Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Editors and Advisers
- Contents
- Polin
- Statement From the Editors
- ARTICLES
- The Reconstruction of Pre-Ashkenazic Jewish Settlements in the Slavic Lands in the Light of Linguistic Sources
- Jewish Perceptions of lnsecurity and Powerlessness in 16th-18th Century Poland
- Some Basic Characteristics of the Jewish Experience in Poland
- The Changes in the Attitude of Polish Society Toward theJews in the 18th Century
- Eros and Enlightenment: Love Against Marriage in the East European Jewish Enlightenment
- Polish-Jewish Relations and the January Uprising: The Polish Perspective
- Loyalty to the Crown or Polish Patriotism? The Metamorphoses of an Anti-Polish Story of the 1863 Insurrection
- The Polish Revolt of 1863 and the Birth of Russification: Bad for the Jews?
- A Turning Point in the History of Polish Socialism and its Attitude Towards the Jewish Question
- The Question of the Assimilation of Jews in the Polish Kingdom (1864-1897): An Interpretive Essay
- The Secular Appropriation of Hasidism by an East European Jewish Intellectual: Dubnow, Renan, and the Besht
- Some Methodological Problems of the Study of Jewish History in Poland Between the Two World Wars
- Jews and Poles in Yiddish Literature in Poland Between the Two World Wars
- Is There a Jewish School of Polish Literature?
- The Underground Movement in Auschwitz Concentration Camp
- DOCUMENTS
- INTERVIEW
- A DIALOGUE
- BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ESSAYS
- BOOK REVIEWS
- CONTRIBUTORS
Loyalty to the Crown or Polish Patriotism? The Metamorphoses of an Anti-Polish Story of the 1863 Insurrection
from ARTICLES
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Editors and Advisers
- Contents
- Polin
- Statement From the Editors
- ARTICLES
- The Reconstruction of Pre-Ashkenazic Jewish Settlements in the Slavic Lands in the Light of Linguistic Sources
- Jewish Perceptions of lnsecurity and Powerlessness in 16th-18th Century Poland
- Some Basic Characteristics of the Jewish Experience in Poland
- The Changes in the Attitude of Polish Society Toward theJews in the 18th Century
- Eros and Enlightenment: Love Against Marriage in the East European Jewish Enlightenment
- Polish-Jewish Relations and the January Uprising: The Polish Perspective
- Loyalty to the Crown or Polish Patriotism? The Metamorphoses of an Anti-Polish Story of the 1863 Insurrection
- The Polish Revolt of 1863 and the Birth of Russification: Bad for the Jews?
- A Turning Point in the History of Polish Socialism and its Attitude Towards the Jewish Question
- The Question of the Assimilation of Jews in the Polish Kingdom (1864-1897): An Interpretive Essay
- The Secular Appropriation of Hasidism by an East European Jewish Intellectual: Dubnow, Renan, and the Besht
- Some Methodological Problems of the Study of Jewish History in Poland Between the Two World Wars
- Jews and Poles in Yiddish Literature in Poland Between the Two World Wars
- Is There a Jewish School of Polish Literature?
- The Underground Movement in Auschwitz Concentration Camp
- DOCUMENTS
- INTERVIEW
- A DIALOGUE
- BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ESSAYS
- BOOK REVIEWS
- CONTRIBUTORS
Summary
The 1863 Polish insurrection had significant echoes in the Jewish society of Eastern Europe. That community, dispersed throughout the diverse areas of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, often found itself in a situation which recurred a number of times in nineteenth- and twentiethcentury Jewish history: between the hammer of the Empire and the anvil of the autochtonic nation aspiring for independence. Resolving the matter of which side to favour was often an urgent, concrete question. On the one hand, the Jews were faithful to a long tradition of loyalty to the Crown, a tradition which grew stronger in the decades preceding the Rebellion even in haskalah circles; on the other hand, the Polish nobility and broad strata in Eastern-European Jewish society had been closely associated for many generations, an association still very strong in the mid-nineteenth century. Jewish memoirs offer many descriptions of the Jews’ situation during the Polish uprisings against the Russian regime in 1831and1863. Those Jews who had drawn closer to Polish culture - the maskilim, along with some of the wealthy elements in traditional society - identified with the Polish objectives. The Polish side, however, demonstrated lack of faith in the Jews and oftentimes accused them of spying for the Russians. Etz Avot, an account of rabbinical families’ descent, relates inter alia that the Jews had participated in the 1831 uprising out of fear:
For the conspirators neither favoured the elderly nor graced youth; when the Jews saw that the trouble was overtaking them their notables grew wise and made peace with the great leaders and many of the common people, the artisans and idlers among them, and befriended them, for their fear had fallen upon them. The Jews helped them make war against the Russian Empire, donning Polish uniforms down to the last man, each man picking up his weapons - one a spear, another a rifle and the other instruments of war. [But] the people of Poland did not deign to accept the Jews’ efforts in their aid, [their willingness] to fight the enemy in the war, for they suspected that the Jews would deceive them and hand them to the enemy. They only used the Jews as watchmen, to stand outside and in the streets (…).
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Poles and Jews: Renewing the Dialogue , pp. 81 - 95Publisher: Liverpool University PressPrint publication year: 2004