019. Excitedly, he unrolls a map of S\u0142ubfurt where the streetnames have been changed to Polish-German neologisms. We\u2019re speaking, he reveals, at the round table of S\u0142ubfurt\u2019s \u2018parliament\u2019, which gathers every Wednesday.<\/p>\n Kurzwelly adds that S\u0142ubfurt has also become home to hundreds of refugees from Syria, Afghanistan, Sudan and several other countries, able to meet freely in a sports hall that Kurzwelly rents. \u2018So long as you believe you are in S\u0142ubfurt, you can live here\u2019, Kurzwelly says, \u2018just as national states start with an idea.\u2019<\/p>\n Initially the S\u0142ubfurt project was criticised, with allegations that this was another German attempt to \u2018take over Poland\u2019 \u2013 until, Kurzwelly says with a grin, people started to understand his humour. Today, \u2018our border regions are the avant-garde of Europe,\u2019 he adds, \u2018because people feel like they live in one common area.\u2019<\/p>\n All of this, Wojciechowski concludes, is \u2018a true miracle\u2019. He marvels at the economic transformation of S\u0142ubice, which he says was once a \u2018dirty, ugly, small town, full of shady characters\u2019. He also cites a 2010 study which found that over 70% of German parents would now accept their child marrying a Pole. In 1991, this figure was just 5% \u2013 and 3% among Polish parents asked the reverse question.<\/p>\n Not Everyone Sees Eye to Eye<\/b><\/p>\n After introducing new controls at the Polish-German border, Prime Minister Donald Tusk stressed that right-wing citizens\u2019 patrols<\/a> were hindering the work of border guards. In contrast, opposition-backed President Karol Nawrocki thanked the Border Defence Movement (ROG) for completing their \u2018civic duty\u2019.<\/p>\n \u2018We are normal citizens\u2019, an ROG member tells me, \u2018but we keep an eye on the authorities because they are trying to evade us.\u2019 He stands upright as I speak to him, arms behind his back, but with sunglasses on, so I can\u2019t look into his eyes. \u2018We have no right to approach, or interfere with services. But [the border guards] feel the pressure of us being here.\u2019 I can\u2019t tell whether the answers are genuine or well-rehearsed, but the sense of duty is evident.<\/p>\n The controls are \u2018very good\u2019, he continues. \u2018They are working, they can be praised\u2019, but \u2018this should have been done three years ago, when the Germans introduced the first border. It was us citizens who pushed [Tusk] against the wall and now we make sure Germans don\u2019t push migrants back to Poland\u2019, he says.<\/p>\n Although not a member of any political party, Nawrocki<\/a> was backed in his presidential bid by the right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party \u2013 the perennial opponents of Tusk\u2019s Civic Coalition (KO). This division has run through the heart of Polish politics for decades, and was apparent when I asked locals in S\u0142ubice about the controls. While there is much criticism of the measures, this is also a region with a strong, white, populist voting base \u2013 and right to far-right parties on both sides of the river regularly poll above 30%.<\/p>\n \u2018We see what\u2019s happening in France, in Germany, in Spain, in the UK, and we don\u2019t want that\u2019, a market vendor at the S\u0142ubice bazaar tells me, echoing opinions I heard throughout my visit. \u2018I know a lot of black people. Many of my clients are Kurds, and these are quite normal people\u2019, he continues, \u2018but I have a baby girl. I can\u2019t risk her being attacked.\u2019 \u2018You come to my house, well, my rules are my rules.\u2019<\/p>\n When I mention that I have travelled to S\u0142ubice from Great Britain, the ROG member says he sympathises. \u2018You had a beautiful country, and you lost it\u2019, he explains, \u2018and that\u2019s what we want to avoid here. Poland is the safest country in Europe.\u2019<\/p>\n Dr Krzysztof Wojciechowski explains that \u2018Europe has fallen ill by its kindness, because it didn\u2019t foresee the full extent of mass migration\u2019. \u2018When the news spread around the world that here you can get benefits like money, housing and so on,\u2019 he continues, \u2018we started attracting millions and millions \u2013 and we weren\u2019t ready.\u2019 Eventually, anti-immigration movements were bound to form.<\/p>\n This applies especially to Germany, the richest EU nation and historically the country which has offered the most lucrative social benefits for migrants in Europe. In 2015, former Chancellor Angela Merkel initiated her \u2018Wilkommenskultur\u2019 towards foreigners, but Germany invested little in the infrastructure needed to deal with such an influx, leaving an ill-equipped asylum system.<\/p>\n The response came in October 2023, when former Chancellor Olaf Scholz introduced random checks on the Polish-German border. Domestic pressure in Poland has been rising ever since, with anti-immigration forces complaining about migrants being sent back into the country from Germany. Between January 2024 and February 2025, Germany returned 11,000 migrants<\/a> \u2013 around half of which were Ukrainian.<\/p>\n However, movements like the ROG greatly exaggerate the problem. First, because the number of migrants pushed back into Poland is on the decline<\/a>. Average monthly returns were falling long before controls were established on the Polish side, decreasing from 981 between January and May 2024, to 724 from June 2024 to February 2025.<\/p>\n Second, Poland is a so-called transit country, so even if migrants are forced back into Poland, they\u2019re likely to just find another way back into Germany. \u2018The ultimate objective of any migrant has always been Germany or Sweden\u2019, says Marzenna Guz-Vetter, former director of the European Commission Representation in Poland.<\/p>\n And third, many of these migrants have started and so are legally entitled to continue asylum procedures in Poland. This is one of the reasons why, according to the Polish border guard spokesman, there were only 24 \u2018refusals of entry\u2019 into Poland during the first seven days of the new border controls<\/a> \u2013 out of the 67,000 people and 28,500 vehicles that were cleared.<\/p>\n While Germany has had serious issues integrating a large number of foreigners, therefore, Poland simply doesn\u2019t take in the migrants via its western border that many express a desire to stop, pointing instead to a deeper societal issue.<\/p>\n \u2018For me it\u2019s normal to meet people of different skin colours, speaking different languages\u2019, Mayor Marzena S\u0142odownik explains, highlighting that she studied at the Collegium Polonicum, where there was a strong international representation. \u2018Historically, we Poles have also had to evacuate our country, or travel for work, and then others helped us,\u2019 she adds, but \u2018right now, we maybe don\u2019t understand that as well.\u2019<\/p>\n Current students at the Viadrina University tell me that they feel \u2018angry\u2019 and \u2018powerless\u2019, as many of their peers from beyond Europe are now confronted by \u2018super racist\u2019 profiling at the border. \u2018They know the controls from their home countries,\u2019 one student says, \u2018and they\u2019re very afraid.\u2019<\/p>\n Agnieszka Zdziabek-Bollmann summarises that \u2018Poland as a country is very much defined by appearance, so anyone who looks different, or has darker skin\u2026well, you can see them right away.\u2019 \u2018I really feel sorry for these people,\u2019 she says, warning that \u2018when everyone pushes them to the other side and pretends they don\u2019t see them anymore, a certain destabilisation begins, a sociological and emotional one.\u2019<\/p>\n A Battle of Narration, Not Immigration<\/b><\/p>\n As Dr Krzysztof Wojciechowski ends one of his stories, he opens his eyes and pauses for effect. \u2018Political tensions in Poland are on the rise. The right-wing starts to run riot,\u2019 he tells me, \u2018but this is largely a problem of words.\u2019 Contrary to what we might read or see, Wojciechowski repeats, illegal immigration is not a major issue for Poland on the Polish-German border.<\/p>\n Bartosz Wieli\u0144ski, a political scientist and deputy editor-in-chief of the Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza, tells me that most of the immigration-based political tension in the country comes rather from \u2018a very malicious information campaign\u2019, run by PiS and other right-wing parties, accusing Germans of flooding Poland with migrants.<\/p>\n \u2018They\u2019re just like hounds, who bark a lot but don\u2019t bite\u2019, says Wieli\u0144ski about the PiS party. They never introduced such controls on the Polish-German border when they were in power, but happily spread fake news which is \u2018very emotionally loaded\u2019. This combines real immigration concerns with an anti-German sentiment that has existed since the foundation of modern Polish nationalism.<\/p>\n Towards the end of June, reporters from TV Republika filmed a video on the bridge between Frankfurt and S\u0142ubice, claiming to show Germans depositing a group of Afghan citizens on Polish territory. It\u2019s worth noting that TV Republika has been very supportive of the PiS party, which partially funded the news station when it was in power.<\/p>\n Despite using inflammatory rhetoric, and involving members of the citizens\u2019 patrols in order to rile the Polish border guards, the video only really shows routine checks. Nonetheless, the story was shared by other media<\/a> like polanddaily24. \u2018I myself have observed many such reports\u2026where people of colour were filmed to show there is a very serious problem with immigration,\u2019 Piotr Firfas tells me, \u2018even though no one here has this feeling.\u2019<\/p>\n Wojciechowski recalls similar hysteria in the German press before the introduction of visa-free travel in the early 1990s. He laughs as he remembers one night, when a right-wing group descended on Frankfurt and attacked a bus crossing the border, hitting the sides with baseball bats, smashing windows and injuring one passenger.<\/p>\n He laughs because the bus was actually leaving Germany for Poland, and because it wasn\u2019t smuggling migrants, but a symphony orchestra. \u2018They smacked some violinist on the head!\u2019, he chuckles.<\/p>\n Nevertheless, the images went viral around the world \u2013 and resurfaced as recently as in 2011. This is the way information campaigns influence opinion, Wieli\u0144ski says, and how Poland becomes \u2018a monocultural country which is more and more proud that we have no problems with migrants\u2019.<\/p>\n On the final day of my visit, in a Shell gas station 100 metres from the border, I\u2019m greeted by a well-mannered, well-built, clean-shaven man, with a small Polish flag pinned to his top. This is Robert B\u0105kiewicz, the fire-brand, far-right leader who runs the ROG and has built a national reputation for being something of a political troublemaker.<\/p>\n Over the course of an hour, B\u0105kiewicz expertly weaves together a worldview in which Germany is pursuing \u2018a policy of expansion\u2019 over Poland. \u2018Everything is being done in such a way that we remain Germany\u2019s junior\u2019, he concludes, warning for example that Germany will soon be writing the textbooks<\/a> that teach Poles about the Second World War.<\/p>\n At the same time, B\u0105kiewicz repeats that there is no evidence of illegal activity perpetrated by himself or the ROG, blaming instead \u2018the Goebbelsian distortion of reality perpetrated by the left-liberal media\u2019. Since we spoke, the previous conservative president, Andrzej Duda, has partially pardoned B\u0105kiewicz over a \u2018hooligan act<\/a>\u2018 against Grandma Kate (\u2018Babcia Kasia\u2019), a prominent protester for women\u2019s and LGBTQ+ rights. He has also been charged with verbally abusing uniformed officers on the border, for which he has pleaded not guilty.<\/p>\n B\u0105kiewicz also blames left-liberal \u2018ideological foundations\u2019 for \u2018the mass migration that has essentially devastated Western Europe\u2019. \u2018It\u2019s clear that Poles, as a rule, are white. They\u2019re not black, they\u2019re not Asian. We are white.\u2019 \u2018Put a black person before a child without any ideology,\u2019 he argues, \u2018and they will say this person is different from us.\u2019<\/p>\n I expected such narratives. Politicians like B\u0105kiewicz thrive by amplifying problems, connecting everything with migration, and anti-German sentiment has become their \u2018obsession\u2019, Wojciechowski says.<\/p>\n What I didn\u2019t expect was his assistant. He\u2019s bald but has a beard, and is sporting a socks and sandals combination. Yet what really catches my eye is the way in which he looks at B\u0105kiewicz. Not once does he divert his gaze while his boss is speaking, and when the latter goes to take one of many calls, he says loyally that B\u0105kiewicz \u2018is a very good leader\u2019. \u2018You can truly follow him with trust,\u2019 he adds, \u2018because I\u2019m 100% sure he has good intentions.\u2019 He, too, then starts talking about the \u2018Germanisation\u2019 of S\u0142ubice.<\/p>\n In comparison to the likes of B\u0105kiewicz, the government of Donald Tusk \u2018doesn\u2019t know how to communicate with society\u2019, Wojciechowski says. Analysts<\/a> have criticised the current ruling coalition for failing to convey its successes to the public. It only appointed a public spokesperson this June, following the damaging defeat of its presidential candidate.<\/p>\n With elections upcoming in 2027, Tusk is trying not to make the same mistake, and border controls are a good \u2018communication instrument\u2019, Norbert Cyrus explains, allowing the government to say \u2018okay, we have a solution for that\u2019.<\/p>\n Wieli\u0144ski says that Tusk\u2019s strategy is always to \u2018outgamble\u2019 the opposition. Instead of sending police to disperse B\u0105kiewicz\u2019s citizens\u2019 patrols, he goes further than PiS would and introduces full-blown controls. The aim is to lessen political pressure, usurping the ROG and addressing elevated concerns about immigration, while showing a firm response to German border checks. \u2018This is not a rational fight\u2019, Wieli\u0144ski concludes, \u2018but a fight about narration.\u2019<\/p>\n A New Type of Politics<\/b><\/p>\n The Polish government has now extended these controls twice, which means they will be in place until at least 4 April 2026. This is unsurprising, given around 58%<\/a> of the population supports the checks, and 60%<\/a> say they disapprove of the ROG. Many Poles seem to be buying into Prime Minister Donald Tusk\u2019s message of security.<\/p>\n Yet Dr Krzysztof Wojciechowski repeats that controls on the Polish-German border are \u2018a very, very bad and stupid thing\u2019. The Polish government is introducing controls \u2018not because there is something that can be controlled, but in response to right-wing hysteria\u2019.<\/p>\n When Berlin first introduced its checks in October 2023, Tusk condemned the \u2018de facto suspension of the Schengen agreement on a large scale\u2019. Now that there are checks on both sides, Warsaw and Berlin have made an extra effort to display a strong relationship.<\/p>\n German Chancellor Friedrich Merz<\/a> has praised \u2018a very close, very collegial, friendly cooperation\u2019 with Tusk, highlighting that \u2018we want to solve a common problem together\u2019. He stresses that \u2018freedom of movement in the Schengen area will only work in the long term if it is not abused by those who promote irregular migration\u2019.<\/p>\n In late July, former Interior Minister Tomasz Siemoniak held a joint press conference<\/a> with his German counterpart, Alexander Dobrindt, at the Polish-Belarusian border. Minsk has conducted hybrid warfare<\/a> for years by funnelling illegal migrants into Europe through Poland, and both ministers pledged to resolve immigration issues together at the EU\u2019s external borders.<\/p>\n Despite this promise of collaboration, however, the extension of Polish controls at the German border only mainstreams the propaganda of right-wing, populist circles. Tusk has enacted the same suspension of Schengen that he condemned less than two years ago \u2013 and on the Polish-German border, where there is no immigration conflict comparable to that with Belarus.<\/p>\n Agnieszka Zdziabek-Bollmann clears the table we\u2019re sitting at and traces the outline of the European Union with her index finger. At one end is Ukraine, and at the other is Portugal. Pointing to where Frankfurt and S\u0142ubice would lie, she asks in disbelief: \u2018And suddenly we\u2019re introducing our own controls right here in the middle?\u2019. \u2018Warsaw and Berlin don\u2019t seem to understand how we live,\u2019 Zdziabek-Bollmann concludes.<\/p>\n \u2018Politicians think that the only way to fight with these populists is to be more populist,\u2019 Wojciechowski says, \u2018but to what end? The right wing has no moral compass. If they could, they would set the whole country on fire just to shout that they can fix it.\u2019<\/p>\n Meanwhile, right-wing politicians come up with another issue, or assemble another citizen patrol. Since the controls were introduced, far-right demonstrators<\/a> have flooded the streets of dozens of Polish cities, while PiS has announced that it will hold a major anti-migration rally<\/a> in Warsaw in October.<\/p>\n \u2018We need an extremely serious and far-going European solution,\u2019 Marzenna Guz-vetter tells me, \u2018which better protects our external borders, and which takes into account the macro-level issues that drive migration.\u2019<\/p>\n Countries have to address problems with integration, Wojciechowski says, rather than resort to \u2018cosmetic\u2019 checks. While irregular migration has substantially dropped<\/a> in recent years, the EU is failing to properly integrate new migrants, according to this index<\/a>.<\/p>\n And above all, Norbert Cyrus says, \u2018it\u2019s about the message\u2019.<\/p>\n The town hall in S\u0142ubice is similar to the other communist-era buildings you\u2019ll find across Poland. It\u2019s relatively old, made of concrete and the colourful exterior has started to turn grey \u2013 much like the rainclouds that catch me as I arrive.<\/p>\n When I enter Marzena S\u0142odownik\u2019s office, however, the room feels bright. I notice a yellow flower on the windowsill, and light comes in through a break in the clouds. S\u0142odownik herself conveys the same bright optimism. She tells me that 14 months ago when she was elected Mayor, she ran on the slogan of \u2018A Dream Community\u2019 (\u2018Gmina Jak Marzenie\u2019), both as a promise to fulfil \u2018dreams, not politics\u2019, and as a play on her name (Marzena).<\/p>\n At the same time, it is clear to me that she is a strong, down to earth character. Before being elected, S\u0142odownik had never been involved in politics, having worked instead for non-governmental organisations and charities. For six years, including during the pandemic, she worked as a fundraiser at the local hospital. When she speaks, she sits upright, clasps her hands, plants them on the table and demands your attention.<\/p>\n Throughout our conversation, S\u0142odownik repeats that she does not see herself as a politician. \u2018[Politicians] say what their people want to hear, not the truth, and that means they are part of the problem\u2019, she says. \u2018[My team] were complete newcomers, far from politics, but truly people who wanted to act, talk to all sides and respect different views.\u2019<\/p>\n Earlier that morning, a group had entered into the town hall and started shouting at S\u0142odownik, calling her a \u2018rainbow mayor\u2019 and accusing her of wanting to turn S\u0142ubice into another Frankfurt \u2013 which they falsely claimed is overrun by dangerous migrants. S\u0142odownik tells me she deals with such instances all the time. \u2018I just say hello, introduce myself and invite them for a coffee to talk about my ideas for the town.\u2019<\/p>\n S\u0142odownik adds that she faces similar criticism on the council board, two-thirds of whom oppose her views. \u2018Every session is a barrage of attacks\u2019, she says, \u2018and why shouldn\u2019t I stoop to the same level?\u2019. She promptly answers her own question: \u2018the best method is always conversation\u2019. \u2018The only thing I can do when talking to my city council is tell them how I feel, defend myself properly, and do my job well.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018Our societies are becoming very polarised. People want a tooth for a tooth, an eye for an eye,\u2019 S\u0142odownik continues, but \u2018we don\u2019t need paralysis, we don\u2019t need additional problems.\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018Today, the European Union needs leaders with a new perspective and message, wise and brave, to properly protect the European Union, while strengthening it at the same time. This is how I see it, here on the border, in a twin city that breathes with common lungs in the very heart of Europe.\u2019<\/p>\n _<\/p>\n All photos taken by Sta\u015b Kaleta. In order:<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/DSC2908-300x200.png\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/DSC2944-copy-2-300x200.png\")
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<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/DSC3144-300x200.png\")
Lila Syrek-Jermakowicz, Flower Shop Owner<\/p>\n![\"More](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/DSC3134-300x200.jpeg\")
![\"Polish-German](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/DSC3147-300x200.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"Marzenna](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/DSC3310-300x200.png\")
Marzenna Januszkiewicz, Seamstress<\/p>\n![\"More](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/DSC3306-300x200.jpeg\")
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<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/DSC3373-300x200.png\")
Agnieszka Zdziabek-Bollmann, Polish-German Management Consultant<\/p>\n![\"Polish-German](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/DSC3340-300x200.png\")
![\"More](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/DSC3411-300x200.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"Polish-German](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/DSC3389-300x200.png\")
![\"Polish-German](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/DSC3277-300x200.png\")
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![\"Polish-German](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/DSC3195-300x200.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/DSC3295-300x200.png\")
Claus Junghanns, Mayor of Frankfurt an der Oder<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/DSC3184-300x200.png\")
Dr Krzysztof Wojciechowski, Former Director of Collegium Polonicum<\/p>\n![\"Polish-German](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/DSC3121-300x200.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"Polish-German](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/DSC3039-300x200.png\")
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<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/DSC2987-300x200.png\")
Two Members of the \u2018Border Defence Movement\u2019<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/DSC3357-300x200.png\")
Robert B\u0105kiewicz, Leader of the \u2018Border Defence Movement\u2019<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/DSC3231-300x200.png\")
Marzena S\u0142odownik, Mayor of S\u0142ubice<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/DSC3216-300x200.png\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/DSC3219-300x200.png\")
<\/p>\n\n