Anna Landau-Czajka

This article compares the patterns passed on in the years 1925–1930 by children’s magazines to Jewish girls with how they actually assessed themselves, what they considered important, what plans they had for the future. The author conducted an analysis of three Polish-language magazines for children: Chwilka, Dzienniczek, and Mały Przegląd. The first two contained texts by adult authors who showed children the accepted models of behavior and expectations from them. However, the patterns were divergent. On the one hand, girls were taught to be obedient and polite, and on the other hand as future inhabitants of Palestine they were supposed to be rebellious and courageous. These contrasting demands could not be reconciled. In Mały Przegląd, which published texts written by children, we find information about how young girls assessed themselves and what they were striving for. It seems that the contradictory requirements that could not be met led to far-reaching emancipation, perception of discrimination against women, and the choice of one’s own way of life.

The Zionist ideology proclaimed the equality of men and women, according to which everyone, regardless of gender, should prepare oneself to go to Eretz Israel and work hard to create a future state. However, reality did not always correspond to ideology. In the Polish-language Zionist press, one can find texts from which it transpires that theoretical ideological assumptions were not always implemented in practice. Despite the officially proclaimed gender equality, women were typically assigned to feminine activities, while being removed from more responsible ones. Neither did they themselves always wish to change the traditional division of roles. In the 1930s, this problem began to be noticed and inspired reflections on the possibility of changes.