The London School of Economics and Political Science Our Jews, Our Israel! Origins of the Foreign Policy of Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary Towards Israel Irena Kalhousová A thesis submitted to the Department of International Relations of the London School of Economics for the degree of Doctor in Philosophy, London, May 2019 Table of Contents Declaration ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 5 Abstract ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 6 Acknowledgment ........................................................................................................................................................................................................ 7 Acronyms ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 8 Tables and Figures ...................................................................................................................................................................................................... 9 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 10 An Overview of the Argument............................................................................................................................................................................ 11 Brief Definitions of the Jewish Question and anti-Semitism ................................................................................................................. 13 The Contribution of the Thesis ........................................................................................................................................................................... 14 Methodology ............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 16 The Structure of the Thesis .................................................................................................................................................................................. 20 CHAPTER 1: THE CONSTRUCTION OF NATIONAL IDENTITY – THE ROLE OF THE PAST AND THE AGENCY OF DECISION- MAKERS ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 21 1.1. IR Theory & State Behaviour ............................................................................................................................................................................ 21 1.2. Constructivist Definition of National Identity ............................................................................................................................................ 26 1.3. History and IR ......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 27 1.4. History and Memory ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 28 1.5. Sources of Identity ................................................................................................................................................................................................ 29 Identity and Memory .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 29 Collective Memory ................................................................................................................................................................................................... 31 Narratives .................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 35 The Other & Identity Formation ........................................................................................................................................................................ 38 The Past, Decision-Makers & Identity Formation ...................................................................................................................................... 41 Politics of Memory – The Institutionalization of Narratives ................................................................................................................... 46 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 48 CHAPTER 2: THE ROLE OF THE JEWISH QUESTION IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF NATIONAL IDENTITY IN POLAND, THE CZECH LANDS, AND HUNGARY.................................................................................................................................................................................... 50 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 50 2.1. The Meaning of a Jew in the Pre-Modern Era .......................................................................................................................................... 51 2.2. Early Nationalism and the Meaning of a Jew: ‘Ours or Alien’? .......................................................................................................... 54 Poland: The Jews Must Be Civilized .................................................................................................................................................................. 54 The Czech Lands: The Jews Are Foreign ......................................................................................................................................................... 56 Hungary: The Jews are Magyars of the Jewish Faith ................................................................................................................................. 57 2.3. Nationalism and the Jewish Question in the late 19th Century ........................................................................................................ 59 2 Poland: From an ‘Alien’ to an ‘Enemy’ - The Rise of Polish Ethno-Nationalism ............................................................................ 59 The Czech Lands: Are the Jews German, or can they be Czech? In Search of an Idea of the Nation .................................. 61 Hungary: The Jews are Ours, But… - The Golden Era ............................................................................................................................... 65 2.4. World War I and the Interwar Era ................................................................................................................................................................... 68 Poland: Jews Must Leave ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 68 Czechoslovakia: A Country Where the “Jewish Question Did Not Exist” .......................................................................................... 70 Hungary: From Inclusion to Exclusion ............................................................................................................................................................. 73 2.5. World War II and the Meaning of a Jew ...................................................................................................................................................... 76 Poland: Who Is the Victim Here? ....................................................................................................................................................................... 76 Czechoslovakia: Jews are not Czechs .............................................................................................................................................................. 79 Hungary - From Exclusion to Annihilation .................................................................................................................................................... 84 2.6. The Aftermath of World War II and the Cold War .................................................................................................................................. 86 Poland ..........................................................................................................................................................................................................................