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Anti-Polonism (alternatively spelled antipolonism; also, Polonophobia) is a term denoting an irrational or malicious hostility toward Poles as a nation or as a cultural community. Anti-Polonism has been prominent in some countries during certain periods in history. It has manifested itself 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.

It should be noted that the term anti-Polonism has not found wide currency in the English language. It does not appear in major English-language dictionaries, and LexisNexis shows it to have been used rarely in English-language dailies or magazines within the past 10 years. It has, however, appeared in some scholarly works (). To the extent that people believe that Poles, Polonia and Poland continue to be treated as objects of ridicule, discrimination and exploitation, "anti-Polonism" and the kindred term "Polonophobia" may enter more widespread use.

Hostility toward Poles—analogously to other ethnic phobias—has been used as a tool by demagogues seeking their own personal, or their own ethnic group's, aggrandizement at the expense of a disparaged, demonized or dehumanized people.

Forms of hostility toward Poles have included:

• Racist hostility, a variety of xenophobia;
• cultural hostility: 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.

Timeline

Origins of antipolonism; organized persecution of ethnic Poles (to 1918)

Antipolonism as organized persecution of, and prejudice against, Poles and their culture made its appearance in the 18th century, in Prussia, a rival of Poland in the European political arena. Writers such as Johann Georg Forster dismissed the idea that the Poles were part of European culture, comparing them to primitive tribes and portraying Poland as an underdeveloped, uncivilized land awaiting the importation of kultur from truly civilized countries. This planted the seeds for German ideas of Lebensraum and created stereotypes which Nazism would later exploit. Prussian officials encouraged the view that the Poles were culturally inferior and in need of Prussian tutelage. Frederick the Great nourished a particular hatred and contempt for Poles that reflected the antipolonism in the Prussia of his time. He spoke of the Poles as "slovenly Polish trash," "the Iroquois of Europe" and "a barbarous people sunk in ignorance and stupidity." The consequences were that nobility of Polish origin were obliged to pay higher taxes than nobility of German heritage, the Polish language was persecuted in Prussia, and Polish monasteries were viewed as "lairs of idleness" and their property often seized by Prussian authorities. The prevalent Catholicism among Poles was stigmatized. When the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth lost the last vestiges of its independence in 1795 and remained partitioned for 123 years, ethnic Poles were subjected to Germanization under Prussian and later under German rule, and to Russification in the areas that had been annexed by Imperial Russia. Antipolish sentiments were fanned in both Russia and Germany.

In Russia, being a Pole was in itself culpable, and authorities sometimes employed antipolish riots as a matter of policy. Polish culture was seen as a threat to Russian imperial ambitions, and officials often acted to disrupt Polish culture. Later, with the emergance of Panslavist ideology, Russian writers saw the Poles as betraying their "Slavic family" because of Polish efforts to regain independence from the Russian Empire (the latter being viewed by Russian Panslavists as the natural leader of the Slavic nations). Prejudice and hostility toward Poles are present in many of Russia's cultural works of the time. Russia used deportations, Russification, mass murder, and confiscation of Polish nobles' property to undermine Polish culture and society. The fact that Poles were overwhelmingly of Catholic and not Orthodox faith, likewise gave impetus to persecution.

In Prussia, and later in Germany, similar persecution was the order of the day. Poles were forbidden to build homes, and their properties were targeted for forced buy-outs, financed by the Prussian and German governments. The Polish language was banned from use, and Polish children were tortured at school for speaking Polish (Września). Poles were also subject to forced deportations (Rugi Pruskie).

Organized persecution of ethnic Poles (1918-1939)

After Poland regained her independence following the First World War as the Second Republic of Poland, the question of her borders was not settled. Poles were persecuted in the disputed territories, especially in Silesia, where this led to the Silesian Uprisings. During the Polish-Soviet War of 1919-21, many Polish prisoners of war were summarily executed by the Red Army.

The aftermath of the Polish-Ukrainian War (1918-19), the Polish-Soviet War (1919-21) and the Treaty of Riga (1921), coupled with Soviet propaganda, led to growing tensions between Poles and Ukrainians in eastern Poland.

Genocide against Poles (1939-1945)

Hostility toward Poles reached a particular peak during World War II, when all of Polish society was an object of German genocidal policies. Poland lost approximately a third of her population. Millions of Poles died in German concentration camps such as Auschwitz, where Poles were the second most numerous victims after the Jews.

The Soviet occupation of Polish territories during World War II was also extremely brutal. Polish prisoners of war were executed in the infamous Katyn Massacre and at other sites, and thousands of Polish intelligentsia, including academics and priests, were sent to forced-labor camps (GuLags).

With the conclusion of the Second World War, Nazi atrocities perforce ended. Soviet atrocities, however, continued. Soldiers of Poland's Home Army (Armia Krajowa) and returned veterans of the Polish Armed Forces that had served with the Western Allies were persecuted, imprisoned and often executed following staged trials (as in the case of Witold Pilecki, organizer of Auschwitz resistance).

Persistent prejudice against Poles (1945 to present)

Continued mass-media references to World War II-era "Polish death camps" and "Polish concentration camps" are often cited as examples of anti-Polonism. (The afore-mentioned camps were in fact German concentration camps set up and run by Nazi Germans, on occupied Polish territory, whose victims included millions of Poles.) Those who object to this usage argue that the phrase is intended to place responsibility for these camps on the Poles, rather than simply being a neutral description of their location. The World Jewish Congress stated in January 2005: "This is not a mere semantic matter. Historical integrity and accuracy hang in the balance.... Any misrepresentation of Poland's role in the Second World War, whether intentional or accidental, would be most regrettable and therefore should not be left unchallenged."

Robert Hurst of CTV News in Canada, however, has contended that the expression, "Polish death camps," is common usage in news organizations, including those in the United States, and is not misleading, and declined to issue a correction or an apology.

Also cited as examples of anti-Polonism are other phrases relating to Poland during World War II, such as "Nazi Poland." Additionally cited are persistent German canards, dating back to World War II and meant to illustrate Polish stupidity or incompetence. Such stories include the false allegations 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. Neither tale is true, as is discussed at Myths of the Polish September Campaign. "Milder" forms of hostility toward Poles have included disparaging "Polish jokes."

Polish-minority rights are increasingly being abused by the totalitarian regime of Alexander Lukashenko in Belarus, where some half a million Poles live. The Belarus authorities claim that their pro-western Polish neighbors are intent on destabilizing the Belarus regime, and attempt to portray the Polish minority as a fifth column. In May and June 2005, the Belarus government closed down a Polish-language newspaper and replaced the democratically elected leadership of a local Polish organization, the Union of Poles in Belarus (UPB), with persons of the Belarus government's choice.

Antipolish sentiments persist in Germany. Poland is accused of having caused World War II. German courts have not only forbidden Polish-speaking parents to teach their children Polish, but also voiced objections to raising them in Polish culture, claiming that to do so would be harmful to their development., . German media frequently portray Poland as an underdeveloped country where criminality is the principal occupation of the populace. The German press has coined a derogatory saying, "Heute gestohlen, morgen in Polen" ("Stolen today, tomorrow in Poland"), suggesting that Poland is a land of thieves. Another example of anti-Polish bias in the German media is the "Harald Schmidt Show." The highlights of this extremely popular program are insulting "jokes" about Poles, Polish culture and Poland. Harald Schmidt, who exploits antipolish views and stereotypes that a few decades earlier accompanied German crimes of genocide against the Polish people, such as supposed inferior intellect or natural criminality of Poles, has received the Bambi viewers' choice award, the Grimme Award, the Golden Camera, and the Golden Lion as best show host.

Anti-Polish quotes

• "Poland’s existence is intolerable and incompatible with the essential conditions of Germany’s life. Poland must go and will go — as a result of her own internal weaknesses and of action by Russia — with our aid. For Russia, Poland is even less tolerable than it is for us; Russia will never put up with Poland's existence. With Poland, one of the strongest pillars of the Versailles System will fall. To attain this goal must be one of the firmest aiming points of German politics, because it is attainable. Attainable only by means of, or with the help of, Russia. The restoration of the border between Germany and Russia is the precondition for regaining strength of both sides. Germany and Russia within the borders of 1914 should be the basis for an agreement between us ." — Hans von Seeckt, Chief of the Troop Office of the German Army, responsible for shaping German foreign policy, writing after the Treaty of Rapallo (1922).

• "I have issued the command — and I'll have anybody who utters but one word of criticism executed by firing squad — that our war aim does not consist in reaching certain lines, but in the physical destruction of the enemy. Accordingly I have placed my Totenkopf Units in readiness — for the present only in the East — with orders to them to send to death, mercilessly and without compassion, men, women, and children of Polish race and language. Only thus shall we gain the living space (Lebensraum) which we need. Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?" — Adolf Hitler.

• "All Poles will disappear from the world.... It is essential that the great German people should consider it their major task to destroy all Poles." Heinrich Himmler.

• " cattle in human form." Johann Georg Forster, 18th-century Prussian writer.
• " more animals than human beings." Joseph Goebbels, Nazi German propaganda minister.

• "Heute gestohlen, morgen in Polen" ("Stolen today, tommorow in Poland") — modern German saying.

• " an historic failure, which has won her freedom not by her own exertions, but by the blood of others." David Lloyd-George.

• " suck with their mothers' milk. This is something that is deeply imbued in their tradition, their mentality. Like their loathing of Russia. The two things are not connected, of course. But that, too, is something very deep, like their hatred of Am Yisrael. Today, though, there are elements that are cleansed of this anti-Semitism." Yitzhak Shamir.

• Poland: "the monstrous bastard of the Treaty of Versailles." Vyacheslav Molotov.

• "A hen is not a bird, Poland is not foreign." — 18th-century Russian saying, justifying the Partitions of Poland.

See also

• Anglophobia
• Anti-Catholicism
• Anti-Semitism
• Anti-Slavism
• Lebensraum
• List of Polish Martyrdom sites
• Massacre of Lwów professors
• Nur für Deutsche
• -phobia
• Racism
• Western betrayal
• Xenophobia

Specific articles

Alfons Flisykowski • Armenian quote • Außerordentliche Befriedungsaktion • Auschwitz cross • Auschwitz Trial • Consequences of German Nazism • Drang nach Osten • Drzymała car • General Government • Generalplan Ost • German camps in occupied Poland during World War II • Hans Frank • World War II • Mikhail Katkov • Katyn Massacre • Koniuchy Massacre • Kulturkampf • Lebensborn • List of Polish Martyrdom sites • List of Soviet Union prison sites that detained Poles • Massacre of Lwów professors • Massacre of Praga • Massacres of Poles in Volhynia • Master race • Maus (graphic novel) • Mein Kampf • Massacre of Wola • Myths from Polish history • Nazism • Nur für Deutsche • Operation Tannenberg • Paneriai • Pawiak • Piaśnica • Polish operation of the NKVD • Racial purity • Racial segregation • Salomon Morel • Settlement Commission • Sonderaktion Krakau • The Painted Bird (novel) • Trial of the Sixteen • Trojan donkey • Untermensch • Western betrayal • You forgot Poland • Łapanka

Bibliography

• Lukas, Richard C. and Norman Davies (foreword) Forgotten Holocaust: The Poles Under German Occupation 1939-1944, (2001, c1996)
• Lukas, Richard C.: Forgotten Survivors: Polish Christians Remember The Nazi Occupation
• Lukas, Richard C.: Did the Children Cry: Hitler's War Against Jewish and Polish Children, 1939-1945
• Mikołaj Teres: Ethnic Cleansing of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia, Alliance of the Polish Eastern Provinces, Toronto, 1993, ISBN 0969802005.
• Ryszard Torzecki: Polacy i Ukraińcy; Sprawa ukraińska w czasie II wojny światowej na terenie II Rzeczypospolitej; Warsaw, 1993.
• Wiktor Poliszczuk: Bitter Truth. Legal and Political Assessment of the OUN and UPA, Toronto-Warsaw-Kiev, 1995.
• Władysław & Ewa Siemaszko: Ludobojstwo na ludności polskiej Wołynia 1939-1945 (eng: The Genocide Carried Out by Ukrainian Nationalists on the Polish Population of the Volhynia Region 1939-1945., Warsaw, 2000.
• Filip Ozarowski: Wolyn Aflame, Publishing House WICI, 1977, ISBN 0965548813.
• Tadeusz Piotrowski: Genocide and Rescue in Wolyn: Recollections of the Ukrainian Nationalist, Ethnic Cleansing Campaign Against the Poles During World War II, McFarland & Company, 2000, ISBN 0786407735.
• Tadeusz Piotrowski: Vengeance of the Swallows: Memoir of a Polish Family's Ordeal Under Soviet Aggression, Ukrainian Ethnic Cleansing and Nazi Enslavement, and Their Emigration to America, McFarland & Company, 1995, ISBN 0786400013.
• Dr. Bronislaw Kusnierz: Stalin and the Poles, Hollis & Carter, 1949.
• Dr. Dariusz Łukasiewicz: Czarna legenda Polski: Obraz Polski i Polaków w Prusach 1772-1815 (The black legend of Poland: the image of Poland and Poles in Prussia between 1772-1815) Wydawnictwo Poznanskiego Towarzystwa Przyjaciól Nauk, 1995. Vol. 51 of the history and social sciences series.ISBN 83-7063-148-7. Paper. In Polish with English and German summaries.

External links

• The Civic Identity of Russifying Officials in the Empire’s Northwestern Region after 1863
• The Crystallization of Ethnic Identity in the Process of Mass Ethnophobias in the Russian Empire DOC format
• The Forgotten Holocaust (mass deportations of Poles to the Soviet Union during WWII) article
• A Forgotten Odyssey (mass deportations of Poles to the Soviet Union during WWII) website
• Incorrect terminology used for naming Germany's Nazis concentration camps - Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs report
• The Institute of National Remembrance
• Linguistic imprecision? (anti-Polish bias in the English-language media)
• Non-Jewish Holocaust Victims - the 5 Million Others
• World Jewish Congress statement
• Alex Kurczaba, 'East Central Europe and Multiculturalism in the American Academy', The Sarmatian Review, 3/1998
• Interview with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Adam Daniel Rotfeld "We shall not let our country be libeled"

• Anti-Polonism
• Discrimination
• History of Poland
• Neologisms
• Persecution
• Phobias
• Racism