N Between hatred and nostalgia J Creating a new vision of Polish Jewry in the Third Polish Republic (1995–2005)
Alix Landgrebe
DOI: 10.30752/nj.85147
Abstract • This article discusses the revival of Polish national thought from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. I demonstrate how the so-called Jewish question influenced the debate and the vision of Jewry in Poland after 1989 and how it was used to create a new national identity. I outline why the so-called Jewish question was so crucial in Polish national debates. Furthermore, I demon- strate how the Polish Jewish past was portrayed and commemorated in the Third Polish Republic. This research focuses upon the period of Aleksander Kwasniewski’s presidency (1995–2005), during which the famous debate about the pogrom in Jedwabne took place. I presented the original version of this article as a paper in January 2019 at a conference in Stockholm entitled ‘Jews in Middle Eastern Europe after the Downfall of the Wall in 1989’, organised by Paideia, The European Institute for Jewish Studies in Sweden.
National identity in post-Communist Poland or assimilate. In the nineteenth century, while Poles were fighting to regain an independent Following the end of socialism, the need to state, many Polish intellectuals reflected on the recreate national identity was crucial within question of how to cope with ethnic diversity Polish society. Nationalism had been officially in their country. After the Second World War, condemned throughout decades of socialist Poland had become a country with a homoge- rule. As a result, nationalist traditions expe- neous ethnic population: a radical change in rienced a revival in the 1990s. Debates about comparison to its former ethnic pluralism and national ideas and feelings were frequent, with multi-cultural past. Nevertheless, the tradition questions such as: What is truly Polish and what of Polish nationalism from the time before the does Polishness (polskość) mean? Moreover, Second World War played an important role people were asking: How can one define Polish in post-socialist Polish society. The so-called citizenship in a new political system after homo Jewish question came into focus in this context. sovieticus has vanished? Will the idea of citoyen- Following the end of Communism, nobody neté or a cultural-ethnical approach be the model? in Poland was indifferent to questions about 1 Ethnic questions had always played an Jews and Jewish Polish history. The topic was important role in Polish national thought since the former Polish Republic (Rzeczpospolita 1 Many books and articles were published Polska) had so many minorities to integrate immediately after the end of socialism: for
76 Nordisk judaistik • Scandinavian Jewish Studies | Vol. 31, No. 1 virulent. There were several reasons for this: and gaining influence, and that far too many 4 Poland had been the cradle of European Jewry of them were still there or were returning. before the Holocaust; Jewish people and their Jews were perceived as a threat to the Polish culture, which had flourished in Poland for nation. Antisemites insinuated that Jews would centuries, were eradicated in only a few short infiltrate Polish society in order to destroy it. years; moreover, the topic of the Holocaust was They were blamed for continuing what they taboo during socialism and was not openly dis- had allegedly been doing for centuries: depriv- cussed; Polish Jewish history was barely men- ing honest Poles of their property. Jews were tioned – and diplomatic relations were severed characterised as greedy, reckless, dishonest, in the 1960s between Poland and Israel (where selfish, and especially as being radical ene- 2 some of the Polish Holocaust survivors lived). mies of polskość (Polishness) and of Poles, the Only after the end of the socialist dicta- ‘honest Catholics’. This kind of anti-Jewish torship and isolation did topics related to the propaganda was spread by the likes of Radio Jewish Polish theme find a wider audience. This Marya: a radio station that was even supported might be surprising to an outside observer; by some of the clergy in Poland. It aimed to anyone walking the streets of Kazimierz, the recreate a Polish national identity; enemies former Jewish quarter in Cracow, which holds of Polish society had to be sought out. Jews the largest Ashkenazi monument in Europe, became a target for traditional nationalistic 5 can see the devastating consequences of this Catholic circles in Poland. Radio Marya genocide. If one visits former shtetls in south- spread nationalistic-Catholic propaganda and eastern Poland with their traces of Jewish intensified antisemitic resentments. monuments, one feels the same: one can see People feared Jews would come back and 3 the former house of a tzaddik; however, the claim their property: the famous saying from people who belonged there are gone. There is former times, ‘Nasze ulicy, wasze kamienicy’ a black hole in this country: the most impor- (‘Our streets, your houses’), could be heard tant minority of the former Polish Republic, again. While these are examples of rather mar- which had been part of the country and deeply ginal radical right-wing figures, connected to 6 influenced Polish culture, life and society, could Rydzik and his Radio Marya, antisemites never be replaced. The phenomenon, described as ‘antisem- 4 Leszek Bubel edited antisemitic newspapers itism without Jews’, seemed completely obso- such as Tylko Polska [‘Only Poland’]. The lete in the Third Polish Republic. However, in priest Henryk Jankowski’s sermons were characterised as antisemitic. See antisemitic the late 1990s, antisemites, especially in Poland, publications such as Szcześniak 2001, Nowak claimed that Jews were ruling their fatherland 1998, 1999, or Pająk 1996. They found a wider public. 5 The clergy were deeply involved in radical example Tych 1999; Volovici 1990; Cooper Catholic Nationalistic propaganda, espe- 2000; Braham 1994; Mushkat 1992; Polonsky cially in the short period of independence et al. 1992; Zimmerman 2003. The lack of between the world wars: e.g. Kruszyński 1923. Polish–Jewish dialogue in the decades of The Catholic magazineRycerz Niepokalanej socialism is discussed in various publications, (‘Knight of the Immaculate’), founded by e.g. Weiss 2008. Maksymilian Kolbe in 1922, was both nation- 2 The silence concerning Jewish Polish history alist and antisemitic. In the 1990s the right- was addressed by Michlic 2002: 3. wing clergy related to these traditions. 3 A tzaddik is a Hasidic spiritual leader or 6 Tadeusz Rydzik is a Catholic Priest and guide. Redemptorist, the founder and director of
Nordisk judaistik • Scandinavian Jewish Studies | Vol. 31, No. 1 77 could be found in other Polish political parties ideas from the nineteenth century during the or circles as well, such as the well-established 1990s and early 2000s that were long taboo party of Janusz Korwin-Mikke (Unia Polityki under socialism. The difference was striking: 7 Realnej). during the nineteenth century, Jews lived in Surveys found that, when asked about Jews, Polish territories (which after the partitions approximately a third of Poles expressed dis- of Poland belonged to Russia, Austria and comfort. Antisemitic slogans appeared on many Prussia) whereas after the Shoah and the houses and, occasionally, antisemitic riots even expulsion of Jews at the end of the 1960s only 8 occurred. Anti-Jewish literature was also being a few were left in the country. Nevertheless, the sold to a wider public. One of the constant writing style and content of publications after sources of antisemitic thought during these years socialism were similar to those of the nine- 9 10 was the Polish Catholic Church. Although the teenth century. This can be seen as a reaction Pope himself and some other important figures to socialism and its taboos. Furthermore, this in the church pleaded for a Jewish–Catholic dia- was also connected to Poles’ aspiration to find logue in Poland, many Polish priests still spread a new national identity. Nationalists needed antisemitic stereotypes. Typical nationalistic- points of reference, and these were found in Catholic statements such as ‘Catholic Poles the traditions of nineteenth-century national are morally superior to Jews’ could be heard. As thought or the short period of independence nationalism played an important role in Polish between the two world wars. Polish ethno- society, the discourse over national paradigms centrism had already been a strong current of was crucial even among many Polish intellectual thought at the end of the nineteenth century, circles. National questions were omnipresent in and could easily act as a point of reference daily Polish life. (Cała 1989). Even liberals were overwhelmed by these Ideas in the tradition of one of the most questions. We witnessed a revival of nationalist important nationalist and also antisemitic Polish thinkers, Roman Dmowski, were revived 11 the nationalistic Radio Marya station. He at this time. The so-called Jewish question also established the Catholic newspaper Nasz had been crucial when Polish national identity Dziennik (Our Daily). Its viewpoint is far right wing and antisemitic. was formed in the nineteenth century; this 7 Statements of the party leader Janusz Korwin-Mikke and his deputy Stanisław Michalkiewicz focused mainly on the eco- 10 For example in the right-wing Polish nomic threat Jews could create for a new newspaper Nasz Dziennik 1999 ff. See also Polish post-socialist state. This is a stereo- Datner-Śpiewak 1995: 113 ff. and Cała 2013. type which was already common in Polish 11 One of Roman Dmowski‘s most important nationalism of the nineteenth century. works, in which he outlined his ideas and 8 See Szurczak 2009: 76. She describes the anti- thoughts, was re-edited during these years: semitic riot during the celebrations for the Dmowski 2000 [1903]. He is seen as the Esperanto creator Ludwik Zamenhof, who father of modern nationalism in Poland. was born in Białystok (see also Cała 2013). He took up a position against the assimila- 9 Kardinal Józef Glemp made disparaging tion of Jews, whom he saw as a threat to the comments about Jews in his speech in Jasna Polish society and nation. Works from Józef Góra in 1989. Glemp’s role in the Jedwabne Kruszyński, one of the most radical antisem- debate was also problematic as he refused to ites, who lived between 1877 and 1953, were apologise for the crime. Instead, he proposed re-edited after the end of socialism. Most of praying for forgiveness for the sins of Jews his antisemitic works had been published for and Catholics. See Grynberg 2018: 31. the first time in the 1920s.
78 Nordisk judaistik • Scandinavian Jewish Studies | Vol. 31, No. 1 was also the case at the end of the twentieth Nationalist ideologists believed the compari- 12 century. Nationalist ideas were strongly pre- son to other nations during the Second World sent during the socialist era as well, although War would show that Poland had been out- they were articulated differently. Nationalist standing in its resistance against the Nazis. The thought in Communist Poland involved an competition of victims played an important especially deformed memory of the past; many role in national thought as well. The crucial issues could not be openly discussed. Jewish question in this conflict was as absurd as it history and the Shoah, in particular, became was grotesque: who had suffered most during an almost forbidden topic: especially when the the Nazi occupation – Polish Jews or Polish few Jews who had survived the Holocaust left gentiles? or had to leave Poland in the 1960s. Nobody would contest that Polish gentiles Older people who had lived in Poland endured persecution and inhumane barbarism before the war and remembered the country during the Nazi occupation. Around three mil- as it was during multi-ethnic times often trans- lion of them lost their lives fighting against mitted familiar stereotypes to succeeding gen- the Nazis; they were killed in concentration erations. Clichés about Jews can also be found camps or in shootings. Many Polish gentiles 13 in nineteenth-century Polish literature. were heroes who resisted the Germans; many Since that world had vanished, these could of them risked their lives to help Jews. Daily no longer be verified or corrected by reality. life in Nazi-occupied Poland was a terrible The notions of a once-sizeable Polish Jewish experience for them as well. For these reasons, community were replaced by myths about Jews. Polish gentiles have rightfully emphasised Under such circumstances, even people who their losses during the Second World War. were basically philosemitic could unwittingly Emphasising the Polish suffering during the contribute to mythologising the Jewish past in Second World War, however, was also a mani- Poland. Stereotypes replaced a former reality festation of nationalism in the Third Polish and they were mostly antisemitic and rarely Republic. The moral superiority of Poles was, philosemitic (Leder 2014: 51). Regardless of it was claimed, one of the explicit character- 14 whether the vision of Jews in Poland was domi- istics and manifestations of Polishness. In nated by hatred or nostalgia it was unbalanced this context, the nineteenth-century romantic and not based on empirical facts. I would like idea of naród martyr (Polish national martyr- to provide examples to illustrate this problem. dom) was revitalised and became part of the The so-called competition of the victims Polish national ideology following the end of socialism. The idea of the Poles as the cho- The period of Nazi occupation was often dis- sen people (which was patently a comparison cussed in connection with national identity. with the Jewish people) had been widespread in Polish romantic national thought of the nineteenth century (Mickiewicz 1996 [1832], 12 The so-called Jewish question in the nine- teenth century was about the status and role Walicki 1982, Dopart 1999) and was now used of Jews in society once the idea of a modern in the context of the Holocaust. The emphasis citizen was born during the Enlightenment. on the Polish people’s loss led to a constant 13 Antisemitic thought can be found in the one of the best-known novels of the nineteenth century, Lalka (‘The Dolly’), by Bolesław Prus 14 See Jaroszyński 2001 and Koczwara 2003. A (2017 [1890]), especially in the second part of critical approach to the term ‘Polishness’ is the novel. to be found in the work of Porębski 2002.
Nordisk judaistik • Scandinavian Jewish Studies | Vol. 31, No. 1 79 comparison with Jewish victims. This was an no right to claim Auschwitz as their own. A absurd yet frequent phenomenon at the time. heated discussion about absurd numbers was The national ideologists drew a simple line: the also part of this dispute. The numbers they suffering of the Polish nation had started when mentioned were wrong; they claimed that it lost its statehood in 1772. The country was more gentiles than Jews had died in this camp. then continually oppressed by foreign pow- The truth is that approximately 1.1 million Jews ers and finally endured even worse suffering were murdered in Auschwitz-Birkenau, while during the Second World War and under the around 140,000 Polish gentiles perished there Soviet regime. Hence, Poles were the main (Piper 1992). Not everyone in the audience victims: their country had been destroyed, agreed with the strange assertions, and it was whereas Jews had only been ‘guests‘ in Poland not the only public discussion of this kind in and were strangers who had no right to call the 1990s and early 2000s; these opinions could Poland their home. The fact that Polish Jews be encountered in the public discourse about 16 had lost their entire world during the Shoah the Shoah in general. was omitted in this context. Furthermore, this One of the sad highlights of this dispute was connected with the Catholic idea that the took place in Auschwitz itself, which clearly Jews were guilty and deserved punishment worsened the complicated relationship between 17 because they had allegedly harmed the Poles Jews and Polish Catholics. In 1998, Catholic over centuries, whereas the Catholic Poles were activists erected hundreds of crosses on the 15 innocent victims. gravel area near barrack no. 11 in Auschwitz. Another example of the ‘competition of They wanted to show the world that this camp the victims‘ phenomenon was evident at an is ‘our Polish camp‘ and not ’a Jewish camp’, and event I attended, where the hairdresser of they aimed to make it a Catholic sacred place Rudolf Höss (a commandant of Auschwitz) of remembrance. They wanted to make it clear was present. He was a Polish non-Jewish for- that Auschwitz is the place where Poles were the mer inmate of the camp. This man told the first to suffer. Indeed, this camp did have only public about his experiences in the concen- Polish inmates initially; however, this changed tration camp and about Höss. This was a very rapidly. Regardless of how absurd these claims interesting encounter; he did not focus on the are to an observer, this was a typical manifesta- Jewish question and had nothing negative to tion of Polish antisemitism, as we have known say about Jews, but the following discussion it since the end of the nineteenth century. took a different turn. People from the audi- Another point, however, is also compara- ence tried to prove that Auschwitz was only ble to nineteenth-century thought: there were a Polish camp. With strange arguments, they others who did not share these opinions and emphasised how the suffering of the non- Jewish Polish population had been far worse 16 than that of the Jews. Implicit in their argu- Some publicists also criticised how nobody ever talked about the fate of the Roma or ment was that Jews were to blame for terrible other groups of victims and that all discus- experiences the Poles had gone through and sions were only about Jews. This was assumed deserved punishment. Consequently, Jews had to be racist. See Strzembosz 1994. 17 For example, Waldemar Chrosztowski, who was involved in Jewish–Polish dialogue and 15 These comments could be heard in public then opted out because of the cross contro- statements or read, for example in Nowak versy. He did not want the Pope’s cross to be 2001. removed.
80 Nordisk judaistik • Scandinavian Jewish Studies | Vol. 31, No. 1 were not willing to support either these argu- transformed into the saying ‘Our Auschwitz, 20 ments or the idea of the competition of vic- your Maydanek’. tims. They considered this idea to be an expres- I would like to emphasise once again: Jews sion of ridiculous nationalist thought. There could interact with their Polish neighbours or were many liberals, among them prominent other ethnic groups while they were living side Catholics, who spoke out against retaining by side. Over three million people in Poland these crosses. They made their voices heard; were Jewish before the Second World War; this however, the majority of Poles that were ques- amounts to at least 10 per cent of the popula- tioned said it would be better to leave at least tion. The country’s middle class were predomi- 18 one cross: that of the Pope. This stoked mas- nantly Jewish. There were increasing conflicts 19 sive resentment between Jews and Poles. among ethnic Poles and Jews in the nineteenth The Polish priest Stanisław Musiał – one of century. One reason for this was their different the initiators of the Polish–Jewish dialogue – roles in society: Poles were mostly peasants and played a very important role in resolving this Jews were in the (retail) trade and handicrafts. conflict. Jerzy Buzek, who was the prime min- This erstwhile social reality no longer existed ister of Poland at the time, made the decision to in the 1990s, yet the past triggered antise- remove the crosses following intense pressure mitic attitudes anyway. There was no general from the international community. The Pope’s awareness of the social consequences and the cross was later taken to another place, some- impact the Shoah had upon Polish society, yet thing that displeased Catholic Poland. All of there was a lot of resentment against Jews in this could not be forgotten, especially because Polish society. In the opinion of the Polish radical cross advocates wanted to keep Jews out Philosopher Andrzej Leder, this is one reason of Auschwitz. This controversy clearly showed why Poland is unable to become a modern how many of these conflicts had been taboo open society (Leder 2014: 90–5). Consequently, under socialist reign. At least all of the parties there is no chance of a modern and more mod- could now openly articulate their opinions and erate approach to nationalism either. carry out their conflicts. Since this had not Strong antisemitism in Poland has had been possible in the preceding decades it was, many other reasons; it was prevalent in society indeed, a painful experience. at the end of the nineteenth century as a result This controversy had a particular feature: of the spread of aggressive nationalist thought the Polish and international press covered it across Europe. In the case of Poland, the poli- and found a wide public audience (Kolb 1998, tics of the three powers that divided the coun- 21 Zoltowska 1998). So many people were involved try reinforced the growth of antisemitism. in the Jedwabne dispute, with feelings running For example, the politics of ‘divide and rule’ high, and a lot of antisemitic stereotypes were towards ethnic Poles and Jews in the Prussian expressed. Slogans such as ‘Our streets, your part of former Poland instigated conflicts and houses’ could be found in the context of the hatred among them, especially in the second crosses in the Auschwitz controversy. This was part of the nineteenth century. In the Second
20 Maydanek, the camp in Lublin, had only 18 This cross was put up when the Polish Pope Jewish inmates. came to celebrate a mass in Auschwitz for 21 The three partitions of Poland took place the first time in 1979. in 1772, 1793 and 1795 by Russia, Prussia and 19 The whole controversy is well portrayed by Austria. They incorporated different parts of Zubrzycki 2006. the former Polish Republic.
Nordisk judaistik • Scandinavian Jewish Studies | Vol. 31, No. 1 81 Polish Republic (1918–45), particularly in the and electronic media; the two most important 1930s, Jews were perceived as a threat to the Polish newspapers, Rzeczpospolita and Gazeta formation of the Polish state, and antisemitism Wyborcza, did their best to remain as objective was growing constantly among the Polish elite as possible. They also tried to fight radical posi- and ethnic Poles in general. Finally, Nazi prop- tions, especially far-right antisemitic opinion. aganda and the war intensified antisemitism in Articles whose authors expressed remorse for Poland whilst the population was brutalised. the Jedwabne pogrom were not absent either This also explains why Holocaust survivors had (Mac and Janiecki 2001). The Jedwabne debate to suffer from persecution after the war. During displayed, once again, the nationalist approach the war, Polish Jews also became victims of to the Jewish question at this period; publica- Poles who collaborated with the Germans. tions and speeches on the topic were full of One of the largest pogroms had taken place nationalist terms and ideas. in a small town called Jedwabne. The Jedwabne pogrom, and Gross’s The Jedwabne debate description of it, might, however, be regarded as a turning point for the way in which the The Jedwabne debate furnishes a further Holocaust was perceived in post-Communist example of how crucial the Jewish question Poland, although the role that Poles played in was within Polish nationalist thought in the the Shoah remained controversial. Some spoke Third Polish Republic. While discussions of an outright ‘collaboration’; others saw it as about Polish martyrdom were frequent in the a Polish reaction to the role that Jews alleg- 1990s, the debate about Polish collaboration edly played in supporting Communism. Still with German occupiers came as a real bomb- others believed the Nazis and the inhabitants shell when the Polish-born American historian of the town committed the crime together. Jan Tomasz Gross published his book about This debate revealed how difficult and sad the the July 1941 pogrom in Jedwabne (Sąsiedzi relationship was between (Polish) Jews and [Neighbours], appearing in Poland in 2000); Polish gentiles. the volume focuses upon the episode of the Although these debates were brand new, murder of the Jedwabne Jews by their Polish the perception and discussion of the so-called neighbours (Gross 2000, Michlic 2006). This Jewish question was also strongly connected book prompted a unique debate in Poland, to nineteenth-century nationalist thought. The including the issue of antisemitism, which impact of Polish national myths dating back was a painful experience for many involved. to the nineteenth century was recognisable Many wanted to show that these facts are a in all the debates that Gross’s book triggered. contradiction of Polishness and could not be The question of national honour and pride true. The problem of having been not merely in having been a courageous nation that had a nation of victims and fighters against the defended itself against enemies since 1772 was Nazis, but also one that produced perpetra- especially important. Open antisemitic state- tors, was central to the Jedwabne debate. ments and negative stereotypes about Jews Although Gross pointed out that the Nazis were not absent either (for example Pająk had influenced the town’s inhabitants, it is clear 2001). Opponents of this approach, however, from his description of events that the main rallied against it. The debate was extremely responsibility for the pogrom rested with local emotional and revealed, once again, that the Poles. Every detail of the Jedwabne pogrom country could not recover from the loss that has been very consciously covered in the print the Shoah had caused.
82 Nordisk judaistik • Scandinavian Jewish Studies | Vol. 31, No. 1 Commemoration of Jewish culture in history and culture were established in the for- Poland mer Jewish quarter. Holocaust merchandise, which started in the early 2000s, proved to be I would like to emphasise: the Third Polish the more unpleasant result of this reanimation Republic was not dominated solely by nation- of Kazimierz. Posters advertising ‘Auschwitz alism and antisemitic thought. A new approach Tours’ or the like could be seen. to the Polish Jewish questions was offered in The growing interest in Jewish culture was books and articles, and at public lectures about also obvious. Several new books and articles Jewish history. Encounters between survivors about Jewish topics were published during and Polish citizens were organised. this period: for example, a memoir by Poles There was a commitment in the 1990s to of Jewish decent or scientific articles or guides the commemoration of Jewish life in Poland. to former Jewish places in Poland (Dylewski Some Polish people were aware of the fact that 2002). Isaac Bashevis Singer’s novels, in which the Holocaust had left a black hole in their he described the Jewish Polish world before the country. They had nostalgic feelings for the for- war, were finally published in Polish and found mer multi-ethnic Poland and regretted the dis- a wide public audience (Szurczak 2009, 74). The appearance of the Jewish world. Consequently, publication of various memoirs from survi- they tried to reanimate Poland’s Jewish past; vors showed people the suffering of the Polish for example, a centre for Jewish culture in Jews. These facts were obviously new to many Cracow was established in 1993 in a former people and the interest in Jewish Polish his- synagogue. The director, Joachim Russek, com- tory increased. The resumption of diplomatic mitted himself to the improvement of Polish– relations between Poland and Israel in 1990 Jewish relations. The centre was busy during fostered an exchange between young Poles and the 1990s and in the years that followed. An Jews. Places of remembrance were created all event took place almost every evening: promi- over the country, which Polish gentiles who nent international scholars gave lectures; there were interested in Jewish culture appreciated. were cultural events such as concerts or exhibi- Many scholars began publishing widely about tions, meetings with survivors, and so on. This Jewish Polish history. Thanks to their work, centre also had an archive; Jews came from the significance of Jews in Polish history and all over the world and were sometimes able culture, as well as their intellectual contribution to find the last documents or photos of their 23 to the country’s legacy, will not be forgotten. lost relatives. These were the most touching Jewish organisations also stood to gain moments. Cracow also had an annual Jewish after the political change. They could finally festival. These were the only days of the year in become organised in Poland. They also made which Kazimierz had a large Jewish population efforts to revive religious Jewish life in Poland; again. The events were popular and the festival the Ronald S. Lauder foundation played the served as a meeting point for Polish Jews who had to leave in 1968 when they were expelled 22 from the country. Museums about Jewish the same time, Moczar, the minister of inter- nal affairs, started an antisemitic campaign (branded anti-Zionist) which was followed 22 During the Polish 1968 political crisis students by forced mass emigration of Jews or people and other intellectuals protested against the of Jewish descent. Communist regime. As a consequence, the 23 See examples on the Polish Jewish remem- dissident movement and the student strikes brance website:
Nordisk judaistik • Scandinavian Jewish Studies | Vol. 31, No. 1 83 most important part in this difficult pro- Furthermore, national-liberal traditions ject. The Jewish community in Warsaw was persisted as well, based upon the idea of citoy- reactivated at the end of the 1990s. Michael enneté, which had been a strong influence in Schudrich became Rabbi of Łódź and Warsaw nineteenth-century Polish thought. This latter in 2000 and was appointed chief rabbi of stream of contemplation strove to break with Poland in 2004. His contribution to Jewish aggressive national myths to find alternative life in Poland was immense, and he became perspectives for the Polish nation. There was one of the most important figures in the an even more important perspective that could rebuilding of Jewish religious life following be found in the Third Republic. Triggered the Shoah. A reform synagogue was also estab- by the Jedwabne debates, it considered the lished in the 1990s. The Jewish communities, proposition of a radical transformation of however, still counted only very few members the Polish discourse about the nation’s past. and played only a marginal role in Polish soci- Some intellectuals argued that Poles should ety. There were also some liberal clerics who learn from that debate and turn their collec- tried to improve the relations between Poles tive back on archaic national stereotypes. They 24 and Jews. Furthermore, there was a nostal- hoped Poland might then have the chance to gic group of Polish gentiles who were aware become a modern ‘European country’: one no of the loss resulting from the Shoah. Polish longer dominated by its nationalist legacy. They celebrities were part of this nostalgic group. thought there was no need to create an enemy For example, the poet and Nobel Prize winner to develop a new national identity. Czesław Miłosz came from Vilnius (a former The Jewish topic was on the mind of every- Polish city) with a huge Jewish population, one: from liberal to the far-right. Philosemites which was one of the most important centres and antisemites could not avoid these ques- of Jewish culture in the 1920s. Miłosz regret- tions when they discussed national identity. Yet ted the disappearance of the former multi- they still could not resolve the issues of their ethnic Polish state. He also wrote about the national identity, regardless of how dynamic Jewish world he had known during his youth. the dispute was about the Polish Jewish past His goal was to avoid oblivion. His book (An of Poland. Excursion through the Twenties and Thirties) was published in 1999 and had a nostalgic touch. Literature and sources The Polish saying from the 1920s about their Braham, Randolph L. (ed.), 1994. Anti-Semitism and Jewish neighbours, ‘Z nimi trudno, bez nich the Treatment of the Holocaust in Post-Communist trudno’ (‘Difficult with them, difficult without Eastern Europe (New York, Columbia University them’), became simply ‘bez nich trudno’ (‘dif- Press). ficult without them’). He was not the only one Cała, Alina, 1989. Asymilacja Zydów w Królewstwie who believed that Poland would never recover Polskim (1864–1897). [Assimilation of the Jews in the Polish Kingdom] (Warsaw, Wydawnictwo from this loss. PWN). 2013. ‘Oblicza nietolerancji. Próba diagnozy i — 24 Stanisław Musiał was one of the pioneers sposoby przeciwdziałania’ [Faces of intolerance. of Catholic–Jewish dialogue. He also stood An attempt at diagnosis and prevention] http://www.kulturaswiecka.pl/node/788 up against antisemitism in Poland. Another < > prominent example is the former Jesuit (accessed 14.5. 2019). Stanisław Obirek, whose involvement in Cooper, Leo, 2000. In the Shadow of the Polish Eagle: Jewish–Polish relations and reconciliation is The Poles, the Holocaust and Beyond (New York, of great importance. Palgrave)
84 Nordisk judaistik • Scandinavian Jewish Studies | Vol. 31, No. 1 Datner-Śpiewak, Helena, 1995. Antysemityzm w po raz trzeci [ Jews – A problem for a true powojennej Polsce - perspektywa socjologiczna Pole: Antisemitism, xenophobia and national [Antisemitism in post-war Poland: A stereotypes for the third time] (Warsaw, Oficyna sociological point of view]. Studia z dziejów Naukowa). Żydów w Polsce II (Warsaw, Żydowski Instytut Kruszyński, Józef, 1923. Niebezpiczeństwo Żydowskie. Historyczny). [The Jewish peril] (Włocławek, no publishing Dmowski, Roman, 2000 [1903]. Myśli nowoczesnego house given). Polaka [Thoughts of a modern Pole] (Wrocław, Leder, Andrzej, 2014. Preśniona rewolucja. Ćwiczenie Wydawnictwo Nortom). z logiki historycznej [The missed revolution. Dopart, Bogusław, 1999. ‘Polska, Chrystusem Exercises on the logic of history] (Warsaw, narodów?’ [Poland, Christ of nations?], in Wydawnictwo Krytyki Politcznej). Dziady Adama Mickiewicza. Poemat-adaptacje- Mac, Sławomir Jerzy, and Stanislaw Janiecki, 2001. tradycje [Adam Mickiewicz’s poem Forefather’s Nasza Wina. ‘Tygodnik Wprost 12/2001 (956)’ Eve. The poem-adaptations-traditions], ed. B.
Nordisk judaistik • Scandinavian Jewish Studies | Vol. 31, No. 1 85 Polonsky, Anthony, et al., 1992. Poles, Jews, Socialists: Tuszyńska, Agata, 2002. Singer: Pejzaze pamięci, The Failure of an Ideal, vol. 9 (London, Litman [Singer: Landscapes of memory] (Warsaw, Library of Jewish Civilization March). Warszawskie Wydawnicstwo Literackie). Polonsky, Anthony, and Joanna Michlic (eds.), Tych, Feliks, 1999. Długi cień Zagłady [The Long 2003. Neighbors Respond: The Controversy about Shadow of the Shoah] (Warsaw, Żydowski Jedwabne (Princeton, Princeton University Instytut Historyczny). Press). Tylko Polska [Only Poland], 2004 (weekly, ed. Leszek Porębski, Mieczysław, 2002. Polskość jako sytuacja. Bubel). [Polishness as a situation] (Cracow, Instytut Volovici, Leon, 1990. Anti-Semitism in Post- Książki). Communist Eastern Europe: A Marginal or Prus, Bolesław, 2017 [1890]. Lalka [The dolly] Central Issue ( Jerusalem, The Vidal Sassoon (Cracow, Znak). International Centre for the Study of Rycerz Niepokalanej, 1922–8 (Catholic weekly, ed. Antisemitism). Makcymilian Kolbe). Walicki, Andrzej, 1982. Polish National Romantic Strzembosz, Tomasz, 1994. ‘Polacy – Zydzi. Czarna Thought (Oxford, Oxford University Press). karta “Gazety Wyborczej”’ [Poles and Jews. The Weiss, Szewach, 2008. Między narodami [Among black card of Gazeta Wyborcza], Gazeta Wyborcza nations] (Poznań, Rebis). 2 May 1994
Alix Landgrebe has been employed by the Goethe Institute since 2004. She was the director of the Goethe Institutes in Kazakhstan and Algeria. Her postings also included Warsaw and Prague. In 2010 she was appointed as director of the German House of Science and Innovation in Moscow. From 2001 untill 2004 she was a lecturer at the Jagiellonian University in Cracow for nineteenth- and twentieth-century history and antisemitism. She holds a doctorate in history from the Free University of Berlin. She has published widely on nineteenth- and twentieth-century nationalism and antisem- itism in Eastern Europe, especially in Poland.
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