The Polish underground organization Wolność i Niezawisłość and anti-Jewish pogroms, 1945–6

Tokarska-Bakir’s paper considers the deep-rooted cognitive habits among informers and reporters belonging to the Polish post-war, anti-Communist underground organization Wolno?? i Niezawis?o?? (Freedom and Independence) with regard to their perception of Polish Jews. The organization's archive is preserved in the National Archives in Krakow in Poland, and it thoroughly documents its members' social beliefs and fears. A theory of pogroms formulated by Senechal de la Roche understands the pogrom as an act of social control. Using the archival documents with that theory in mind, Tokarska-Bakir analyses Wolno?? i Niezawis?o?? in relation to the anti-Jewish pogroms that took place in Rzeszów, Krakow and Kielce in the years immediately following the Second World War.     

Beyond East–West: Marginality and National Dignity in Finnish Identity Construction

The popular, stereotype perception of Russian anti-Semitism is marred by a number of misconceptions. It is generally believed that it originated among the peasants, partly as a result of religious bigotry and partly as a reaction against an alleged Jewish exploitation. In actual fact, pogroms almost invariably started in towns and cities, and the main instigators were artisans and merchants and other people who plied the same trade as the Jews, later also professionals such as lawyers. Hence, economic competition rather than exploitation was the most important driving force. This is reflected in the writings of Russian anti-Semites and is also how most contemporary Jews understood their causes behind their ordeals. The Jews could be targeted for persecution because they were a diaspora group and did not enjoy the same protection as the indigenous population. Thus, even though the tsarist regime can be cleared of any suspicion that they deliberately whipped up the pogroms, they contributed to them by failing to give the Jews the same rights as other subjects of the empire.     

Books Received

ABSTRACT

In the summer of 1934 Eastern Thrace was shaken by a wave of antisemitic violence that ended as suddenly as it had begun. The reasons underlying this attack on the Jewish minority are still not well understood, mainly due to the lack of definitive Turkish sources. New evidence indicates that ?brahim Tali, the representative of the Turkish government in Thrace and the district of Çanakkale further south, played a crucial role. The incidents should be understood in light of Turkish–Italian tensions in the spring of 1934, and the strategic need for re-arming the demilitarized zones in Thrace and at the Straits.