Jewish Attitudes Toward Poles: in Search of Haman5
May 2020 “...a Jew from Poland is not and never was simply Polish. … it was clear to Jews and Poles alike that they were two very different peoples who happened to share the same piece of territory. They could be neighbors and business partners, but they were seldom friends and almost never relatives or social or legal equals.” 1 Adam Kirsch, American poet and critic The ethno-nationalist spin for this state of affairs: “It’s all the Poles’ fault!” “Their animus, which carries Polish nationalism into such an aggressively xenophobic articulation, springs primarily from a deep pool of ethnic-cum- religious hatred, which is indigenous to Poland and has historically been aimed at Jews.”2 Jan T. Gross, American sociologist “…the sort of primitive anti-Polish sentiments that too often characterize those whom I shall call ‘professional Jews’.”3 French-Jewish historian Pierre Vidal-Naquet “…it is possible for Jewish people to be racist, just as it is possible for people of other faiths to be.” 4 John Bercow, former Speaker of U.K. House of Commons Traditional Jewish Attitudes Toward Poles: In Search of Haman5 by Mark Paul Mutual prejudices and stereotypes have been harboured by both Poles and Jews in regard to one another for long centuries. Few scholars in the West, however, have recognized that Jews, no less than Poles, 1 Adam Kirsch, “A Cruel and Elusive Family History,” Tablet, January 2, 2018. 2 Jan T. Gross, “Poles Cry for “Pure Blood’ Again,” The New York Times, November 16, 2017. 3 Pierre Vidal-Naquet, The Jews: History, Memory, and the Present (New York: Columbia University Press, 1996), 182.
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