Polish-Jewish Relations: 1,300 Keyword-Phrase-Indexed Book Reviews (by Jan Peczkis)

The New Poland and the Jews, by Simon Segal. 1938

Anti-Jewish Violence Was Way Overblown, Privileges of the German Minority, and Rarity of Osadniki (“Polish Settlers”) in the Kresy

This Jewish author is quite hostile to Poland. For this reason, the facts he presents, and which I quote, are not likely to be of a Polish apologetic nature!

ONR ANTI-JEWISH VIOLENCE: A MOUNTAIN OUT OF A MOLEHILL

Out of 48,000 Polish university students, about 1,500 participated in anti-Jewish riots. (p. 90). This comes out to a staggering 3%. Yet countless books have presented this as something normal in Poland!

For more on the infrequency of ONR violence against Jews, see:

https://www.jewsandpolesdatabase.org/2019/11/04/onr-never-fascist-or-pronazi-muszynski/

For more on the rarity of anti-Jewish violence in 1930s Poland, see:

https://www.jewsandpolesdatabase.org/2019/11/04/1930s-poland-antijewish-violence-way-overblown-zyndul/

WHENCE THE ANTI-JEWISH VIOLENCE?

Official government policy was to oppose violence against Jews while supporting the boycotts. From this, Segal made another non sequitur–that the boycotts caused the violence. (p. 81, 89). This is typical liberals-talk: Speaking out against a group is equivalent to inciting violence against them. What if it was the Jewish economic hegemony itself and the increasing Polish unwillingness to put up with it any longer that had provoked the violence? (Recall what liberals tell us about inequities, and rising expectations, breeding violence).

THE OSADNIKI: THOSE MUCH-EXAGGERATED “POLISH COLONISTS” ON “UKRAINIAN LANDS”

Newly-settled Poles in Ukrainian-majority areas numbered only 50,000 (p. 166). That was a drop in the bucket compared with millions of indigenous Poles and Ukrainians living in the southeast Kresy.

DO POLES HAVE AN EVERLASTING OBLIGATION TO JEWS?

Incredibly, Segal believed that Poland should accept Jewish economic dominance because Jews had originally been invited to Poland to develop its trade. (p. 139). Did he seriously suppose that Poles should be content to live in perpetuity as economically second-class citizens in their own nation because of a monarch’s decision several centuries ago?

THE JEWISH MIDDLEMAN

Segal asserted that the arguably-superfluous Jewish middlemen were merely being replaced by equally-superfluous Polish middlemen. (p. 149), but provided not a shred of evidence for this position. But even if it were so, it gave Poles needed business experience, and served as a step in the economic emancipation of Poles. As it turns out, many if not most middleman positions were eliminated entirely, and Polish peasants sold their produce directly. This led to sometimes-violent clashes with Jewish middlemen at the marketplace–a series of which escalated into the Przytyk pogrom. See Peczkis review of POGROM?…by Gontarczyk:

https://www.jewsandpolesdatabase.org/2019/11/04/przytyk-pogrom-facts-gontarczyk/

IS POLISH POVERTY NO BIG DEAL?

Segal alleged that the discriminatory policies were driving Jews to poverty (p. 136), and that Jewish emigration was no overall solution because other nations didn’t accept many Jews (or Poles)(p. 87, 209). Whose fault was that? Also, Segal lacked perspective. Many Poles also lived in crushing poverty (p. 102), and, despite the discrimination facing him, the average Jew remained wealthier than the average Pole. See the Peczkis review of Marcus, SOCIAL AND POLITICAL…:

https://www.jewsandpolesdatabase.org/2019/11/04/average-jew-better-off-than-average-pole-marcus/

BOYCOTTS OF JEWS: LONG-TERM GOALS

Finally, Segal argued that the policies against Jews only hurt Poland’s economy and reputation. (p. 142). What if so? This may be likened to emergency surgery that temporarily adds to the patient’s injuries, but is necessary for her eventual recovery. Other nations, which never had to deal with the problems facing Poland, and not a few of which had less-than-stellar treatments of their own minorities, could moralize all they wanted about human rights, but Poland did not have any such luxury.

THE GERMAN MINORITY HAD IT BAD MYTH

Segal noted that the average German living in Poland was better off than the average Pole. (p. 171). Yet the fate of the German minority was one of the pretexts that Hitler used to invade Poland in 1939.