'Ethnic Nationalism and the Myth of the Threatening Other: the Case of Poland and Perceptions of its Jewish Minority, 1880-1968/ by Joanna Beata Michlic Thesis submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. University College London University of London, 2000 ProQuest Number: 10014383 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest. ProQuest 10014383 Published by ProQuest LLC(2016). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Abstract of Thesis This thesis is a sodohistorical analysis of the ways in which the myth of the Internal Threatening Other influences national politics and culture and inter-ethnic relations between the majority group (the dominant ethnic nation) and the minority (perceived as the foremost Threatening Other). The case-study under examination is that of the Polish Jewish minority vis-a vis the Polish ethnic majority from the rise of fully-fledged Polish exdusivist ethno-nationalism in the 1880s up to the year 1968 which marks a final watershed in the history of Polish Jews - the purge and exile of most of its post-war remnants. The thesis examines the multi-faceted structure of the myth, its persistence and adaptability to different historical and socio-political conditions, and the variety of its uses in political culture: such as the purification of the state and dominant nation from the influence and presence of an ethnic minority; its role in anti-minority violence; in raising national cohesion; and in the delegitimisation of political enemies. The thesis is divided into six chapters. The first chapter explores some theoretical issues which underlie the analysis of the thesis; the second chapter examines the roots of the myth, its nascent pre-1880 forms and its development as a fully-fledged myth from the 1880s up to 1939; the third chapter examines the impact of the myth on the rationalisation and justification of anti-Jewish violence between 1918 and 1939: the fourth chapter examines the presence of the myth within the underground state and society during the Second World War; the fifth chapter examines the presence of the myth within political elites and non-elites in the early post-war Communist period 1945-1948 and the last chapter examines the use of the myth by the Communist state betwen 1967 and 1968. Acknowledgements In the course of researching and writing this thesis numerous colleagues, friends and institutions have given support in many different ways. My first thanks must go to Prof. John D. Klier of the Department of Hebrew and Jewish Studies at UCL and Prof. Anthony D. Smith of the European Institute at the LSE for their constructive criticism and advice, their moral support, and for providing me with a stimulating intellectual environment. I owe a particular debt of gratitude to the following colleagues who have read drafts of my chapters and made useful suggestions: Prof. Chimen Abramsky, Prof. David Bankier, Prof. Israel Bartal, Prof. Jonathan Frankel, Prof. Yisrael Gutman, Prof. Jerzy JedHcki, Prof. Jerzy Tomaszewski, and Dr Leon Volovid. A special note of thanks is due to Prof. Nachman Ben-Yehuda for being an invaluable host at the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem during my two field-work visits, and for his constructive criticism, friendship and moral support. I am indebted to my former husband Tony Coren for his invaluable support I also wish to thank my friends Cathy Donegan, Prof. Coral Ann Howells, Prof. Alina Kowalczykowa, and Hanka Volovid for their encouragement and support. Finally, like many members, I have benefited from the stimulating conferences, seminars and discussions held by the Assodation for the Study of Ethnidty and Nationalism (ASEN) at the London School of Economics. Grants from the Graduate School of UCL, the Center for the History and Culture of Polish Jewry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Vidal Sasson Centre for the Study of Antisemitism at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have assisted my doctoral research. Table of Contents Chapter I. General Causes and Functions of Myths of the Threatening Other. 5 Chapter II. The Myth of the Jew as The Threatening Other from its Roots up to 1939. 34 Chapter HI. The Myth and Anti-Jewish Violence in the Inter-War Period, 1918- 1939. 103 Chapter IV. Perceptions of Polish Jews in the Time of the German Occupation, 1939-1945. 128 Chapter V. Old Wine in a New Bottle: the Jews as Perceived in the Early Post- War Period, 1945-49. 196 Chapter VI. Tarty Free of Jews, Poland Free of Jews.' The Fusion of Communism and Exdusivist Ethno-NationaUsm, 1967-1968. 228 Overall Condusions 256 Abbreviations 259 Bibliography 260 Chapter I. General Causes and Functions of Myths of the Threatening Other. The central issue addressed in this thesis is that of our understanding of the impact of the myth of the Threatening Other on national communities in the modem era. Although the problem of antagonism towards Others is among the most studied in the disciplines of sociology and history, the impact of the myth of the Threatening Other on nations and on inter-ethnic relations between majority nations and minorities seems relatively unexplored. One of the reasons for the marginalisation of this subject may be the fact that the notion of the Threatening Other manifests itself in multifarious forms and intensities, and that its role fluctuates from one national community to another. 1 Perhaps this explains the reluctance of scholars to investigate why the myth of the Threatening Other is so central to some national communities and yet completely irrelevant to others. It can generally be agreed that, for many national communities, the Threatening Other is a marginal phenomenon that attains public importance only at the time of an actual threat, e.g. invasion by an External Threatening Other (neighbouring nations), or irredentism from an Internal Threatening Other (ethnic minorities). Otherwise, their national discourse is free from references to the Threatening Other. For other nations, particularly ethnic nations, the Threatening Other has a more permanent impact on their national discourse. In this latter group, mythologies of the Threatening Other are constructed and used for a variety of ends such as raising national cohesion and for social and political mobilisation by the in-group's nationalist elites. This phenomenon can continue regardless of the reality of the threat posed. In some cases, continuous dissemination of such mythologies may lead in times of political and social upheavals to what has been described as a 'moral panic' towards the Other. One of the most extreme manifestations of such 'moral panics' are attempts to purify the nation from the Internal Threatening Other when the ethnic/national minority in question represents in fact an insignificant percentage of the population and poses no real threat to the nation­ state and its people. Such phenomena are sometimes referred to as iSee Leonard W. Doob, Patriotism And Nationalism. Their Psychological Foundations (New Haven and London, 1964), 256-257. Hereafter Doob, Patriotism. "paranoid' or 'pathological' forms of ethno-nationalism, descriptive terms which are not helpful from an analytical point of view. 2 Statement of Aims This study is concerned with questions of the ways and extent to which the myth of the Internal Threatening Other influences national politics and culture, and inter-ethnic relations, between the majority nation and the ethnic/national minority, in a nation based on a matrix of ethno-nationaHsm.^ The main questions posed here are as follows: What are the main beliefs encoded in the myth of the Internal Threatening Other ? What is the impact of such a myth on attitudes towards and treatment of an ethnic minority categorised as the Threatening Other ? And what is the impact of this myth on the political culture of the majority nation whose ethno-nationalist elites construct and disseminate such a myth ? The case-study under examination is that of the Jewish minority in Poland. The period in question starts with the rise of modem Polish exdusivist ethno-nationalism in the second half of the nineteenth century and ends in the year of 1968, a date which constitutes the final watershed in the history of this minority - the purge and exile of most of its post-war remnants. I shall, however, have to go back briefly to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries to trace the roots of Polish ethno-nationalism and its attitudes to Jews in Poland. I have chosen to examine this particular case firstly because it can provide interesting insights into the following three issues: 1. The development, persistence and longevity of the myth of the Internal Threatening Other. 2. The damaging impact of this myth on the ethnic minority perceived as the Threatening Other. 3. The damaging impact on the majority nation, a significant segment of whose elites and non-elites upholds such a myth as 'social truth'. ^See, for example, John Crowley, 'Minorities and Majoritaiian Democracy: the Nation-State and Beyond,' in: Keebel von Benda-Beckman and Maykel Verkuyten eds.. Nationalism. Ethnicity And Cultural Identity In Europe (Utrecht. 1995), 155. recognise that in practise real -world nationalisms usually combine ethnic and civic claims. However one type of nationalism is usually dominant in the process of the conceiving of modem nations.