Anti-Polish sentiment - Misplaced Pages

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

While the term is commonly used in Polish (as "antypolonizm"), its use in English has been limited. The term was used frequently in the 19th century to describe the anti-Polish policies of Prussian statesman Otto von Bismarck. The English derivation 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 scholarly works by Polish and German researchers. One such work has asserted a Polish "black legend," a mistaken belief that almost any evil or folly may be blamed upon the Polish people.

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 the belief that Polish culture or interests are a threat to one's own national aspirations.

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

File:Katyn3.jpg

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

Continued mass-media references to World War II-era "Polish death camps" and "Polish concentration camps" are often cited as examples of anti-Polonism. These terms in fact refer to German concentration camps set up and run by Germans, on occupied Polish territory, whose victims included millions of Poles. Those who object to this usage argue that these terms tend to shift responsibility for these camps onto the Poles, rather than simply describe their location in a neutral way. 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."

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.

Anti-Polonism is currently believed by many Poles to have grown recently in the Russian media, mainly because of Poland's involvement with the War in Iraq, Orange Revolution in Ukraine, disagreements with Russian government on topics of the Northern Gas Main under the Baltic Sea and Russian involvement in war at Chechnya. It is believed that the rise of polonophobia in Russian media is also due to Poland's role in the fall of Communism, breaking the Warsaw Pact, liberating itself from the influence of the Communist Government of the Soviet Union and allying with NATO and the European Union. Historically painful topics such as mass murders, the forced removal of Polish captives to Siberia and the placement of Polish prisoners in Soviet concentration camps (Łagry) during World War II by Stalin and KGB, coupled with the refusal of successive Russian governments to admit any wrongdoing has further exacerbated Warsaw-Moscow tensions, thus giving Russian government-controlled media arguments to raise Polonophobia.

See also