Anti-Jewish Violence in Poland, 1914-1920

571 Pages·2018·24.29 MB·English

by  William W. Hagen

Anti-Jewish Violence in Poland, 1914–1920
Widespreadanti-JewishpogromsaccompaniedrebirthofPolishstate-
hoodoutofWorldWarIandthePolish-Sovietwar.WilliamW.Hagen
offersthepogroms’firstscholarlyaccount,revealinghowtheyservedas
brutalstagingsbyordinarypeopleofscenariosdramatizingpopularanti-
Jewishfearsandresentments.Whilescholarshiponmodernantisemit-
ismhasstressed itsideological inspiration(“print-antisemitism”), this
study shows that anti-Jewish violence by perpetrators among civilians
andsoldiersexpressedmagic-infusedanxietiesandlongingsforredemp-
tionfrompresentthreatsandsuffering(“folk-antisemitism”).Illustrated
withcontemporaryphotographsandconstructedfromextensivenewly
discoveredarchivalsourcesfromthreecontinents,thisisaninnovative
interpretationofcentralandeasternEuropeanhistory.Usingextensive
first-person testimonies, this work reveals gaps – but also correspon-
dences – between popular attitudes and those of the political elites.
The pogroms raged against the conscious will of new Poland’s gover-
nors, while Christians high and low sometimes sought, even success-
fully,toblockthem.
WilliamW.HagenisProfessorEmeritusofHistoryattheUniversityof
California, Davis. He has published extensively, including German
HistoryinModernTimes(2012),whichwasselectedasan“outstanding
academicwork”bytheAmericanLibraryAssociation’sjournal,Choice.
FrontispieceI. TheOldSynagogueinPrzemy´sl(Yiddish:Pshemishl),
an important Galician city on the Polish-Ukrainian ethnographic
boundary,asphotographedin1905.Marketsellersandbuyersmingle
with passers-by. The synagogue, dating to the late sixteenth century,
possessed a fortress-like quality often found in the premodern Polish
Commonwealth’s eastern borderlands, where interconfessional wars
and Cossack rebellions raged sporadically. In 1746, Jesuit academy
students plundered it, destroying Torah scrolls and other sacred
furnishings. Such riots, inspired or tolerated by the Catholic Church,
scarredtheCommonwealth’sfinalcenturies.InNovember1918,anti-
Jewishviolenceofadifferentcharacterexploded.
Source:Imagno.GettyImages,53312817.
Frontispiece II. Rzeszów (Yiddish: Raysha), a provincial city in West
Galicia.Thisundatedearlytwentieth-centuryphotographdisplaysthe
Renaissance-era town hall and central square. Among the public are
Austro-Hungarianmilitaryofficers,traditionallycladJews,andcivilians
inproletarianandbourgeoisattire–or,aswasoftensaidofacculturated
Jews, in “European dress.” Here, in May 1919, a pogrom wave in
Rzeszów’sruralhinterlandengulfedthecity.
Source:Imagno.GettyImages,92327429.

Anti-Jewish Violence in Poland,
–
1914 1920
William W. Hagen
UniversityofCalifornia,Davis
UniversityPrintingHouse,CambridgeCB28BS,UnitedKingdom
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CambridgeUniversityPressispartoftheUniversityofCambridge.
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www.cambridge.org
Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9780521884921
DOI:10.1017/9781139025737
©WilliamW.Hagen2018
Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception
andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements,
noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten
permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress.
Firstpublished2018
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmericabySheridanBooks,Inc.
AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Names:Hagen,WilliamW.,1942–author.
Title:Anti-JewishviolenceinPoland,1914–1920/WilliamHagen.
Description:NewYork,NY:CambridgeUniversityPress,[2018]|
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
Identifiers:LCCN2017045847|ISBN9780521884921
Subjects:LCSH:Antisemitism–Poland–History–20thcentury.|
Jews–Poland–History–20thcentury.|Poland–Ethnicrelations.|
Pogroms–Poland–History–20thcentury.
Classification:LCCDS146.P6H342018|DDC305.892/4043809041–dc23
LCrecordavailableathttps://lccn.loc.gov/20170458471
ISBN978-0-521-88492-1Hardback
ISBN978-0-521-73818-7Paperback
CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyof
URLsforexternalorthird-partyinternetwebsitesreferredtointhispublication
anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuchwebsitesis,orwillremain,
accurateorappropriate.
And there are secret motives of conduct. A man’s most open actions
haveasecretsidetothem.
Thatisinterestingandsounfathomable!
Razumov,inJosephConrad’sUnderWesternEyes
(Toronto,2010,pp.120–21)
PogromssurprisednotonlyJews,butalsoPoles.
They tried therefore to make excuses not only to the world, but to
themselves.
Galician-bornjournalistBenjaminSegal,inAllgemeine
ZeitungdesJudenthums,no.25(June20,1919)
True, they were robbed, and they live in fear of total extermination
(zupeɬnejzagɬady),butthisinspiredinthemgreatnationalfeeling.
PolisharmyintelligencereportonVolhynianPolesfacing
Bolshevikdomination,1919
Wedidn’thaveanybooksathome.Notevenchildren’sbooksorfairy
tales.Theonly“fantastic”storiescamefromreligionclass.AndItook
themallveryliterally,thatGodseeseverything,andsoIfeltIwasalways
beingwatched.Orthatdeadpeoplewereinheavenrightoverourvillage.
I looked for the faces of the deceased neighbors in the clouds, and
Ifoundthem,too.Iwasworriedaboutthemwhenthewindpickedup
or when it rained or there was thunder and lightning. Then I asked
myself whether “the good Lord” was punishing them, because they
hadtoracethroughtheskytogetherwiththeclouds.
Novelist/NobelistHertaMűller(b.1953),onchildhoodin
aGerman-speakingRomanianvillage,
inNewYorkTimes,July17,2016
Theterroroftheunforeseeniswhatthescienceofhistoryhides,turning
adisasterintoanepic.
PhilipRoth,ThePlotAgainstAmerica(NewYork,2004),114.
Fornotforeverwillthepoormanbeforgotten,thehopeofthelowlynot
lostforever.
Arise,OLord,letnotmanflaunthisstrength,letnationsbejudgedin
Yourpresence.
OLord,putfearuponthem,letthenationsknowtheyaremortal!
BookofPsalms,9:19–21,translationRobertAlter(NewYork,2007)
ItwouldmeanthatthedescendantsofpoorPoleswouldhavetopaythe
descendantsofthosewhowererich.
JarosɬawKaczyński,chairmanofPoland’sLawandJusticeParty,rejecting
JewishHolocaustvictims’compensationclaimsfordispossessedproperty;
availableatwww.facebook.com/tv1polska/videos/1089260141153880/
(August14,2016)

Contents
ListofFigures pagexi
ListofMaps xii
Preface xiii
NoteontheCoverImage xxii
GuidetoPolishPronunciation xxiii
Introduction:CultureandPsychologyofthe
Polish-JewishRelationship 1
TheoreticalFootnote:EthnicViolenceinSocialScience
andHistoriography 50
PartI War,Hunger,Revolt:Galicia,1914–1918 59
1 PeacetimePrecursors,RussianInvasion,andtheFirst
WartimePogroms,1914–1916 61
2 WestGalicia’sJews,1917–1918:ObjectsofEnvy,Targets
ofRage 87
3 PolishDawn,JewishMidnight:TheNovember1918
PogromsinWestGaliciaandLwów 123
4 ReadingtheNovemberPogroms:Rage,Shame,Denial,
Denunciation 173
PartII NationalIndependence’sAfter-Tremors 213
5 JewsinRussianPoland,1914–1919:GermanFriends,
RussianEnemies,PolishRivals,ZionistProphets 215
6 InNationalFreedom’sMorningLight:Disarrayin
Warsaw,SocialWarinGalicia 246
ix