Language:
English
Year of publication:
2004
Titel der Quelle:
Studia Judaica (Kraków)
Angaben zur Quelle:
7,2 (2004) 257-304
Keywords:
Gibson, Hugh,
;
Antisemitism History 1800-2000
;
Jews History 1500-
Abstract:
Compares reactions to the antisemitic events in Poland in 1919. These events were characterized by Jewish leaders in the USA, especially by Louis Marshall, and by the American Jewish press as pogroms. In the view of the U.S. ambassador, the accounts were exaggerated or seen out of context. Gibson agreed that the suffering of Jews in Pinsk, Vilnius, and elsewhere was real, but noted that it was in the context of wartime and was condemned and punished by the Polish government. American Jewish leaders publicized anti-Jewish actions to help force a minority treaty on Poland that would guarantee Jewish rights. While the ambassador's reports are basically objective, he was influenced by American antisemitic prejudice that partially excused anti-Jewish violence. The American Jews' concern for their brothers was seen as anti-Polonism both in Poland and by American Poles. At the same time, American Poles serving in Haller's Polish army exhibited such antisemitic behavior that they were reprimanded by the Polish government, which lacked control of the troops, some of whom were infected by stereotypes of Jews as exploiters and Bolsheviks. Notes that Gibson's views coincided with the aims of American foreign policy, and that some prominent Jews who visited Poland, e.g. Henry Morgenthau, tended to agree with Gibson's assessment.
Note:
Appeared also in his "Conflicts across the Atlantic" (2004) 55-122.
URL:
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