Małgorzata Domagalska

“And She Stretched Him on a Pin Like a Butterfly...”: Revolutionary Jewish Women in Polish Antisemitic Prose of the First Half of the Twentieth Century 

After the revolution of 1905, revolutionary Jewish women began to appear among the heroines typical of the antisemitic novels of the nineteenth century. This type of female protagonist can be found in the novels written by Józef Weyssenhoff (Hetmani [The Hetmans]), Rev. Jan Gnatowski (Zły czar [Bad Spell]), and then in the 1930s in the novels by Roman Dmowski (Dziedzictwo [The Heritage]) and Jędrzej Giertych (Zamach [The Coup]). In these narratives, Poland is presented as a victim of manipulation by Jews, Germans, and in the case of the Bad Spell by Jewish Bolsheviks. In these stories, female Jewish revolutionaries implement their secret policies using their strong erotic influence to seduce Polish activists. Demonism and evil, as well as the misogynistic attitude of the fin de siècle era were employed to create their portraits. In these female protagonists, one can detect echoes of features associated with such Jewish heroines as Salome, Judith, and Herodias whose portraits were typical of the art and literature of the epoch.

The purpose of the article is to present the images of Jews and Poles created in the novel written by Józef Rogosz and published in installments in the Przegląd Tygodniowy weekly in Warsaw in the years 1880–1882. The article traces reasons for publishing this antisemitic novel in this periodical edited by Adam Wiślicki, who did not have antisemitic views and supported acculturation and integration of Jews with the Polish nation. The article also analyses ways in which Polish v ersus Jewish characters are constructed: the former are created according to negative antisemitic stereotypes, while the latter are presented in positive light. Finally, the article attempts to trace modifications of the text made in the wake of the pogrom in Warsaw in 1881.

In Poland at the turn of 19th and 20th century a modernizing Jewish family appears quite frequently in anti-Semitic and non-anti-Semitic “Jewish novels”. In both cases a Jewish family is presented in rather pejorative light as a point of reference to a Polish family. In such comparison Polish culture and Poles are presented as a more attractive, more civilized and that is why their way of living is followed by the Jews. Jewish families try to undergo the process of assimilation but their effort are depicted in rather pejorative or even ridiculous way.

There are some Jewish heroes presented as a role model, but they only prove the role. There is a huge gap between Poles and Jews who have to make an effort to change their personality and behaviour according to Polish expectations.

In anti-Semitic novels a description of the process of modernization and assimilation of Jews had to prove its negative consequences. Jews were treated as enemies and novels’ plot revealed their main goal – the conquest of Poland. This kind of writing can be also seen as a warning against mix marriages to prevent Polish society from the integration with Jews, who are presented as the main threat of homogeneity of Polish nation.

The revolution of 1905 had a significant impact on the social and political life of the Kingdom of Poland. Not only did it lead to the emergence of the foundations of civil society, but it also contributed to the emergence of a new political scene. Jan Jeleński, the publisher of the antisemitic Rola weekly, was also an active participant in those transformations. He got involved in many activities, including organizing the Polish Catholic Association, an election campaign to the Duma, or publishing a new newspaper. According to him, similarly to the opinion of other conservative and Catholic milieus, the revolution had a clearly negative influence on Polish society. He perceived it as a result of behind-the-scenes machinations of Germans and, above all, of Jews who supposedly drew profit from the chaos in the Kingdom. According to Rola, Jews were also responsible for the emergence of socialist parties which, while focusing on Jewish interests, brought harm to Polish workers. And thus, in Jeleński’s weekly, at the threshold of the twentieth century, antisemitism became a convenient tool of political strategy. It served as a means of deprecating political adversaries, strengthened the stereotype of the Jew as an enemy, and the rhetoric shaped at that time became deeply rooted in the Polish public discourse for many years to come.

“HOW ENORMOUS IS SEMITIC POWER”: POETRY IN JAN JELEŃSKI’S ROLA

Rola was the first antisemitic weekly in Poland published in Warsaw between 1883 and 1912. According to the nineteenth-century custom, not only journalism, but also novels published in weekly installments, as well as poems were included in the magazine. In poetry, lofty or religious topics were raised at the time of Christmas or Easter, or virulent antisemitic satire was published on various occasions. The antisemitic satire corresponded to the themes taken up in prose and journalism. The themes were dominated by the myth of Judeopolonia, issues of assimilation and social advancement of Jews, attacks on mixed marriages and mockery of Zionism, or the colonies established by Baron Hirsch in Argentina. It can be said that both prose and poetry were servile to journalism and strengthened the antisemitic content dominant in the weekly.