Jew with a coin: Difference between revisions
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According to Polish anthropologist [[Joanna Tokarska-Bakir]], the figurines fill a role similar to a series of other [[Household deity|domestic demons]] – in this case protecting Polish homes that were "purified of Jews". According to Tokarska-Bakir, the placement of the figurines in the hall to the left of the doorway is the same as the placement of old Slav ancestors. Tokarska-Bakir that given that Polish society has enriched itself as a result of the "disappearance" of the Jews, the custom is [[grotesque]] – a demonism transformed into a triviality. Turning to [[Sigmund Freud]]'s [[Totem and Taboo]], Tokarska-Bakir contrasts the Polish custom with [[Totem|totemic religion]] which is the product of guilty sons attempting to atone for the founding murder of legendary horde leaders. Cast in this manner, Tokarska-Bakir considers the grotesque practice as less irrational – the protection of the home by the Jew who was expelled from the home being a twisted sign of moral initiation.<ref name="Tokarska-Bakir">[http://wyborcza.pl/1,75410,11172689,Zyd_z_pieniazkiem_podbija_Polske.html A Jew with a coin conquers Poland (Polish)], Joanna Tokarska-Bakir, 18 February 2012.</ref><ref>[http://www.aapjstudies.org/manager/external/ckfinder/userfiles/files/Jew_with_a_coin_FINAL.2.pdf The Jew with a Coin: Analysis of a contemporary folkloric emblem (AAPJ)], Joanna Tokarska-Bakir, 2019.</ref> |
According to Polish anthropologist [[Joanna Tokarska-Bakir]], the figurines fill a role similar to a series of other [[Household deity|domestic demons]] – in this case protecting Polish homes that were "purified of Jews". According to Tokarska-Bakir, the placement of the figurines in the hall to the left of the doorway is the same as the placement of old Slav ancestors. Tokarska-Bakir that given that Polish society has enriched itself as a result of the "disappearance" of the Jews, the custom is [[grotesque]] – a demonism transformed into a triviality. Turning to [[Sigmund Freud]]'s [[Totem and Taboo]], Tokarska-Bakir contrasts the Polish custom with [[Totem|totemic religion]] which is the product of guilty sons attempting to atone for the founding murder of legendary horde leaders. Cast in this manner, Tokarska-Bakir considers the grotesque practice as less irrational – the protection of the home by the Jew who was expelled from the home being a twisted sign of moral initiation.<ref name="Tokarska-Bakir">[http://wyborcza.pl/1,75410,11172689,Zyd_z_pieniazkiem_podbija_Polske.html A Jew with a coin conquers Poland (Polish)], Joanna Tokarska-Bakir, 18 February 2012.</ref><ref>[http://www.aapjstudies.org/manager/external/ckfinder/userfiles/files/Jew_with_a_coin_FINAL.2.pdf The Jew with a Coin: Analysis of a contemporary folkloric emblem (AAPJ)], Joanna Tokarska-Bakir, 2019.</ref> |
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According to literature researcher {{ill|Bożena Umińska-Keff|pl|Bożena Umińska-Keff}} the imagery and superstitions surrounding the figurines all the basic elements of antisemitism, and sees the figurines as part of a wider tradition of antisemitic images in Poland (Jewish wizards, Jews making blood from children, [[Judensau]], [[Żydokomuna]], etc.). Umińska-Keff ties the current figurines to the dispossession of the Jews by the Germans and Poles during the Holocaust.<ref>[https://www.rp.pl/artykul/877193-Zyd-o-imieniu-Zyd.html A Jew named Jewish (Polish)], Bożena Umińska-Keff, 19 May 2012</ref> |
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According to [[Simon Wiesenthal Center]] director for international relations Dr. Shimon Samuels, superstition lies behind the figurines. According to Samuels these are used as good luck charms by football fans who then blame the Jewish figurines if their team loses. Samuels likens the figurines to a [[phantom limb]], as while only 20,000 Jews reside in modern Poland, the stereotypical Jewish figurines serve as an item that may be "scratched".<ref name="JC20141204">[https://www.thejc.com/news/world/poland-s-mantelpiece-jews-1.62534 Poland's mantelpiece Jews], The JC, 4 December 2014</ref> |
According to [[Simon Wiesenthal Center]] director for international relations Dr. Shimon Samuels, superstition lies behind the figurines. According to Samuels these are used as good luck charms by football fans who then blame the Jewish figurines if their team loses. Samuels likens the figurines to a [[phantom limb]], as while only 20,000 Jews reside in modern Poland, the stereotypical Jewish figurines serve as an item that may be "scratched".<ref name="JC20141204">[https://www.thejc.com/news/world/poland-s-mantelpiece-jews-1.62534 Poland's mantelpiece Jews], The JC, 4 December 2014</ref> |
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Revision as of 01:26, 22 May 2019
Jew with a coin (Template:Lang-pl), "Little Jews" (Template:Lang-pl),[1] or Lucky Jew, are images and figurines of Jews holding coins. The practice[clarification needed] is widely considered to be offensive, rooted in negative stereotypes, or antisemitic.[2][3][4][5]
History
Research by Erica Lehrer, who curated the Souvenir, Talisman, Toy exhibit at the Ethnographic Museum of Kraków, shows that while figurines of Jews existed in the past in Poland the contemporary figurines connecting traditionally dressed Jews with coins is recent. Prior to World War II, Jewish figures were present in Christmas and Easter rituals and in particular in the Emaus Easter market fair in Krakow. During the communist era in Poland figures of Jews at work as well as suffering in the Holocaust were available for sale in the Cepelia ethnic art stores. [1] According to Bożena Umińska-Keff, while Jews were connected to money in the past in Poland, the rise of the coin imagery in post-communist Poland is not coincidental as Jews have become associated with success in the West.[1]
According to Ruth Ellen Gruber, the figurines, which are often referred to with the pejorative term "Żydki", were hand-crafted in the 1990s. However, as of 2011 many of figurines are mass produced in standardized forms that are widely available and popular.[6]
Ethnographic analysis
According to Erica Lehrer the folk artists creating the figurines, especially the older ones, treat the figurines with artistic, sensitive treatment.Lehrer classifies figurines as serving need as tourist keepsakes and tokens of nostalgic or political attempt to connect with Jewish past. Other use is as a good luck charm bringing prosperity. Some the figurines lightly mock traits associated with Jewisness such as dress or facial features, behaviours.[7]Lehrer states that the figurines are seen in Polish folk society as innocent and even complimentary towards Jewish people[8]
According to historian and sociologist Alina Cała, three points of reference stand out in the figurines. The first is reminiscent of figurines in the traditional Emaus Easter fair, the second is black magic, whereas the third is the traditional antisemitic caricature of Jewish moneylender which was exploited in Nazi and Polish iconography. However, whereas classical moneylender tropes often presented assimilated Jews the current Polish figurines present Jews in traditional Orthodox dress.[3]
According to Polish anthropologist Joanna Tokarska-Bakir, the figurines fill a role similar to a series of other domestic demons – in this case protecting Polish homes that were "purified of Jews". According to Tokarska-Bakir, the placement of the figurines in the hall to the left of the doorway is the same as the placement of old Slav ancestors. Tokarska-Bakir that given that Polish society has enriched itself as a result of the "disappearance" of the Jews, the custom is grotesque – a demonism transformed into a triviality. Turning to Sigmund Freud's Totem and Taboo, Tokarska-Bakir contrasts the Polish custom with totemic religion which is the product of guilty sons attempting to atone for the founding murder of legendary horde leaders. Cast in this manner, Tokarska-Bakir considers the grotesque practice as less irrational – the protection of the home by the Jew who was expelled from the home being a twisted sign of moral initiation.[9][10]
According to Simon Wiesenthal Center director for international relations Dr. Shimon Samuels, superstition lies behind the figurines. According to Samuels these are used as good luck charms by football fans who then blame the Jewish figurines if their team loses. Samuels likens the figurines to a phantom limb, as while only 20,000 Jews reside in modern Poland, the stereotypical Jewish figurines serve as an item that may be "scratched".[11]
Exhibits
In 2019, the Jewish Museum London ran an exhibit titled Jews, Money, Myth exploring antisemitic imagery linking Jews with money. Alongside manifestations of antisemitic imagery dating back to Judas and Thirty pieces of silver, the exhibit featured a display case of the popular Polish clay figurines "lucky jews".[12][13]
References
- ^ a b c Why Are the Poles Amassing Jewish Figurines?, Haaretz, Benny Mer, 20 November 2014
- ^ Hey Poland, What's Up with Those Lucky Jew Statues?, Vice, Ilana Belfer, 10 October 2013
- ^ a b Cała, Alina. "„Pamiątka, Zabawka, Talizman/Souvenir, Talisman, Toy”(wystawa w Muzeum Etnograficznym w Krakowie, 2013 rok, kuratorka: Erica Lehrer)." Studia Litteraria et Historica 3-4 (2015): 265-271.
- ^ Why ‘Lucky Jew’ imagery is so popular in Poland, Times of Israel (JTA reprint), 18 August 2018
- ^ [1]
- ^ Philosemitism in History, chapter by Ruth Ellen Gruber, Cambridge University Press, page 324
- ^ [2]
- ^ [3]
- ^ A Jew with a coin conquers Poland (Polish), Joanna Tokarska-Bakir, 18 February 2012.
- ^ The Jew with a Coin: Analysis of a contemporary folkloric emblem (AAPJ), Joanna Tokarska-Bakir, 2019.
- ^ Poland's mantelpiece Jews, The JC, 4 December 2014
- ^ Jews Have Been Seen as ‘All About the Benjamins’ for 2,000 Years, New Exhibition Shows, Daniella Peled, Haaretz, 20 March 2019
- ^ Daniel Finkelstein: Next time I’m asked how antisemitism started, I’ll say ‘go to this exhibition’, The Times, Daniel Finkelstein, 20 March 2019
External links
- Lucky Jews online site for 2013 Souvenir, Talisman Toy exhibition at Ethnographic Museum of Kraków, curated by Erica Lehrer