Owner of Polish hotel that hosted anti-Ukrainian far-right leader to donate proceeds to Ukraine

The owner of a hotel that hosted a party congress organised by far-right leader Grzegorz Braun (pictured above), who is known for his antisemitic and anti-Ukrainian views, has pledged to donate all proceeds from the event to support Ukraine.

“We absolutely do not see eye to eye with Mr Braun,” said Władysław Grochowski, the owner of Arche, one of Poland’s largest hotel groups. His company has come under fire for hosting Braun’s event, but insists it is not legally allowed to screen clients.

Grochowski (pictured below) and his firm are well known for their involvement in social causes, including support for refugees from Ukraine and elsewhere.

On Saturday, Braun’s Confederation of the Polish Crown (KKP) party, which has recently risen in the polls to support of around 8%, held a congress at a hotel and conference centre owned be Arche.

KKP and its leader have built their recent success upon anti-Ukrainian rhetoric and Braun’s various controversial remarks and stunts. He has regularly warned of the “Ukrainianisation” of Poland by Ukrainian immigrants and refugees.

Braun also has a long history of conspiratorial antisemitism, and in July last year claimed that the gas chambers at Auschwitz are “fake”. He is currently standing trial for an attack on a Jewish Hanukkah celebration that was taking place in parliament.

Braun has long been accused of having sympathies towards and links to Russia. In September, after Russian drones violated Polish airspace, he claimed that the incident was faked as part of a conspiracy, involving Poland’s own government, to drag the country into the war in Ukraine.

Arche’s decision to host KPP’s congress had led to criticism of the chain. “This firm is making the [hotel] available to Polish fascists who deny the existence of gas chambers in Auschwitz. Steer well clear of Arche hotels,” urged writer Cezary Łazarewicz on social media.

On the eve of the event, Arche issued a statement saying that its properties hosted more than 5,000 congresses and conferences annually and it was not legally permitted to screen organisers and their guests.

However, it quoted Grochowski saying that events such as Braun’s  “fuel extremism, fueling a spiral of division and radicalism that are completely alien to my values ​​and the company I built”. He warned that KPP “is a dangerous movement and the authorities should not ignore that fact”.

Grochowski then announced that he had “decided that we will donate the entire proceeds from this event to help Ukraine in its struggle, which we have been supporting strongly since the first day of the war

Grochowski is known for his support of refugees. In 2021, amid the onset of a migration crisis on Poland’s border with Belarus, he offered to support 100 refugee families with housing, jobs and education, saying that “we cannot close our eyes or shut our ears to the cry for help”.

In 2023, he and his wife Lena became the first Poles to receive the United Nations Nansen Refugee Award, in recognition of their efforts to support those fleeing Russia’s war in Ukraine, including providing over 500,000 nights of free lodging to more than 14,000 refugees.