Language:
English
Year of publication:
2012
Titel der Quelle:
Polin; Studies in Polish Jewry
Angaben zur Quelle:
24 (2012) 381-400
Keywords:
Jews History 1945-
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) Influence
;
Antisemitism History 1945-
Abstract:
Deplores the euphemistic language used by present-day ethnographers and anthropologists when they write about Polish prejudice and violence against Jews in old Poland (before World War II) and today. Sociological surveys show that many respondents in Poland define antisemitism only as violent acts against Jews, not as anti-Jewish attitudes, emotions, etc. Adopting this stance, many anthropologists try to avoid the word "antisemitism" and often dismiss brutal acts against Jews, as well as anti-Jewish attitudes and prejudices, as just innocent jokes, a kind of folklore, etc. Dwells on the custom of "hanging Judas" (an effigy resembling a traditional Jew) before Jewish houses, widespread in southern Poland before World War II; the hanging was often accompanied by beatings, stone-throwing, and other abuses of Jews. Rural Jews never saw this custom or similar acts as simply jokes or "inoffensive pranks", and they feared Church holidays, when such acts became more frequent. Notes that neither the Polish authorities nor the Church tried to put an end to such popular anti-Jewish customs, and neither do present-day ethnographers deplore them.
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