Polonophobia, also referred to as anti-Polonism, (), and anti-Polish sentiment are terms for negative attitudes, prejudices, and actions against Poles as an ethnic group, Poland as their country, and their culture. These include ethnic prejudice against Poles and persons of Polish descent, other forms of discrimination, and mistreatment of Poles and the Polish diaspora. This prejudice led to mass killings and genocide or it was used to justify atrocities both before and during World War II, most notably by the German Nazis and Ukrainian nationalists. While Soviet repressions and massacres of Polish citizens were ideologically motivated, the negative attitude of Soviet authorities to the Polish nation is well-attested. Nazi Germany killed between 1.8 to 2.7 million ethnic Poles, 140,000 Poles were deported to Auschwitz where at least half of them perished. Anti-Polish sentiment includes stereotyping Poles as unintelligent and aggressive, as thugs, thieves, alcoholics, and anti-Semites. Etymology According to Adam Leszczynski, the term antypolonizm was coined by journalist Edmund Osmańczyk in 1946. Osmańczyk condemned anti-Jewish violence in postwar Poland, and concluded: Features Forms of hostility toward Poles and Polish culture include: Organized persecution of the Poles as a nation or as an ethnic group; A xenophobic dislikes of Poles, including Polish immigrants; Cultural anti-Polish sentiment: a prejudice against Poles and Polish-speaking persons or their customs, language and education; Stereotypes about Poland and Polish people in the media and other forms of popular culture. A historic example of anti-Polish sentiment was polakożerstwo (in English, "the devouring of Poles") – a Polish term coined in the 19th century in relation to the dismemberment and annexation of Poland by Prussia, the Habsburg monarchy and Russia. Polakożerstwo described the forcible suppression of Polish culture, education and religion in historically Polish territories, and the gradual elimination of Poles from everyday life as well as from owning property. Anti-Polish policies were implemented by the German Empire under Otto von Bismarck, especially during the Kulturkampf, and enforced up to the end of the First World War. Organized persecution of Poles raged in the territories annexed by Russia, mainly under Tsar Nicholas II. Historic actions inspired by anti-Polonism ranged from felonious acts motivated by hatred, to physical extermination of the Polish nation, the goal of which was to eradicate the Polish state. During World War II, when most of Polish society became the object of genocidal policies of Nazi Germany, anti-Polonism led to an unprecedented campaign of mass