Anti-Polish sentiment: Difference between revisions

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Anti-Polonism (alternatively spelled antipolonism; also, Polonophobia) is a term describing an irrational or malicious hostility toward Poles as a nation or as a cultural community. It has manifested in individual behaviors as well as in institutionalized prejudice and persecution.

It is often associated with a Polish "black legend" and a belief that almost any evil or folly may be laid at the doorstep of the Poles.

While the term is commonly used in Polish (as "antypolonizm"), its use in English has been limited. It does not appear in major English dictionaries, and according to LexisNexis has been used only twice in English-language dailies or magazines within the past 10 years. It has, however been studied in a number of scholarly works by Russian, German and English researchers. [1]

Widespread forms of anti-Polonism have included:

racist anti-Polonism, a variety of xenophobia;
cultural anti-Polonism: a strong prejudice against Poles and Polish-speaking persons;
organized persecution of Poles as an ethnic or cultural group, often based on a belief that Polish culture or interests are a threat to one's own national aspirations.

Anti-Polonism reached a particular peak during World War II, when all of Polish society was an object of German genocidal policies.

File:Katyn3.jpg

Mass graves of murdered Polish military officers at Katyń Wood, near Smolensk in western Russia.

More recent, "milder" forms of anti-Polonism have included disparaging "Polish jokes" and libelous references to World War II-era "Polish death camps" (actually German concentration camps, on occupied Polish territory, whose victims included hundreds of thousands of Poles). Considered slightly less offensive are the persistent German canards, dating back to World War II and meant to illustrate Polish stupidity or incompetence, that Polish cavalry "bravely but futilely" charged German tanks, and that the Polish Air Force was wiped out on the ground on the opening day of the war.

Anti-Polonism – analogously to other ethnic phobias – has been used as a tool by demagogs seeking their own personal, or their own ethnic group's, aggrandizement at the expense of a disparaged, demonized or dehumanized people.

File:Egzekucja Polakow przy murze wieziennym Leszno pazdziernik 1939.jpg

Germans execute Poles against a prison wall, Leszno, Poland, October 1939.

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 [[Image:P_Oboz.jpg|thumb|right|200px|German concentration camp badge:  required wear for Polish inmates.]]
-'''Anti-Polonism''' (alternatively spelled '''antipolonism'''; also, '''Polonophobia''') is an academic term describing an irrational or malicious hostility toward [[Poles]] as a nation or as a cultural community. It is manifest in individual behaviors as well as in institutionalized prejudice and persecution.
+'''Anti-Polonism''' (alternatively spelled '''antipolonism'''; also, '''Polonophobia''') is a term describing an irrational or malicious hostility toward [[Poles]] as a nation or as a cultural community. It has manifested in individual behaviors as well as in institutionalized prejudice and persecution.
+It is often associated with a Polish "[[black legend]]" and a belief that almost any evil or folly may be laid at the doorstep of the Poles.
-While the term is commonly used in Polish (as "antypolonizm"), its use in English has been limited. It does not appear in major English dictionaries, and according to [[LexisNexis]] has been used only twice in English-language dailies or magazines within the past 10 years. It has, however, appeared in a handful of scholarly works by Russian, German and English researchers. [http://www.holocaustforgotten.com/lukas.htm]
+While the term is commonly used in Polish (as "antypolonizm"), its use in English has been limited. It does not appear in major English dictionaries, and according to [[LexisNexis]] has been used only twice in English-language dailies or magazines within the past 10 years. It has, however been studied  in a number of scholarly works by Russian, German and English researchers. [http://www.holocaustforgotten.com/lukas.htm]
 Widespread forms of anti-Polonism have included:

Revision as of 23:40, 18 October 2005

See also