Anti-Polish sentiment
Anti-Polonism (alternatively spelled antipolonism; also, Polonophobia) is a term describing an irrational or malicious hostility toward Poles as a nation or as a cultural community.
It has manifested 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.
The term's use in English has been extremely limited. It 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, appeared in some scholarly works ([1]). 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.
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 a belief that Polish culture or interests are a threat to one's own national aspirations.
Anti-Polonism reached a particular peak during World War II, when all of Polish society was an object of German genocidal policies.
More recent, "milder" forms of anti-Polonism have included disparaging "Polish jokes" and libelous references to World War II-era "Polish death camps" (actually German concentration camps, on occupied Polish territory, whose victims included hundreds of thousands of Poles). Only slightly less obnoxious are the persistent German canards, dating back to World War II and meant to illustrate Polish stupidity or incompetence, 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.
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.
See also
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