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by mattmanser 2564 days ago
To be fair though, last time I went to Poland (Krakow 2011) they were super-racist.

One of our friends was black, it was very scary at times. Lots of skin heads, random people spitting at our friend, getting followed by gangs of people.

I have no idea what it's like in Lithuania, but there can still be some pretty extreme racism going on in E.European countries.

3 comments

I've been to Poland quite a few times (love it!) and, as a mixed race (western european + west african heritage), the worst racist comments and treatment I received was, ironically, from a jewish person in Krakow's jewish quarters - (if he was actually jewish is anyone's guess). I'd agree that it's a generally racist society but I wouldn't go as far as saying super-racist, but then again, I was never spat at. Of course I could come up with dozens of anecdotes, like a woman refusing to shake my hand saying "I don't touch black people" after shaking everyone else's hand in my group, but I'm not comfortable generalising since almost everyone I met was super welcoming and friendly, without a hint of hatred or disgust. Let's not judge a country by a few rotten apples!
Brit living in Vilnius. It's true you don't get many people with dark skin here, but people are friendly and I don't think they would behave that way. They may stop and stare, but it's more out of interest. For context, my wife's grandma lives in a village and has only seen black people on TV.

I have a couple of Indian friends who live here and they don't have any issues. To be honest I'd say this country is more welcoming to foreigners than the UK.

Me and my brother went to woodstock in Poland and it was not a welcoming experience at all (We are black)