Polish joke
Polish jokes are jokes told to make fun of or disparage Polish people. Some of the earliest Polish jokes, also called Polack jokes – in reference to an ethnic slur – might have been told originally before World War II in disputed border-regions such as Silesia, suggesting that Polish jokes did not originate in Nazi Germany, but a lot earlier, as an outgrowth of regional jokes rooted in historical social class differences.[1] Nonetheless, these jokes were later fuelled by ethnic slurs disseminated by German warlords and National Socialist propaganda which attempted to justify the Nazi crimes against ethnic Poles by presenting them as dirty and inferior.[2][3] According to Davies, American versions of Polish jokes are an unrelated "purely American phenomenon" and do not express the "historical Old World hatreds".[4]
History
During the political transformations of the Soviet controlled Eastern block in the 1980s, the much earlier German anti-Polish sentiment dating back to the policies of Otto von Bismarck and the persecution of Poles under the German Empire, was revived in East Germany against Solidarność (Solidarity).[citation needed] Polish jokes became common, reminding some of the spread of such jokes under the Nazis.[5]
Some Polish jokes were brought to America by German displaced persons fleeing war-torn Europe in the late 1940s.[2] Ethnic jokes about "new immigrants" may play on various negative stereotypes; in the case of early Polish jokes told by Americans, low intelligence was a particularly frequent cliché. [6] An example of a Polish joke told by TV media was: "Why can't they make ice cubes in Poland anymore? -- Because someone lost the recipe." [citation needed]
Polish migration from the dismantled Polish state throughout the 19th century was considerable due to ethnic discrimination and unemployment on traditionally Polish lands.[7] Polish Americans became the subject of derogatory jokes at the time when Polish immigrants came to America in considerable numbers fleeing mass persecution at home perpetrated by Frederick the Great,[8] and Tsar Nicholas I.[9][10] They were taking the only jobs available to them, usually requiring physical labor. The same job-related stereotypes persisted even as Polish Americans joined the middle class in mid 20th century. "These degrading stereotypes were far from harmless. The constant derision, often publicly disseminated through the mass media, caused serious identity crises, feeling of inadequacy, and low self-esteem for many Polish Americans." During the Cold War era, despite the sympathy in the US for Poland being subjected to communism, negative stereotypes about Polish Americans endured, partly because of the Hollywood/TV media involvement.[11][12]
There is a debate whether the early Polish jokes brought to states like Wisconsin by German immigrants were directly related to the wave of American jokes of the early 1960s.[1] Since the late 1960s, Polish American organizations made continuous effort to challenge the negative stereotyping of the Polish people once prevalent in U.S. media. In the 1960s & 70's TV shows like All in the Family, The Tonight Show, and Laugh-In often used jokes received by American Poles as demeaning.[12] The Polish jokes heard in the 1970s led the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs to approach the U.S. State Department to complain, a move which ultimately had no effect.[12] The 2010 documentary film Polack by James Kenney explores the source of the Polish joke in America, tracing it through history and into contemporary politics.[13][14] The depiction of Polish Americans in the play Polish Joke by David Ives has resulted in a number of complaints by the Polonia in the US.[15]
See also
References
- ^ a b Christie Davies, The Mirth of Nations. Page 176. Aldine Transaction, 2010, ISBN 9781412814577.
- ^ a b Tomasz Szarota, Goebbels: 1982 (1939-41): 16, 36-7, 274; 1978. Also: Tomasz Szarota: Stereotyp Polski i Polaków w oczach Niemców podczas II wojny światowej; Bibliografia historii polskiej - 1981. Page 162.
- ^ Critique of Alan Dundes, professor of anthropology and folklore from University of California in Berkeley in The Mirth of Nations by Christie Davies
- ^ Christie Davies, The Mirth of Nations ibidem. Page 181.
- ^ John C. Torpey, Intellectuals, Socialism, and Dissent Published 1995 by U of Minnesota Press. Page 82.
- ^ Polish American Journal, Boston, NY. Quote: "...[American TV viewers] were encouraged to bash Poles with 'jokes' that portrayed the Polish people as having subhuman intelligence."
- ^ Helena Znaniecka Lopata, Mary Patrice Erdmans, Polish Americans Published by Transaction Publishers, 1994, New Brunswick, New Jersey. 294 pages. ISBN 1560001003
- ^ Maciej Janowski, Frederick's "the Iroquois of Europe" (in) Polish liberal thought before 1918, Central European University Press, 2004, ISBN 963-9241-18-0 Accessed August 4, 2011.
- ^ Liudmila Gatagova, "THE CRYSTALLIZATION OF ETHNIC IDENTITY IN THE PROCESS OF MASS ETHNOPHOBIAS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. (The Second Half of the 19th Century)." The CRN E-book. Accessed August 4, 2011.
- ^ "January Uprising RSCI", The Real Science Index; in: "Joseph Conrad, March 12, 1857-August 3, 1924"; Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2003
- ^ "The Origin of the 'Polish Joke'," Polish American Journal, Boston New York.
- ^ a b c Dominic Pulera, Sharing the Dream: White Males in Multicultural America Published 2004 by Continuum International Publishing Group, 448 pages. ISBN 0826416438. Page 99.
- ^ IMDb entry for Polack, 2010 documentary
- ^ Homepage of Polack 2010 documentary, including credits and press announcements.
- ^ Marek Czarnecki, Commentary on the play "Polish Joke", posted at the American Council for Polish Culture website.
- David Ives, Polish Jokes and other plays, ISBN 0-8021-4130-7