German Anti-Semitism à la Polonaise: A Report on Poznanian Troops’ Abuse of Belarusian Jews in 1919
German Anti-Semitism à la Polonaise: A Report on Poznanian Troops’ Abuse of Belarusian Jews in 1919

Summary/Abstract: A military report of September 1919 singled out Polish troops from the formerly Prussian province of Poznania as particularly abusive of, and prejudiced against, Belarusian Jews. This appears to have been a rather unusual case of German anti-Semitism in its Polish version. The Poznanians’ prejudice against Eastern Jews, so characteristic of German anti-Semitism, was exacerbated by their hostility against Poznanian Jews, with whom they had been in longstanding conflict. Experiencing a culture clash upon entering the settlements of Eastern Jews, they regarded their inhabitants not only as very strange and unfamiliar but also as far less civilized and even more Jewish than their Poznanian coreligionists. This attitude was compounded by the Poznanians’ twofold sense of superiority. First, Poznania was much more developed and contained a much smaller proportion of Jews than did Congress Poland, Galicia, and especially Belarus. Second, the Poznanians considered themselves the best unit of the Polish army and therefore looked down upon units from Congress Poland and Galicia, and especially on their officer corps, which they considered “Jew-ridden.” Many of these prejudices were shared by the Poznanian officer corps whose members, in any event, were reluctant to punish their men for anti-Jewish excesses because of their own sense of insecurity. As a result, the Poznanians were much more likely than any other Polish troops to abuse Belarusian Jews.

• Details
• Contents