The “Jewish Question” in the Polish-Catholic Press in Yad Vashem Studies, Volume XXXII

Alien, Hostile, Dangerous: The Image of the Jews and the “Jewish Question” in the Polish-Catholic Press in the 1930s

The article deals with the handling of the “Jewish question” in Catholic intellectual periodicals published in the 1930s. Many of them, despite their prominence among Catholic publications, have been until now ignored by researchers in this field. Yet, these very periodicals were the basis for Catholic reflection on the status of Jewish citizens of the Polish Republic, Judaism and Polish-Jewish relations. In the 1930s the press in question attached to the “Jewish question” much more importance that previously believed. Both the form and the contents of these texts concerning Jews and the “Jewish question” were not far from what could be found in the popular Catholic press. The authors of these articles focused on depicting the “Jewish threat” and looking for “solutions” to the “Jewish problem.” Despite a declared need to find solutions consistent with the teachings of the Church this press referred to the problem in a very ambiguous and inconsistent way. The article discusses the main notions and ideas of anti-Jewish Catholic discourse in the 1930s.