Abstract: Over half a century after the Holocaust, in Eastern European countries where the Jewish community remained only a small part of the population, products of Jewish culture (or what is perceived as Jewish culture), including music, have become vital components of the popular public domain. In Poland, there are festivals and concerts of Jewish music, more and more records with this music, Jewish museums, and renovated Jewish districts, with Jewish cuisine, and music that are offered to tourists visiting Poland as the main attractions. They attract enthusiastic – and often non-Jewish – crowds. I consider how non-Jews involved in this movement in Poland perceive and implement Jewish culture, why they do it, how much it involves the recovery of Jewish heritage, and how this represents the musical culture of Jews in museums and at events organized for tourists. I also consider the relation of non-Jews as a majority group to Jews as a minority group, as well as the impact of the musical actions of the former on the musical culture of the latter. The article is based on field research and observations I have made during more than twenty years, both among the remaining Jews in Poland and in mixed or non-Jewish communities where music perceived as Jewish is promoted.
Abstract: NEW YORK, NEW YORK: January 23, 2025—The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference) today released the first-ever, eight-country Index on Holocaust Knowledge and Awareness, exposing a global trend in fading knowledge of basic facts about the Holocaust. The countries surveyed include the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Austria, Germany, Poland, Hungary and Romania.
The majority of respondents in each country, except Romania, believe something like the Holocaust (another mass genocide against Jewish people) could happen again today. Concern is highest in the United States, where more than three-quarters (76%) of all adults surveyed believe something like the Holocaust could happen again today, followed by the U.K. at 69%, France at 63%, Austria at 62%, Germany at 61%, Poland at 54%, Hungary at 52%, and Romania at 44%.
Shockingly, some adults surveyed say that they had not heard or weren’t sure if they had heard of the Holocaust (Shoah) prior to taking the survey. This is amplified among young adults ages 18-29 who are the most recent reflection of local education systems; when surveyed, they indicated that they had not heard or weren’t sure if they had heard of the Holocaust (Shoah): France (46%), Romania (15%), Austria (14%) and Germany (12%). Additionally, while Auschwitz-Birkenau is the most well-known camp, nearly half (48%) of Americans surveyed are unable to name a single camp or ghetto established by the Nazis during World War II.
On a more positive note, there is overwhelming support for Holocaust education. Across all countries surveyed, nine-in-10 or more adults believe it is important to continue teaching about the Holocaust, in part, so it does not happen again.
Abstract: The fall of the Berlin Wall and the disappearance of the communist regimes in Europe represented a radical change for Judaism on the continent. The most striking change occurred, naturally, in Central and Eastern Europe, that is, in those countries that were behind the Iron Curtain, such as Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia or the German Democratic Republic. There, while the political decomposition of the Soviet bloc was gaining traction, thousands of people rediscovered their Jewish origins – forbidden, concealed, or silenced under communism, giving rise to a process of Jewish revivalism. In this context, numerous Jewish philanthropic organizations came to the region to support these developments with the mission of renewing local Jewish communities. The process involved a multitude of actors – Jewish agencies, organizations and foundations based in the United States, Europe and Israel – and entailed the mobilization of professionals, specialists and financial resources. This thesis explores the concrete dynamics of this cross-border mobilization of Jewish philanthropic bodies in favor of the Jewish communities of East Central Europe after the fall of communism in 1989. It studies in-depth the historical origins and evolution of transnational Jewish solidarity in modern times, enquires about the Jewish agencies and organizations that started to operate in Europe after the fall of the Berlin Wall, especially, but not only, their sources of financing and the circulation of economic resources. Finally, it gives an account of the narrative corpus that emerged about European Jews before and during this process, identifying those actors who created and mobilized these narratives.
Abstract: W ramach półrocznego badania podjęliśmy działania mające na celu sprawdzenie, czy i kiedy nienawistne treści o charakterze antysemickim są usuwane przez międzynarodowe i polskie serwisy IT po otrzymaniu zgłoszenia od użytkowniczek i użytkowników o konieczności ich usunięcia. Chcieliśmy także sprawdzić, czy istnieje różnica w usuwaniu nienawistnych treści zgłaszanych przez zwykłych użytkowników a tzw. zaufane podmioty sygnalizujące.
W tym celu przeprowadziliśmy Badanie usuwania treści nielegalnych w internecie (zwane także MRE — Monitoring and Reporting Exercise), testując międzynarodowe platformy internetowe: Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, platforma X (dawniej Twitter) oraz dostawców polskich usług pośrednich: Agora, wp.pl, onet.pl, natemat.pl, dorzeczy.pl i wykop.pl pod kątem stosowania krajowych i unijnych przepisów nakazujących usunięcie lub uniemożliwienie dostępu do treści nielegalnych, w tym mowy nienawiści. Badanie zostało przeprowadzone w momencie wchodzenia w życie nowej unijnej regulacji dotyczącej poprawy bezpieczeństwa w przestrzeni cyfrowej, znanej jako Rozporządzenie 2022/2065 lub Akt o usługach cyfrowych.
Spis treści:
Wstęp
Słowniczek
Ramy prawne
Metodologia
Etapy MRE
Kluczowe dane
Wskaźniki usuwalności zgłoszeń
Wnioski i rekomendacje
Publikacja powstała w ramach projektu Zabezpieczenie naszej społeczności, ochrona naszej demokracji: zwalczanie antysemityzmu poprzez zintegrowane podejście do rzecznictwa i bezpieczeństwa (projekt PROTEUS), współfinansowanego przez Unię Europejską.
Abstract: This paper, intended as a contribution to transnational memory studies, analyzes museums devoted to people who helped Jews during the Holocaust that recently opened in Bulgaria, France, Germany, Lithuania, and Poland. The author’s particular interest lies in the “traveling motifs” of the “Righteous” narratives. This category encompasses symbols such as a list of names of the help-providers, a fruit tree/orchard, or a wall with photographs of Holocaust victims, which recur in many of the examined exhibitions and are a clear reference to Yad Vashem and other well-established Holocaust memorials. At first sight, they seem to point to a “cosmopolitanization” of Holocaust remembrance and to the emergence of a common reservoir of historical notions and images. However, on closer inspection one discovers that the use of these symbols varies and that they refer to differing ways of understanding and telling history.
Abstract: With Poland’s political transformation after 1989, religious minorities including Jews and Muslims gained more autonomy and support from the state authorities. At the same time, the liberal democracy principles of religious equality and the state’s neutrality have still not been fully implemented. The paper focuses on this problematic situation, using the concept of politicization to portray the situation of the Jews and Muslims in contemporary Poland, and their relations with the Polish state. It presents four instances of politicization of religious minorities (specifically, Muslims and/or Jews). The research is based on public surveys, interviews with members of the Jewish and Muslim communities, legal documents, and NGO reports. According to the hypothesis of the paper, Muslims and Jews are significantly politicized in the Polish public discourse, and both communities play significant roles in shaping the political identity of the Polish polity. Their roles differ in character due to historical factors and the contemporary international context.
Abstract: This book addresses the issues of memory (a more suitable word would be Marianne Hirsh’s term of postmemory) of the Holocaust among young Poles, the attitudes towards Jews and the Holocaust in the comparative context of educational developments in other countries. The term “Jews” is, as rightly noted Joanna Tokarska-Bakir (2010) a decontextualized term used here in the meaning of Antoni Sułek (2010) as a collective “symbolic” entity. The focus was on education (transmitting values), attitudinal changes and actions undertaken to preserve (or counteract) the memory of Jews and their culture in contemporary Poland. The study to which the book primarly refers was conducted in 2008 and was a second study on a national representative sample of Polish adolescents after the first one undertaken in 1998. The data may seem remote from the current political situation of stepping back from the tendency to increase education about the Holocaust which dominated after 1989 and especially between 2000 and 2005, nonetheless they present trends and outcomes of specific educational interventions which are universal and may set examples for various geopolitical contexts.
The focus of this research was not primarily on the politics of remembrance, which often takes a national approach, although state initiatives are also brought to the attention of the reader, but rather on grassroots action, often initiated by local civil society organizations (NGOs) or individual teachers and/or students. This study has attempted to discover the place that Jews have (or do not have) in the culture of memory in Poland, where there lived the largest Jewish community in pre-war Europe, more than 90% of which was murdered during the Holocaust. The challenge was to show the diversity of phenomena aimed at integrating Jewish history and culture into national culture, including areas of extracurricular education, often against mainstream educational policy, bearing in mind that the Jews currently living in Poland are also, in many cases, active partners in various public initiatives. It is rare to find in-depth empirical research investigating the ensemble of areas of memory construction and the attitudes of youth as an ensemble, including the evaluation of actions (programmes of non-governmental organisations and school projects) in the field of education, particularly with reference to the long-term effects of educational programmes. The assumption prior to this project was that the asking of questions appearing during this research would stimulate further studies.
The book is divided into three parts: Memory, Attitudes and Actions. All three parts of the book, although aimed at analysing an ongoing process of reconstructing and deconstructing memory of the Holocaust in post-2000 Poland, including the dynamics of the attitudes of Polish youth toward Jews, the Shoah and memory of the Shoah, are grounded in different theories and were inspired by various concepts. The assumption prior to the study was that this complex process of attitudinal change cannot be interpreted and explained within the framework on one single academic discipline or one theory. Education and the cultural studies definitely played a significant role in exploring initiatives undertaken to research, study and commemorate the Holocaust and the remnants of the rich Jewish culture in Poland, but the sociology, anthropology and psychology also played a part in helping to see this process from various angles.
Abstract: The article deals with two legitimate cultures that were created in Poland after 1989. "Legitimate culture" means the axiological frame of reference that defines the criteria of prestige and dishonor, that is, the criteria of supreme values and anti-values. No authority (in Poland or any other country) can exist without controlling legitimate culture. However, legitimate culture in Poland is threatened by a history of domestic violence against Jews (massive pre-war Polish anti-Semitism, the murder of Jews during the Holocaust, the murder and persecution of Jews in the post-war period). respect, any Polish authority must control Holocaust-related content. The first concept of Holocaust management, created within the framework of the first legitimate culture (corresponding to the legal and institutional arrangements of 1989–2005 and 2007–2015) treated the Holocaust and Polish attitudes toward Jews as: an affirmation of the need to weaken the “nation,” the religious community and other collective entities; a problem that each Pole individually solves on his/her own. The second legitimacy culture (2005–2007; 2015–2023) works to: recognize the Holocaust as a problem that only the Polish nation can resolve; criminalize claims that Poles murdered Jews; present (and justify) violence against Jews as a struggle against communism; and portray Poles helping Jews as the norm, which the majority met during the occupation. The first culture of legitimacy used the Holocaust to weaken the social bond; the second uses the Holocaust to reactivate nationalism. Both cultures are responsible for the current crisis of social communication, and therefore another legitimate culture is needed to emerge from this crisis.
Topics: Memory, Jewish Neighbourhoods, Jewish Space, Jewish Heritage, Oral History and Biography, Holocaust, Holocaust Commemoration, Holocaust Memorials, Holocaust Survivors, Holocaust Survivors: Children of, Main Topic: Holocaust and Memorial
Abstract: The Sixth Survey of European Jewish Community Leaders and Professionals, 2024, presents the results of an online survey offered in 10 languages and administered to 879 respondents in 31 countries. Conducted every three years using the same format, the survey seeks to identify trends and their evolution over time.
The 2024 survey came during a historically fraught moment for the Jewish people globally. The impact of the horrific October 7th attacks and the subsequent war in Israel cannot be understated. How is this affecting Jewish leadership and Jewish communal life? Therefore, in addition to the regular topics covered by the survey (community priorities, threats, security concerns, attitudes towards Europe and Israel), this edition included a special section designed to understand the impact of October 7th on Jewish life in Europe.
That October 7th has profoundly affected Jewish Europe is evident across multiple sections throughout the survey. Concern about antisemitism and the threat of physical attack has intensified. A large majority of 78% feel less safe living as Jews in their cities than they did before the Hamas attack, and respondents are more cautious about how they identify themselves as Jews. They are also more distant from their wider environments, with 38% reporting they have become more distant from non-Jewish friends.
The respondents were comprised of presidents and chairpersons of nationwide “umbrella organizations” or Federations; presidents and executive directors of private Jewish foundations, charities, and other privately funded initiatives; presidents and main representatives of Jewish communities that are organized at a city level; executive directors and programme coordinators, as well as current and former board members of Jewish organizations; among others
Abstract: FRA’s third survey on discrimination and hate crime against Jews in the EU reveals their experiences and perceptions of antisemitism, and shows the obstacles they face in living an openly Jewish life.
The survey pre-dates the Hamas attacks on 7 October 2023 and Israel’s military response in Gaza. But the report includes information about antisemitism collected from 12 Jewish community organisations more recently. Jewish people have experienced more antisemitic incidents since October 2023, with some organisations reporting an increase of more than 400%.
The survey results point to:
Rising antisemitism: 80% of respondents feel that antisemitism has grown in their country in the five years before the survey.
High levels of antisemitism online: 90% of respondents encountered antisemitism online in the year before the survey.
Antisemitism in the public sphere: in the year before the survey, 56% of respondents encountered offline antisemitism from people they know and 51% in the media.
Harassment: 37% say they were harassed because they are Jewish in the year before the survey. Most of them experienced harassment multiple times. Antisemitic harassment and violence mostly take place in streets, parks, or shops.
Safety and security concerns: Most respondents continue to worry for their own (53%) and their family’s (60%) safety and security. Over the years, FRA research has shown that antisemitism tends to increase in times of tension in the Middle East. In this survey, 75% feel that people hold them responsible for the Israeli government’s actions because they are Jewish.
Hidden lives: 76% hide their Jewish identity at least occasionally and 34% avoid Jewish events or sites because they do not feel safe. As a reaction to online antisemitism, 24% avoid posting content that would identify them as Jewish, 23% say that they limited their participation in online discussions, and 16% reduced their use of certain platforms, websites or services.
The EU and its Member States have put in place measures against antisemitism, which have led to some progress. These include the EU’s first ever strategy on combating antisemitism and action plans in some EU countries. The report suggests concrete ways for building on that progress:
Monitoring and adequately funding antisemitism strategies and action plans: This includes adopting plans in those EU countries which do not have them and developing indicators to monitor progress.
Securing the safety and security of Jewish communities: Countries need to invest more in protecting Jewish people, working closely with the affected communities.
Tackling antisemitism online: Online platforms need to address and remove antisemitic content online, to adhere tothe EU’s Digital Services Act. They also need to better investigate and prosecute illegal antisemitic content online.
Encouraging reporting and improving recording of antisemitism: National authorities should step up efforts to raise rights awareness among Jews, encourage them to report antisemitic incidents and improve the recording of such incidents. Greater use of third-party and anonymous reporting could help.
The survey covers Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Spain and Sweden where around 96% of the EU’s estimated Jewish population live. Almost 8,000 Jews aged 16 or over took part in the online survey from January to June 2023. This is the third survey of its kind, following those of 2013 and 2018.
Abstract: Rising antisemitism in the twenty-first century has alarmed Jewish communities and the general public, but antisemitic hate crime victimization remains understudied outside the US context. This study primarily relies on a comprehensive survey of 16,400 Jews across twelve European countries, supplemented with data from additional sources, to assess individual and country-level predictors of Jews’ experiences and fears of antisemitic harassment and violence. Multilevel models indicate that young age, perceived discrimination, identity visibility, and identification with Israel are pronounced individual risk factors for victimization. On the country level, negative opinion of Israel and Muslim population share predict victimization, highlighting the role of a “new” or Israel-derived antisemitism in the twenty-first century. The factors most strongly associated with fear are young age, previous victimization, perceptions of an ambient antisemitic threat, and recent occurrence of fatal antisemitic violence. Overall, the findings underscore the importance of integrating general theory on hate crime and victimization with context-specific factors when seeking to understand the experiences of targeted groups.
Abstract: Les manifestations de nationalisme et d’antisémitisme qui accompagnèrent la transition furent souvent interprétées en termes de retour du même. En témoignent des expressions chargées en connotations primordialistes telles que « retour des nations et du nationalisme », « réveil des nationalismes », « retour des vieux démons ». Effet « réfrigérant » de la domination du Parti-État, « vide idéologique » postcommuniste, telles furent, dans un premier temps, les explications communément invoquées pour en expliquer la réactivation.
C’est oublier que l’effondrement idéologique du communisme en Europe du Centre-Est a largement précédé celui du Mur de Berlin, et que les passions nationalistes n’avaient jamais été mises au frigidaire sous le régime communiste. Instrumentalisées par certaines élites du Parti comme par des fractions de l’opposition, elles n’ont pas attendu l’effondrement du Mur de Berlin pour se déployer. Reste que leurs manifestations récentes sont d’autant plus difficiles à interpréter en bloc que l’hétérogénéité sociologique de l’Europe du Centre-Est s’approfondit depuis la désintégration de l’Empire soviétique et que le concept même de nationalisme désigne parfois des réalités sociales et politiques diamétralement opposées.
En partant de l’idée que « le renouveau du nationalisme en Europe de l’Est est moins la cause de la situation actuelle que sa conséquence », nous montrerons à partir de l’exemple polonais, que celui-ci participe en réalité d’un phénomène classique de réinvention d’une tradition…
Abstract: In August 1942, a majority of Bochnia’s Jewish residents were deported to the Bełżec death camp by the German occupying forces – this was the beginning of the direct extermination of Bochnian Jews which lasted for over a year. To commemorate them, as well as all other Jews murdered during the German occupation of Bochnia, the Stanisław Fischer Museum in Bochnia organised an exhibition, inaugurated on the 80th anniversary of this tragic event. The exhibition showed the presence of Jews in the town, remembered important figures whose roots came from Bochnia, and presented the activity of some contemporary descendants of former Jewish inhabitants of the town. The items on display were, in part, property of the museum, Judaica on loan from other museums, scanned documents from the National Archive in Kraków, and also materials submitted by families, descended from Bochnia residents, who live abroad.
Abstract: The Holocaust monuments in Poland commemorate this historical event in the place of its occurrence. This empowers the commemoration, its meanings, and messages. However, the monuments also reflect the way the Polish state’s collective memory consolidates over the years. The memory of the glorious and significant Jewish past in Poland is in the form of ruined synagogues, displaced or neglected gravestones in cemeteries, warehouses full of relics, and ruins of concentration and extermination camps. The memory of this Jewish past remained in the hands of the Poles and became part of the Polish national landscape. One of the ways to commemorate the magnificent and rich Jewish past, the way the Jewish communities were destroyed, and the community members were murdered, is through monuments. Holocaust monuments in Poland were erected right after War World II and continue to be constructed until the present. What is the character of the commemoration presented in the monuments, Polish, Jewish, or universal? Which themes are commemorated, and which artistic expressions were chosen for this purpose? In this chapter, I will discuss Holocaust monuments erected in Poland through the years with tombstones, at the event sites, and former concentration camp sites, addressing their historiographical context, and the variety of visual expressions.
Topics: Holocaust, Holocaust Commemoration, Holocaust Education, Holocaust Memorials, Holocaust Survivors, Holocaust Survivors: Children of, Holocaust Survivors: Grandchildren of, Memory, Main Topic: Holocaust and Memorial, Jewish Museums, Jewish Heritage, Museums
Abstract: The racial formation of nationalism from the perspective of migration produces multiple forms of “whiteness”. “Not quite/not white” (Bhabha) translated racial difference into a culturally-hybrid formulation of the postcolonial subject in postcolonial theory. The consequence of translating racial difference into culturally hybridity also diluted a focus on the nation by focusing on the diasporic subject. In Eastern Europe however, “whiteness” is firstly marked by the ambiguous history of the racial other within the nation rather than the historical colonization of racial others beyond. Further, the often traumatic displacement of racial others in/from Eastern Europe has more to do with forms of nationalism than colonialism. Thus, the displacement of racial others in relation to Eastern European nationalism take on an importance largely missing in deracinated postcolonial condemnations of the nation. Europe-based Israeli artist Yael Bartana’s And Europe will be stunned: the Polish trilogy, provides a provocative invitation to think the disturbing place of race in the formation of nationalism in Eastern Europe precisely from these two dimensions: the history of racial difference (Jews) within the nation (Poland), and the centering of racial “returns” for the past and future of nations both in Eastern Europe and beyond it. Through film, public performance and spoken/written word, And Europe… firstly stages the nation from the historical perspective of displaced/exterminated racial others. Through a provocative call to return of the Jews into the Polish nation from which they fled or were exterminated, Bartana proposes a ghostly and literal racially hybridity within the nation to counter the ongoing construction of “whiteness” in Eastern Europe. Secondly, And Europe.. also performs a powerful critique of the problematic politics of return in Israel which deploys Europe’s treatment of its Jewish others to now consecrate the Israeli nation as an exclusively Jewish state. The currency of “whiteness” from the doubled perspective of a future Poland and the present in Israel delivers contradictory returns for the nation by producing hybridity here in Europe and homogeneity there outside it.
By thinking “whiteness” for/against the nation, the essay shows how the returns of race and of racial others can help think a hybrid nation both within Eastern Europe and outside it. Seen from a global perspective, “Whiteness” in Eastern Europe thus offers the racially hybrid nation rather than the culturally hybrid postcolonial subject as a counter to the racism of contemporary nationalisms.
Abstract: This article examines an under-researched artistic practice of Holocaust memorialization, which, emerging in Poland in the early 1990s, combines elements of theater, performance art, and religious ritual and invites a high degree of civic participation. I argue that these artistic practices are similar to traditional practices of lived and embodied transmissions of memory referred to by French historian Pierre Nora as milieux de mémoire. This article will challenge Nora's view that milieux de mémoire have been permanently replaced with lieux de mémoire (sites of memory). To counter this claim, I invoke the memorialization activities of the grassroots and Lublin-based cultural institution the Grodzka Gate – NN Theater Center. Through the series of artistic actions called Mystery of Memory (2000–2011) and Letters to (2005–present), this institution is actively involved in creating and sustaining Polish milieux de mémoire dedicated to the memory of the Holocaust. The ensuing milieux de mémoire have a practical, civic and social function to establish a sense of shared community among younger generations of Poles. Therefore, these actions look toward the future, rather than solely remembering the difficult past, and encourage participants to acknowledge and celebrate difference and multiculturalism, rather than singly confronting unsavory moments of Polish–Jewish relations.
Abstract: As the ethical barriers surrounding ‘digital Holocaust etiquette remain contested, scholars like Daniel Magilow and Lisa Silverman question whether there can be unwritten rules of behavior at sites of historical trauma. Because of
significant shifts in the digital arena, too, legacy types of memory formation, such as collective memories associated with physical spaces, are being challenged by a new type of digital archive that is both active and passive. This article seeks to interrogate the socio-psychological aspects of selfies taken at Holocaust memorial sites and of their subsequent shaming. We wish to juxtapose current research findings with the public audience’s reaction to these photos after they have been posted on social media. In many respects, commenters may offer insight into a larger phenomenon outside of what is deemed appropriate in terms of Holocaust memory. Our article may not provide solutions or easy answers, but this is not our goal. Rather, our research aims to point to the complex, often
uncomfortable, nature of this topic due to the fact that selfies encapsulate both micro and macro histories, reality and virtual reality, and a shift in traditional types of memory formation.
Topics: Jewish Identity, Jewish Renewal, Jewish Revival, Main Topic: Identity and Community, Jewish Continuity, Post-1989, Educational Tours, Birthright (Taglit), Interviews, Jewish Leadership, Young Adults / Emerging Adulthood
Abstract: Seventy years have passed since the Holocaust, but this cataclysmic event continues to reverberate in the present. In this research, we examine attributions about the causes of the Holocaust and the influence of such attributions on intergroup relations. Three representative surveys were conducted among Germans, Poles, and Israeli Jews to examine inter- and intragroup variations in attributions for the Holocaust and how these attributions influence intergroup attitudes. Results indicated that Germans made more external than internal attributions and were especially low in attributing an evil essence to their ancestors. Israelis and Poles mainly endorsed the obedient essence attribution and were lowest on attribution to coercion. These attributions, however, were related to attitudes towards contemporary Germany primarily among Israeli Jews. The more they endorsed situationist explanations, and the less they endorsed the evil essence explanation, the more positive their attitude to Germany. Among Germans, attributions were related to a higher motivation for historical closure, except for the obedience attribution that was related to low desire for closure. Israelis exhibited a low desire for historical closure especially when attribution for evil essence was high. These findings suggest that lay perceptions of history are essential to understanding contemporary intergroup processes.
Abstract: W polityce historycznej propagowanej przez Obóz Zjednoczonej Prawicy ważne miejsce zajmuje martyrologia narodu, m.in. zbrodnie popełniane na ludności polskiej przez Niemców, Sowietów czy Ukraińców. Działania władz sprawiają wrażenie, że te próbują zrównać los Żydów i Polaków w czasie wojny, a nawet wymazać z kolektywnej pamięci zbrodnie popełniane w czasie wojny na Żydach przez ich polskich sąsiadów. Nie jest to zabieg nowy, ponieważ również w czasach PRL starano się ukrywać wstydliwe karty dziejów Polski. Jednak po 2015 r. narracja promowana przez Zjednoczoną Prawicę na temat postaw Polaków wobec Zagłady idzie dalej: nie tylko przemilcza się sprawy trudne, ale na wszelkie sposoby promuje postawy świadczące o bohaterstwie i ofiarności Polaków w ratowaniu Żydów, usiłując tym samym przekonać opinię publiczną w kraju i zagranicą, że były to postawy powszechne. Parafrazując znany wiersz Czesława Miłosza i esej Jana Błońskiego, powinniśmy powiedzieć, że nie „Biedni Polacy patrzą na getto”, lecz „Dzielni Polacy ratują getto”. Artykuł jest próbą komentarza na temat polityki historycznej po 2015 r. w kontekście stosunków polsko-żydowskich w czasie okupacji niemieckiej na podstawie literatury przedmiotu oraz wypowiedzi i doniesień medialnych.
Abstract: W polskim dyskursie publicznym zauważalna jest ciągłość form antysemickich. Według najnowszych badań, z postaw antysemickich się nie wyrasta, a co gorsza, doszło do rewitalizacji mitu o współodpowiedzialności Żydów za śmierć Jezusa Chrystusa. My, jako członkowie i członkinie Żydowskiego Stowarzyszenia Czulent, zaniepokojeni tym faktem, podjęliśmy się zadania zweryfikowania, dlaczego antysemityzmem zainfekowane są coraz młodsze osoby.
W tym celu postanowiliśmy przeanalizować podręczniki edukacji nieformalnej i podręczniki szkolne, dopuszczone do użytku szkolnego przez Ministerstwo Edukacji Narodowej i sprawdzić, czy i jak w podręcznikach przedstawiane są informacje o szeroko rozumianej kulturze, tradycji i historii Żydów w Polsce. Interesowała nas jakość i rzetelność tych informacji.
Dzięki pomocy m.in. Centrum Badań Holokaustu Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego, zrekrutowaliśmy/zrekrutowałyśmy studentki ostatniego roku judaistyki oraz doktorantki Centrum Badań Holocaustu, które przeanalizowały podręczniki.
Na podstawie zebranych materiałów, Alina Cała, Bożena Keff i Anna Lipowska-Teutsch przygotowały artykuły analizujące zastane treści. Interesowało nas to, jaki wpływ treść zawarta w podręczniku ma na młodego odbiorcę i młodą odbiorczynię, uwzględniając tutaj aspekt kulturowy, socjologiczny, historyczny
i psychologiczny. Każdy artykuł wykorzystuje zebrane cytaty z podręczników do języka polskiego, historii, historii i społeczeństwa, wychowania do życia w rodzinie i wiedzy o społeczeństwie. Chcąc ułatwić czytelnikowi/czytelniczce weryfikację cytatów, za każdym razem podawaliśmy w przypisach pełny adres bibliograficzny podręcznika.
Naszym celem było również stworzenie publikacji edukacyjnej, która ma służyć jako narzędzie dla osób zajmujących się edukacją formalną i nieformalną oraz przeciwdziałaniem antysemityzmowi. Dlatego też zostały opracowane artykuły poruszające kwestię antysemityzmu w przestrzeni publicznej (Anna Zawadzka), zjawiska antysemityzmu w Polsce (Anna Makówka-Kwapisiewicz) oraz aspekty psychologiczne i prawne mowy nienawiści (Beata Zadumińska i Szymon Filek).
Spis treści:
Wstęp
Zjawisko antysemityzmu w Polsce na podstawie badań
Analiza podręczników szkolnych i scenariuszy zajęć
Kultura i społeczeństwo w podręcznikach szkolnych z przedmiotów humanistycznych
Kulturoznawcza analiza zawartości podręczników szkolnych związanych z treściami dotyczącymi Żydów (i pokrewnymi)
Pochwała myślenia krytycznego
„Kultywujemy polskość”. Antysemityzm w przestrzeni publicznej
Mowa nienawiści. Sprawcy. Ofiary. Świadkowie
Mowa nienawiści. Aspekty prawne
Biogramy autorów i autorek
. Informacja o projekcie
Informacja o Żydowskim Stowarzyszeniu Czulent
Publikacja powstała w ramach projektu „Antysemityzm nie jest poglądem” zrealizowanego w ramach programu Obywatele dla Demokracji, finansowanego z Funduszy EOG, a także ze środków The Kronhill Pletka Foundation, International Council of Jewish Women, Network of East-West Women oraz dzięki dotacji Kennetha Slatera, Allena Haberberga, Shaloma Levy i Michaela Traisona.
Abstract: Przez ostatnie dwa lata eksperci i ekspertki współpracujący z Żydowskim Stowarzyszeniem Czulent przy realizacji projektu „Zintegrowany system monitorowania antysemickich przestępstw i mowy nienawiści oraz pomocy i wsparcia dla członków społeczności żydowskiej” katalogowali i analizowali nienawistne wpisy, symbole i znaki znalezione w przestrzeni publicznej oraz na platformach mediów społecznościowych. Celem tychże działań, była analiza nienawistych treści wymierzonych w społeczność żydowską. Badając sposoby wykorzystania mediów społecznościowych, symboli i memów w próbach indoktrynacji i ataków na grupy mniejszościowe oraz reakcje organów ścigania czy wymiaru sprawiedliwości, doszliśmy do wniosku, iż nadal dominuje niska świadomość społeczna na temat praktyk i obrazów współcześnie promujących nienawiść.
Wychodząc naprzeciw potrzebom osób działających na rzecz praw człowieka, stworzyliśmy niniejsze opracowanie w którym zebrano przykłady symboli, pojawiających się w przestrzeni publicznej, aby zilustrować ich dwuznaczność, ironię i wiarygodne zaprzeczenia, dając możliwość osobom aktywistycznym narzędzia w rozszyfrowaniu i zmierzeniu się z symboliką nienawiści.
Wychodząc z założenia, iż nienawiść nie ogranicza się do żadnego spektrum ideologicznego, zebraliśmy i opracowaliśmy materiały, które wykorzystywane są do ataków na grupy mniejszościowe i nie tylko. Publikacja została ponadto poszerzona o perspektywę socjologiczną, uwzględniającą nienawistne znaki w domenie symbolicznej autorstwa Lecha M. Nijakowskiego. Psychologiczne aspekty mowy nienawiści opracowane przez Mikołaja Winiewskiego oraz praktyczne rozwiązania prawne opracowane przez Joanna Grabarczyk-Anders, Jacka Mazurczaka oraz Tomasza Plaszczyka.
Publikacja ta, zawiera nie tylko symbole związane z ruchami skrajnymi, które są dostrzegane przez społeczeństwo i jednoznacznie odbierane jako przejaw nienawiści, ale również takie, które nie wzbudzają zainteresowania czy niepokoju ponieważ eksponują niejasne i kontekstowe symbole nienawiści wykorzystywane bez większych konsekwencji, jeśli w ogóle. Są to symbole i znaki, które wykorzystują ironie, humor, przekierowanie na inny temat, błędną charakterystykę i estetykę, aby zawoalować swoje przekonania i zatrzymać „normies” w nienawiści.
Strategia ta polega na przywłaszczaniu symboli i przypisywaniu im nienawistnego znaczenia. W tym kontekście, na przykład gest „okay” czy żaba Pepe, mogłoby się wydawać dają możliwość wiarygodnego odpierania zarzutu o szerzenie nienawiści i ośmieszają oskarżyciela. Co w konsekwencji przyczynia się do zakodowanego funkcjonowania nienawiść w głównym nurcie. Mając ponadto na uwadze przyswajalność nowych technologii i platform komunika-
cyjnych, wiele ruchów nienawiści dostosowało się do młodzieżowych platform, takich jak TikTok, Instagram, Twitch czy Discord. Równie sprawnie wykorzystują serwery gier wideo, by radykalizować, propagując nienawiść i nienawistne zachowanie. Budują w ten sposób sieć kontaktów, mobilizują nowe grupy dla poparcia skrajnych grup czy partii politycznych, burząc podział pomiędzy światem online i światem offline. W ten sposób nienawiść ograniczona do ekstremalnych przestrzeni online, jest normalizowana i coraz częściej pojawia się w „prawdziwym życiu”, gdzie często jest powiązana z przypadkami terroryzmu
na całym świecie.
Dlatego tak ważne są rozwiązania systemowe, bazujące na wsparciu infrastruktury badawczej i edukacyjnej, zaangażowania organizacji non-profit oraz grup społecznych w przeciwdziałanie nienawiści. Niewystarczające jest
ustanowienie prawa przeciwko stale ewoluującym praktykom nienawistnym
grup skrajnych, bez rozwiązań edukacyjnych w tym zakresie, prewencyjnych i informacyjnych. Bez podejścia międzysektorowego tworzy się przestrzeń dla grup i ruchów nienawiści, które w pełni mogą działać na wolności i szerzyć nienawiść.
Mamy nadzieje, że nasze opracowanie przyczyni się do zmiany i będzie
zaczątkiem takiej współpracy.
Spis treści:
Domeny symboliczne i nienawistne znaki. Perspektywa socjologiczna. Lech M. Nijakowski
Psychologiczne aspekty mowy nienawiści. Mikołaj Winiewski
Znaki nienawiści – katalog. Anna Makówka-Kwapisiewicz
Zawiadomienie o przestępstwie i co dalej? – uwagi praktyczne. Tomasz Plaszczyk
Postępowania dotyczące mowy nienawiści w Internecie. Joanna Grabarczyk-Anders, Tomasz Plaszczyk, Jacek Mazurczak
Słowniczek podstawowych pojęć. Tomasz Plaszczyk
Kazusy – przykłady zawiadomień o przestępstwach z nienawiści
Publikacja powstała w ramach projektu „Zintegrowany system monitorowania antysemickich przestępstw i mowy nienawiści oraz pomocy i wsparcia dla członków społeczności żydowskiej”, realizowanego przez Żydowskie Stowarzyszenie Czulent oraz Gminę Wyznaniową Żydowską w Warszawie. Projekt finansowany ze środków Unii Europejskiej w ramach programu Prawa, Równość i Obywatelstwo na lata 2014-2020 oraz Fundacji Pamięć, Odpowiedzialność i Przyszłość (EVZ).
