Archives
‚Volksfreunde‘ und Judenfeinde. Die Wochenzeitung Głos (1886–1894) und die Anfänge des modernen Antisemitismus in Kongresspolen
In 1886, a new ‘literary, social and political’ weekly magazine ‘Głos’ provided a forum for a group of intellectuals who sought to break through the liberal-conservative patterns of the political scene in the Kingdom of Poland. They distanced themselves from the heritage of their predecessors and introduced to the public space their own, modern view of society, centred around newly defined concepts of ‘people’ and ‘nation’. This article focuses on the role played by the magazine in the formation of the political national movement. It shows which stereotypes were used by the authors of ‘Głos’ and particularly the degree to which they were influenced by anti-Jewish thought. The article outlines, using the example of ‘Głos’, the origin and development of the modern form of anti-Semitism in the Kingdom of Poland. This problem will be portrayed using the analysis of the Polish national self-image and the anti-Semitic image that was construed of the Jews.
Falschmünzer und Findelkinder: Fingierte jüdische Identitäten in der Literatur – ein Desiderat der literaturwissenschaftlichen Antisemitismusforschung?
Studies in the field of literary anti-Semitism have long ignored literary characters who take on a false ‘Jewish’ identity or who misleadingly pass for ‘Jews’. This article stresses that such characters are, however, of great value for the discipline. It shows which characteristics lead to their being ‘recognized’ as ‘Jews’, and what this implies regarding defining categories, cultural settings and the historic discourse before and after the Shoah. The characters’ name-changes suggest that ‘onomastic denunciation’ was still possible, their physical modifications display the topic’s entanglement with constructions of the ‘Jewish body’ in cultural and medical history that continue to be virulent even after 1945. But what are the functions of these characters within the text? What is the effect of the shifts in identity, typecasting and attributions? Are anti-Semitic stereotypes of ‘the Jew’ in literature thus perpetuated or are they rather undermined?
Editorial edition 8
In the April-issue Maciej Moszynski (Poznań/Berlin) traces out the position of Głos within the publishing landscape of Poland, a literary, social and political weekly paper. The central focus lies on the paper’s ambition to implore new perspectives into the public debate, which aim at rejecting liberalism as well as gradually labeling Jews as enemies of polish society. The paper therefore functions as an extraordinary means for an ideological amalgamation of modern anti-Semitism and polish nationalism. Nike Thurn (Trier) sets her focus in research on anti-Semitism on fictitious “Jewish” identities and characters which are read as “Jewish” and addresses issues concerning their intertextual functions and the historical context of such “games” with identity, role and determination.
Claudia Pawlowitsch and Alexander Kästner (Dresden) contribute to the field of siucidology with a locally linked case: they shed light onto the collective and religiously intended efforts of Dresden’s Jewish community for a corpse to be delivered from the authorities of city and state. This Jew, dubbed “Judas Pollack” had killed himself at the end of 1771 in Dresden’s Amtsfronfeste. In the series “Jewish female writers – Rediscovered” Jana Mikota (Siegen) reminds us of Alice Berend. Uri Kaufmann (Heidelberg) explores the dwellings and ritual purifications of Jewish women in European mikves since the early modern age.
Karolin Oppermann (Göttingen) points out Christian authors in the Sulamith, which is considered the first Jewish periodical in german language and script and was published between 1806 and 1843. On the one hand she asks for the content of the contributions in relation to the journals declared aims. On the other hand she asks for the attributed roles of authors in the publishing discourse of a embourgeoisement of Jews. Hans Joachim Seiler (Kusel) develops a small etymology of the hebrew “belt”. Cornelia Siebeck (Berlin) offers insights into the institutionalization of remembrance in the case of the Flossenbürg concentration camp and focuses on two exhibitions “Konzentrationslager Flossenbürg 1938-1945” (2007) and “was bleibt – Nachwirkungen des Konzentrationslager Flossenbürg” (2010).
Bettina Joergens (Detmold) introduces a greater audience to a large number of audio-recordings of interviews with Holocaust survivors from the State Archive of North Rhine-Westphalia, while Eva-Maria Thimme (Berlin) presents a collection form the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, which contains rare publications from “Displaced Persons”-camps inside the american occupied territories of post-WWII Germany.
Merit Kegel (Leipzig) introduces the pedagogic approaches of the capitol archive in Leipzig; a unique means in Saxony for mediating jewish history. Matthias Heyl (Neustrelitz/Ravensbrück) examines the DVD “Vernehmung. Pädagogische Auseinandersetzung mit Täterinnen und Tätern im Nationalsozialismus” which MEDAON’s founding association, HATiKVA e.V., offers for trans-regional use.
As usual, a number of reviews are examine scholarly publications. However, at this point the edition by Felix Korsch (Leipzig) should find special mentioning. It evaluates recent contributions on the relation of Germany’s political left to anti-Semitism, Israel and the Arab-Israeli conflict.
The current edition of Medaon would not have been possible without the help of Wendy Anne Kopisch, Irina Suttner Phillip Roth and Stefan Schwarz as well as the reviewers. Corrections were done by Cathleen Bürgelt and by Gunther Gebhard and Steffen Schröter of text plus form – the editors wish to thank them very much.
The editors of Medaon in April 2011.