Poland’s Heroic Narrative Long Derided By Jews Keane

Skamander: The Poets and Their Poetry 1918-1929, by Barry Keane.

Poland’s So-Called Heroic Narrative Has Long Been Under Attack, Especially By Certain Jews. Why Endeks Did Not Think Much of Assimilated Jews Becoming Poles

This book is mainly about poetry and poetic themes. However, since this is not my field of research, I review this book solely from the perspective of the implications of Skamander thought. Although author Keane does not do this, I analyze Skamander themes in terms on their impact on Polish national thinking.

The Skamander poets—Tuwim, Lechon, Slonimski, and Grydzewski—were involved in the office of propaganda, on behalf of Poland and Pilsudski, during the 1920 Polish-Bolshevik War. (p. 23). In 1925, Iwaszkiewicz, himself a Skamander, criticized the group for its café-lifestyle and detachment from real life. (p. 29).

The Endeks criticized the aloofness of even many assimilated Jews to Polish national aspirations. In fact, the informed reader may be struck by the similarities in thinking of the Jewish Skamanders and that of many modern influential Polish Jews (e.g., Adam Michnik-Schechter and his GAZETA WYBORCZA, funded by George Soros). These include a consistent pattern of subtle to not-so-subtle hostility to Polish religious and patriotic traditions, usually disguised as something else.

SYMPATHY FOR POLAND’S COMMUNIST ENEMIES

Instead of displaying sympathy to Poland in the light of her ongoing danger from the Soviet neighbor, Tuwim and Slonimski protested the arrest of Communists by the Pilsudski regime. (p. 31). Tuwim and Slonimski’s professed “defense of democracy” (e. g., p. 115) is impossible to take seriously in light of their support for Communism, which was anything but democratic!

Tuwim’s DO GENERALOW (TO THE GENERALS) (p. 115) is supposed to be a non-specific satire of militarism. In so, why did Tuwim, first and foremost, not attack the militarism of the Russians and Germans, if he was so imbued with a “love for peace”? And what good is Poland acquiring some kind of Tuwim-promoted abstract “love of peace” when she is surrounded by hostile neighbors bent on destroying her?

POLAND’S HEROIC NARRATIVE ATTACKED–THEN AND NOW

In the poem CZARNA WIOSNA (THE BLACK SPRING), Slonimski expressed disdain for the Poles dwelling “too much” on their sufferings. (p. 63). [This is especially ironic in light of the long-term Jewish emphasis on their suffering–commonly called the lachrymose view of history.] Going further, Slonimski attacked Mickiewicz’s hero Konrad, a symbol of Poland’s martyrdom, as an anachronism of bygone times. (p. 63).

In a manner reminiscent of today’s neo-Stalinists, such as Jan T. Gross, and their efforts to “deconstruct Polish national myths”, Jan Lechon attacked Polish revolutionary hero Jan Kilinski–the national myth of which is a “poor foundation for galvanizing a new nation.” (p. 64).

UPDATE: The deriding of Poland’s so-called heroic narrative has become a mainstay of Holocaust-related thinking. Poland is blamed for this or that, and, when failing to bow to these accusations, she is condescendingly told that her heroic narrative prevents her from doing so!

TUWIM AND SLONIMSKI BECOME OPENLY COMMUNIST

Tuwim and Slonimski, having fled German- and Soviet-invaded Poland, and no longer content with simply bashing Poland, openly showed their Communist colors. Tuwim associated with the pro-Soviet “Oskar Lange circle”. (p. 32). Later, Tuwim, Slonimski, and some other Skamanders returned to Soviet-occupied Poland and gave their wholehearted support to the newly installed Communist puppet government. (p. 153).

For further analysis of Tuwim and the other Skamanders, read the Peczkis review of: Politics and poetry: The case of Julian Tuwim.