Bieganski : : The Brute Polak Stereotype in Polish-Jewish Relations and American Popular Culture / / Danusha V. Goska.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Academic Studies Press Backlist eBook-Package 2008-2013
• VerfasserIn: Goska, Danusha V.,
• Place / Publishing House: Boston, MA : : Academic Studies Press, , [2010]; ©2010
• Year of Publication: 2010
• Language: English
• Series: Jews of Poland
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (344 p.)

In this study, Goska exposes one stereotype of Poles and other Eastern Europeans. In the “Bieganski” stereotype, Poles exhibit the qualities of animals. They are strong, stupid, violent, fertile, anarchic, dirty, and especially hateful in a way that more evolved humans are not. Their special hatefulness is epitomized by Polish anti- Semitism. Bieganski discovers this stereotype in the mainstream press, in scholarship and film, in Jews’ self-definition, and in responses to the Holocaust. Bieganski’s twin is Shylock, the stereotype of the crafty, physically inadequate, moneyed Jew. The final chapters of the book are devoted to interviews with American Jews, which reveal that Bieganski—and Shylock—are both alive and well among those who have little knowledge of Poles or Poland.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- TABLE OF CONTENTS -- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS -- INTRODUCTION -- Chapter One: Bieganski Lives -- Chapter Two: Bieganski in the Press -- Chapter Three: Bieganski Takes Root in America -- Chapter Four: Bieganski in American Cinema -- Chapter Five: Bieganski as a Support for Jewish Identity -- Chapter Six: The Peasant and Middleman Minority Theory -- Chapter Seven: The Necessity of Bieganski: A Shamed and Horrified World Seeks a Scapegoat -- Chapter Eight: Interviews -- Chapter Nine: Bieganski Lives — Next Door to Shylock -- Chapter Ten: Final Thoughts -- References Cited -- Index