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Scholars have looked at a number of dimensions of those figurines, paintings and associated products. One of those is the [[Antisemitic canard#Usury and profiteering|stereotypical connection between Jews and money]]. According to Polish scholar of Jewish history, {{ill|Bożena Umińska-Keff|pl|Bożena Umińska-Keff}}, while Jews were associated with money and financial gain in Poland for many centuries, the rise of the coin imagery in post-communist Poland is not coincidental as Jews have become associated with success in the capitalistic West that post-1989 Poland aspires to catch up to.<ref name="haaretz20141120" /> Sociologist Ewa Tartakowsky ties the popularity of the figurines to the even more recent growth of public discourse on the Holocaust in Poland, that began with [[Jan T. Gross]]'s publication of ''[[Neighbors: The Destruction of the Jewish Community in Jedwabne, Poland]]'' (2001).<ref name="Tartakowsky"/>
Scholars have looked at a number of dimensions of those figurines, paintings and associated products. One of those is the [[Antisemitic canard#Usury and profiteering|stereotypical connection between Jews and money]]. According to Polish scholar of Jewish history, {{ill|Bożena Umińska-Keff|pl|Bożena Umińska-Keff}}, while Jews were associated with money and financial gain in Poland for many centuries, the rise of the coin imagery in post-communist Poland is not coincidental as Jews have become associated with success in the capitalistic West that post-1989 Poland aspires to catch up to.<ref name="haaretz20141120" /> Sociologist Ewa Tartakowsky ties the popularity of the figurines to the even more recent growth of public discourse on the Holocaust in Poland, that began with [[Jan T. Gross]]'s publication of ''[[Neighbors: The Destruction of the Jewish Community in Jedwabne, Poland]]'' (2001).<ref name="Tartakowsky"/>


Another issue is the meaning and impact of this motif. According to [[Erica Lehrer]] who curated the ''Souvenir, Talisman, Toy'' exhibition, some Jews who travel to Poland often see the figurines as "inflammatory and shocking, and mostly it gets read in the context of antisemitism". Lehrer says that while one can not understand the figurines with the coin without referring the history of antisemitic imagery, the figurines are rooted in a long history that is more complex than just antisemitism. According to Lehrer, the folk artists creating the figurines, especially the older ones, treat the figurines with artistic, sensitive treatment. One use of the charms is as tourist keepsakes and tokens of nostalgic or political attempt to connect with Jewish past, whereas a second use is as a good luck charm bringing prosperity. Lehrer states that the figurines are seen in Polish folk society as innocent and even complimentary towards Jewish people, and that most do not realize such items might be controversial.<ref name="LehrerUSHMM">[https://www.ushmm.org/confront-antisemitism/antisemitism-podcast/erica-lehrer USHMM VOICES ON ANTISEMITISM PODCAST], USHMM, 1 October 2015</ref><ref name="Tartakowsky"/> Lehrer notes that these tourist souvernirs evoke ambivalent reaction among Jewish tourists;and buyers reactions range from revulsion to wonder<ref>Klezmer's Afterlife: An Ethnography of the Jewish Music Revival in Poland and Germany
Another issue is the meaning and impact of this motif. According to [[Erica Lehrer]] who curated the ''Souvenir, Talisman, Toy'' exhibition, some Jews who travel to Poland often see the figurines as "inflammatory and shocking, and mostly it gets read in the context of antisemitism". Lehrer says that while one can not understand the figurines with the coin without referring the history of antisemitic imagery, the figurines are rooted in a long history that is more complex than just antisemitism. According to Lehrer, the folk artists creating the figurines, especially the older ones, treat the figurines with artistic, sensitive treatment. One use of the charms is as tourist keepsakes and tokens of nostalgic or political attempt to connect with Jewish past, whereas a second use is as a good luck charm bringing prosperity. Lehrer states that the figurines are seen in Polish folk society as innocent and even complimentary towards Jewish people, and that most do not realize such items might be controversial. Lehrer also says that the figurines "embody some bits of historical memory of Jews as seen through their mostly peasant neighbours' eyes - but mixed with myth, sometimes nostalgia, and after the war, occasionally empathy."<ref name="JC20141204"><ref name="LehrerUSHMM">[https://www.ushmm.org/confront-antisemitism/antisemitism-podcast/erica-lehrer USHMM VOICES ON ANTISEMITISM PODCAST], USHMM, 1 October 2015</ref><ref name="Tartakowsky"/> Lehrer notes that these tourist souvenirs evoke ambivalent reaction among Jewish tourists;and buyers reactions range from revulsion to wonder<ref>Klezmer's Afterlife: An Ethnography of the Jewish Music Revival in Poland and Germany Magdalena Waligorska page 144 Oxford University Press 2013</ref>
Magdalena Waligorska page 144 Oxford University Press 2013</ref>
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 {{ill|Emaus Easter fair|pl|Emaus (odpust)}}, the second is [[black magic]], whereas the third is the traditional [[Antisemitic canard#Usury and profiteering|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.<ref name="Cala">{{Cite web|url=http://ispan.waw.pl/journals/index.php/slh/article/download/slh.2015.010/1596|title=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.}}</ref>
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 {{ill|Emaus Easter fair|pl|Emaus (odpust)}}, the second is [[black magic]], whereas the third is the traditional [[Antisemitic canard#Usury and profiteering|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.<ref name="Cala">{{Cite web|url=http://ispan.waw.pl/journals/index.php/slh/article/download/slh.2015.010/1596|title=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.}}</ref>


Revision as of 08:01, 15 July 2019

File:02018 0505 Solina-Stausee cropped.jpg
"Jews with coins" on sale in Poland, bearing the name of the spa village of Polańczyk. The middle figurine reads: "Polańczyk $ Jew In the hall, coin in your pocket".

Jew with a coin (Polish: Żyd z pieniążkiem),[1][2][3] "Little Jews" (Polish: Żydki),[4] or Lucky Jew (Polish: "Żyd na szczęście")[1] are images or figurines of a Jew holding a coin, usually accompanied by a proverb.[1] The motif was first described in articles from 2000, and probably dates back to after the 1989 transition of Polish government.[1] Originally hand-crafted, many of the images are now mass-produced in standardized forms.[5] As of the early 21st century, they were found in many Polish souvenir shops[4][6][2] and homes.[7] A 2015 survey found that 19% of Poles owned such an item.[8][9]

Scholars offer various interpretations of the motif's nature and origin, though they generally agree that most modern Poles see the motif as a talisman for financial luck. While the images draw on a traditional antisemitic caricature of the Jewish moneylender,[10][11] opinions about the motif vary, ranging from seeing it as a harmless folklore or nostalgia, to promoting Polish-Jewish dialogue on one hand or offensive, even antisemitic stereotypes on another.[12][6][4][13][14]

History

File:Jew holding a coin - Polish folk images 01.jpg
Paintings of Jews holding a coin

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 financial motifs like coins is recent. Prior to World War II, Jewish figurines were present in Christmas and Easter rituals and in particular in the Emaus Easter market fair in Kraków. During the communist era in Poland figurines of Jews were available for sale in the Cepelia  [pl] ethnic art stores.[4]

The figurines were first described in articles from 2000 whose authors state the phenomena is recent, and that the figurines probably date back to the times following the transition of government in 1989.[1] According to Ruth Ellen Gruber, the figurines were generally hand-crafted in the 1990s. However, as of 2011, due to expanding tourist market, many of figurines are mass-produced in standardized forms.[5]

Ethnographic analysis

Scholars have looked at a number of dimensions of those figurines, paintings and associated products. One of those is the stereotypical connection between Jews and money. According to Polish scholar of Jewish history, Bożena Umińska-Keff [pl], while Jews were associated with money and financial gain in Poland for many centuries, the rise of the coin imagery in post-communist Poland is not coincidental as Jews have become associated with success in the capitalistic West that post-1989 Poland aspires to catch up to.[4] Sociologist Ewa Tartakowsky ties the popularity of the figurines to the even more recent growth of public discourse on the Holocaust in Poland, that began with Jan T. Gross's publication of Neighbors: The Destruction of the Jewish Community in Jedwabne, Poland (2001).[1]

Another issue is the meaning and impact of this motif. According to Erica Lehrer who curated the Souvenir, Talisman, Toy exhibition, some Jews who travel to Poland often see the figurines as "inflammatory and shocking, and mostly it gets read in the context of antisemitism". Lehrer says that while one can not understand the figurines with the coin without referring the history of antisemitic imagery, the figurines are rooted in a long history that is more complex than just antisemitism. According to Lehrer, the folk artists creating the figurines, especially the older ones, treat the figurines with artistic, sensitive treatment. One use of the charms is as tourist keepsakes and tokens of nostalgic or political attempt to connect with Jewish past, whereas a second use is as a good luck charm bringing prosperity. Lehrer states that the figurines are seen in Polish folk society as innocent and even complimentary towards Jewish people, and that most do not realize such items might be controversial. Lehrer also says that the figurines "embody some bits of historical memory of Jews as seen through their mostly peasant neighbours' eyes - but mixed with myth, sometimes nostalgia, and after the war, occasionally empathy."Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page).[1] Lehrer notes that these tourist souvenirs evoke ambivalent reaction among Jewish tourists;and buyers reactions range from revulsion to wonder[15] 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 [pl], 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.[10]

Cultural studies scholar Paweł Dobrosielski concurs that the motif associating money with Jews used in such figurines or paintings has antisemitic origins, however according to Dobrosielski this was tamed and redirected to a positive meaning in supporting Poles seeking wealth. Dobrosielski suggests that it may represent a desire to situate Poland in the history of capitalism, stressing the fact that the mercantile Jewish traditions are also Polish traditions. He concludes that this motif has implications for the discussion of "superstitions, capitalism and anti-Semitism" in the Polish society.[1][8] 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. Dobrosielski 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 real social life.[8]

According to Tartakowsky, even if the figurines are not an expression of antisemitism, they are affected by the dis-inhibition of xenophobic rhetoric and marking of those designated as "enemies of the state". Tartakowsky notes that freedom of expression in post-1989 Poland is reflective of the American model, as opposed to the French one, favoring freedom of expression over the outlawing hate speech. Tartakowsky notes the reappropriation of Jewish figurines is deeply ambiguous, but is troubling due to the modern political context and stereotyping.[1]

Historian Magdalena Waligórska associates the paintings and sculptures with black magic, seeing them as serving an amulet function in a country now almost devoid of Jews.[16]

Umińska-Keff asserts that the imagery and superstitions surrounding the figurines contain all the basic elements of antisemitism - a non-personalized soulless man embodied by money,[1] and sees the figurines as part of a wider tradition of antisemitic stereotypes in Poland (Jewish wizards, Jews making blood from children, Judensau, Żydokomuna, etc.).[17]

According to Simon Wiesenthal Center director for international relations Dr. Shimon Samuels, superstition lies behind the figurines. 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".[18]

Johnny Daniels, activist promoting the dialogue between Jews and Poles, considers such items an "insensitive but ultimately harmless expression of nostalgia", comparable to the cigar store Indian in the United States.[6]

Musicologist and Jewish studies scholar Halina Goldberg notes that while the phenomena may be fascinating from commercial and ethnographic sense, it "is troubling that the most prevalent Polish image of Jewishness, one that is imprinted on the minds of people who know no other Jews, is that of the traditionally attired Orthodox Jew who has the power to control one's financial fortunes.[19]

Usage and customs

According to a 2015 survey in Poland, 65 per cent of respondents identify the figurines and 18 per cent of respondents had such a figurine at home; recognition of the symbol does not vary with respondent age, indicating that the practice started recently.[1] Another survey from that year suggested that about 18 per cent of the surveyed own a related product. About 50 per cent of the surveyed identified the motif with financial success; others pointed more generally to it being a 'lucky symbol', or just to it being a folk decoration.[8] According to Paweł Dobrosielski, a survey showed that 19 per cent of Poles possessed such item and 16 per cent confirmed its use.[8]

The figurines are used as a good luck charm to become rich,[1] as well as good luck charms by football fans who then blame the Jew if their team loses.[18][20] The figurines are often referred to in the pejorative diminutive żydek (singular, żydki plural).[1][5]

The figurines are often given as gifts.[6] Some owners of the images flip them over on the sabbath (Friday night[6] or Saturdays[7])[1] some placing a coin (grosz, 1/100 of a złoty) behind the image,[1] so that money and good fortune may fall upon the family living in the house.[1][6][7] At homes the images are placed in the hallway to the left of the door.[1][2] In addition, the figurines are placed in offices and in shops next to cash registers.[7] According to a 2015 survey in Poland, 50 per cent respondents knew of the superstition of good fortune, 24 per cent of the custom to place a grosz behind the frame, and 13 per cent of flipping it over on the sabbath.[1]

According to Joanna Tokarska-Bakir, the motif is usually accompanied with the saying Żyd w sieni, pieniądz w kieszeni ("Jew in the hall, coin in your pocket"), a saying with roots pre-dating the Second World War. Pawel Dobrosielski writes that Tokarska's claims first published in weekend edition of Gazeta Wyborcza were ridiculed and sparked outrage.[21] Tokarska writes that the original meaning of the saying was that at long as the Jew stayed at the entrance of the house the money in the house remained safe, but in contemporary popular usage the meaning has been reversed: the Jew in the hall brings fortune to the house.[1] A recent saying accompanying the motif is Aby kasa w domu była, I się nigdy nie skonczyła, Żyda w domu trzeba mieć  ! We pieniędzy będzie strzec ("So that the money stays at home, and that it does not leave, keep a Jew in your house, he will keep the dough"). The saying Kiedy bida, to do Żyda ("When poverty is there, go to the Jew") is also used, referred originally to Jewish moneylenders.[1] Tokarska has been criticized by Sorbonne University professor Ludwik Stomma, an ethnologist and anthropologist, who described her claims "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 are difficult to understand, such as "father substitute" or "freed women". According to Stomma, Tokarska should know that there were never "totemic religions".[22] Pawel Dobrosielski notes that Paweł Jędrzejewski from 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.[21]

Jewish figurines are not limited to Poland; small figurines of Jews are also sold in Israel and North America.[23][24]

Exhibits and performances

The 2013 Souvenir, Talisman, Toy exhibit at the Ethnographic Museum of Kraków, curated by Erica Lehrer, explored the development of Jewish figurines in general and the Jew with a coin in particular.[10][4] The exhibit was subsequently extended and displayed at the Galicia Jewish Museum.[25][26]

As part of the 2017 Jewish Culture Festival in Kraków, inaugurating Festivalt site-specific events, a trio of street performers dressed in traditional Orthodox garb sat behind a desk, surrounded by a mock picture frame, and laden with old-style inkwell, accounting ledger and quill pen. Bringing the figurines to life, the performers offered "good fortune" to passerby in exchange for a few coins.[27] One of the performers, Michael Rubenfeld, continued performing in 2018.[28][6]

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 "Lucky Jew" ceramic figurines.[29][30][31]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Tartakowsky, Ewa. Le Juif à la pièce d’argent. (French) La vie des idées (2017).
    The Jew with the Gold Coin (English translation), Ewa Tartakowsky translated by Arianne Dorval, 24 April 2017
  2. ^ a b c A Jew with a coin conquers Poland (Polish), Joanna Tokarska-Bakir, 18 February 2012.
  3. ^ The Jew with a Coin: Analysis of a contemporary folkloric emblem (AAPJ), Joanna Tokarska-Bakir, 2019.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Why Are the Poles Amassing Jewish Figurines?, Haaretz, Benny Mer, 20 November 2014
  5. ^ a b c Philosemitism in History, chapter by Ruth Ellen Gruber, Cambridge University Press, page 324
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Why ‘Lucky Jew’ imagery is so popular in Poland, Times of Israel (JTA reprint), 18 August 2018
  7. ^ a b c d Real Jews are scarce in Warsaw, but ‘lucky Jew’ figurines are everywhere, Times of Israel, 29 December 2014
  8. ^ a b c d e Pawel Dobrosielski, [1] "ŻYD Z PIENIĄŻKIEM" JAKO PRAKTYKA POLSKIEJ KULTURY WERNAKULARNEJ Wstępny raport z badań. Narodowe Centrum Kultury Narodowe Centrum Kultury
  9. ^ Wydaje się, że niska znajomość oraz popularność magicznych rytuałów czynionych na wizerunku – skontrastowana z wysoką rozpoznawalnością "Żyda z pieniążkiem" – może wynikać z krótkiego rodowodu tego przesądu, który nie zdążył się jeszcze ugruntować jako praktyka automatyczna(...)Hipotezę o słabym ugruntowaniu praktyki w polskim kontekście kulturowym wzmacnia porównanie z wykonywaniem przez Polaków innych praktyk uznawanych z przesądne"Żyd z pieniążkiem" jako praktyka polskiej kultury wernakularnej. Wstępny raport z badań, "Kultura Współczesna" 2015, nr 3. Pawel Dobrosielski page 71
  10. ^ a b c "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".
  11. ^ Luck Jews? Pictures + Essay by Erica Lehrer in Jewish Museum London's 2019 Jews, Money, Myth exhibition catalog
  12. ^ Hey Poland, What's Up with Those Lucky Jew Statues?, Vice, Ilana Belfer, 10 October 2013
  13. ^ Cite error: The named reference LehrerUSHMM was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  14. ^ Zawadzka, Anna. "Drinking vodka with anti-Semites. A case study of ‘Polish-Jewish relations’ today." Adeptus 11 (2018): 1-23. quote: "“A Jew with a coin” is an anti-Semitic picture people hang at home as a lucky charm bringing financial success, which can be bought across Poland in souvenir shops, newspaper stands, florists, art galleries and bazaars. The figure depicted in such pictures wears a hat or kippah. Putting a kippah on may therefore be interpreted as a gesture of self-exotization. It is putting a mask on, and taking part in a masquerade in the role of a Jew, designed to meet the needs of the Christian audience.
  15. ^ Klezmer's Afterlife: An Ethnography of the Jewish Music Revival in Poland and Germany Magdalena Waligorska page 144 Oxford University Press 2013
  16. ^ Waligórska, Magdalena. "The Jewish-theme whodunnit in contemporary Poland and Germany." East European Jewish Affairs 43.2 (2013): 143-161.
  17. ^ A Jew named Jewish (Polish), Bożena Umińska-Keff, 19 May 2012, originally published in Przekrój republished on Rzeczpospolita
  18. ^ a b Poland's mantelpiece Jews, The JC, 4 December 2014
  19. ^ Going to the People: Jews and the Ethnographic Impulse, chapter: Family Pictures at an Exchibition: History, Autobiography, and the Museum Exhibit on Jewish Lodz "In Mrs. Goldberg's Kitchen", Halina Goldberg, page 265
  20. ^ Driving to Treblinka: A Long Search for a Lost Father, Diana Wichtel, 2018, Awa Press, page 144. link to extract from book in Nzherald, published 16 May 2018
  21. ^ a b "Żyd z pieniążkiem" jako praktyka polskiej kultury wernakularnej. Wstępny raport z badań, "Kultura Współczesna" 2015, nr 3. Pawel Dobrosielski
  22. ^ Ludwik Stomma, "Bakir z pieniążkiem", "Polityka", volume 11 (2850), 14.03-20.03.2012.
  23. ^ "Erica Lehrer — United States Holocaust Memorial Museum". www.ushmm.org.
  24. ^ [2] Collectible Jews: lovable tchatchkes or anti-Semitic paraphernalia? Evelyn Tauben Canadian Jewish News
  25. ^ Souvenir, Talisman, Toy, Krakow Post, 10 September 2013
  26. ^ Popular Images of Jews in Krakow: Folk art or stereotypical caricatures?, Tablet, Dara Bramson, 18 February 2014
  27. ^ At Krakow festival, ‘Lucky Jew’ character plays on stereotypes to celebrate lost culture, Times of Israel, 28 July 2017
  28. ^ Meet the Canadian Who Wants to be Poland’s ‘Luckiest Jew’, 13 August 2018, Vice
  29. ^ Jews Have Been Seen as ‘All About the Benjamins’ for 2,000 Years, New Exhibition Shows, Daniella Peled, Haaretz, 20 March 2019
  30. ^ Daniel Finkelstein: Next time I’m asked how antisemitism started, I’ll say ‘go to this exhibition’, The Times, Daniel Finkelstein, 20 March 2019
  31. ^ Applebaum, Diana (12 June 2019). "Filthy Lucre: A Look at the History of Jews and Money". Mosaic. Retrieved 21 June 2019.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jew holding Coins.
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