Jew with a coin: Difference between revisions

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".Bakir's statements, published, in weekend edition of "Gazeta Wyborcza", evoked ridicule and outrage<ref>[https://www.nck.pl/upload/archiwum_kw_files/artykuly/6._pawel_dobrosielski_-_zyd_z_pieniazkiem_jako_praktyka_polskiej_kultury_wernakularnej.pdf]"Ta diagnoza, opublikowana w weekendowym wydaniu „Gazety Wyborczej”, wywołała drwiny i oburzenie''"This diagnosis, published in weekend edition of "Gazeta Wyborcza", evoked ridicule and outrage".</ref>. 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-Bakir2019"/><ref name="Tokarska-Bakir2012"/><ref name=dobr /> Tokarska-Bakir's analysis, first published in the weekend edition of ''[[Gazeta Wyborcza]]'', elicited a few indignant responses.<ref name=dobr /> Paweł Jędrzejewski of the Forum of Polish Jews rejected the claims of antisemitism of the figures and pointed out desire to obtain wealth and positive image of Jews as being professional and high income of Jewish Americans.<ref name=dobr /> Ethnologist Ludwik Stomma, described her analysis as "it is difficult to have something more tangled up" and suggested her views are based on outdated 19th century work. Stomma pointed out that some of the definitions used by Tokarska-Bakir are difficult to understand, such as "father substitute" or "freed women". According to Stomma, Tokarska-Bakir should know that there were never "totemic religions".<ref>Ludwik Stomma, "Bakir z pieniążkiem", "Polityka", volume 11 (2850), 14.03-20.03.2012.</ref> In response, Tokarska-Bakir said that long after readers will remember Sigmund Freud long after they forget Stomma.<ref name=dobr />

Cultural studies scholar Paweł Dobrosielski, who performs a vernacular culture analysis, reaches the same conclusion as Tokarska-Bakir{{fact}}. Dobrosielski states the motif draws on prior Jews and money stereotypes, but tamed and redirected to a positive meaning in supporting Poles seeking wealth. Dobrosielski sees the motif as a "reaction to the feeling of isolation produced by the highly complex Polish discourse on the Holocaust, and simultaneously by the internalization (via taking into account common interpretations) and contestation (via inverting its meaning) of that discourse".<ref name="Tartakowsky" /><ref name="dobr">{{Cite journal|last=Dobrosielski|first=Paweł|date=2015|title=„Żyd z pieniążkiem” jako praktyka polskiej: kultury wernakularnej|trans-title=The "Jew with a coin" as a practice of the polish vernacular culture: a preliminary research report|url=https://www.nck.pl/upload/archiwum_kw_files/artykuly/6._pawel_dobrosielski_-_zyd_z_pieniazkiem_jako_praktyka_polskiej_kultury_wernakularnej.pdf|journal=Kultura Współczesna|publisher={{ill|National Centre for Culture|pl|Narodowe Centrum Kultury}}|volume=3|issue=87|pages=61–75|access-date=25 August 2019}}</ref> According to Pawel Dobrosielski the image disturbs mostly researchers and publicists, and for most Poles the Jew with a coin seems harmless, friendly practice connected to positive view of Jews. Dobrowolski writes that the debate among academics is conducted in an isolated circulation, where specialist knowledge invokes context of multilayered history of antisemitic prejudice, which is however absent from practice real social life.<ref>''„Własności” tego wizerunku niepokoją jednak przede wszystkim badaczy i publicystów, ogółowi Polaków praktyka wieszania „Żyda z pieniążkiem” wydaje sięchyba raczej sympatyczna, związana z nieszkodliwym zabobonem i pozytywnym stereotypem żydowskości. Wyrażane przez akademików zaniepokojenie,związane z rozpowszechnieniem tej praktyki, jej możliwymi ukrytymi sensamioraz utrwalanymi przez nią stereotypami nie powstrzymują Polaków przed pro-dukowaniem, kupowaniem i używaniem „Żyda z pieniążkiem”. Ekspercka debata odbywa się bowiem w zamkniętym systemowym obiegu specjalistycznejwiedzy przywołującej kontekst złożonej i wielowątkowej historii antysemickichuprzedzeń, którą można uznać za zamkniętą w odniesieniu do realnej pragmatyki społecznej, choć wciąż oddziałującą na poziomie społecznego imaginarium''ref>[https://www.nck.pl/upload/archiwum_kw_files/artykuly/6._pawel_dobrosielski_-_zyd_z_pieniazkiem_jako_praktyka_polskiej_kultury_wernakularnej.pdf]"</ref>