ENGLISH

Bieganski: The Brute Polak Stereotype in Polish-Jewish Relations and American Popular Culture (Jews of Poland)

By Danusha V. Goska

Book information

Publisher
Academic Studies Press
Year
2010
ISBN
1936235153, 9781936235155
Language
english
Format
DJVU
Filesize
21 MB (21625311 bytes)
Pages
344\342
Time added
2022-12-18 06:42:15

Description

In this study, Goska exposes one stereotype of Poles and other Eastern Europeans. In the “Bieganski” stereotype, Poles exhibit the qualities of animals. They are strong, stupid, violent, fertile, anarchic, dirty, and especially hateful in a way that more evolved humans are not. Their special hatefulness is epitomized by Polish anti- Semitism. Bieganski discovers this stereotype in the mainstream press, in scholarship and film, in Jews’ self-definition, and in responses to the Holocaust. Bieganski’s twin is Shylock, the stereotype of the crafty, physically inadequate, moneyed Jew. The final chapters of the book are devoted to interviews with American Jews, which reveal that Bieganski―and Shylock―are both alive and well among those who have little knowledge of Poles or Poland.

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