The Image of a Wealthy Jewish Family in the Anti-Semitic Polish Weekly Rola
The Image of a Wealthy Jewish Family in the Anti-Semitic Polish Weekly Rola

Summary/Abstract: For more than six years, Rola – a Warsaw periodical that appeared weekly from 1883 to 1912 with a circulation of two thousand copies – published a series of articles about the position of wealthy Jewish families in Polish society. This series was commissioned by editor-in-chief Jan Jeleński and was of a quasi-documentary character (fictional but based on facts from real Jewish families with changed names). The title of the series was “Podskarbiowie Narodu” [The Treasurers of the Nation].The vocabulary used in this series expressed the phobias and anxieties of Rola’s staff, among which the biggest was the fear that Jewish families would take over Polish society and infect it with cynical philosophy, ruled by money. This would confirm the negative stereotype of the Jew always preoccupied with money and chasing after a “golden calf.”Jeleński and his colleagues believed that the Jewish nature was different than the Polish one, being based on lower-level values and therefore very dangerous. Once infected, Polish families could later imitate that cynical approach. They were also afraid of the way Jewish families supported each other strongly. Jeleński perceived this support – though of great value for the Jews themselves – as a great threat. He worried that Jewish families grew stronger and united, building a new kind of clan of a nouveau-riche character based on fictitious splendor and dominant influence.

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