Polsko-żydowscy czytelnicy Weiningera a żydowski „Selbsthass”
Weininger’s Polish Jewish Readers and the Jewish “Selbsthass”

Summary/Abstract: The article deals with the Polish readers’ response to Otto Weininger’s monograph Geschlecht und Charakter (1903). This applies in particular to the resonance evoked by the chapter “Jewishness”, full of anti-Semitic overtones, in which Weininger presented his concept of the so-called “Jewish character”. An analysis of texts by Ostap Ortwin (who translated Weininger’s book), Leo Belmont and of several other commentators warrants the hypothesis that speaking out about Weininger enabled Polish Jewish readers to discuss the Jewish identity in isolation from the Polish anti-Semitic discourse and may have even been seen as a way of stripping the anti-Semites of control over the debate about the Jews (Belmont). Besides, Weininger’s text, while emphasizing the significance of the individualistic assimilation project while at the same time rejecting assimilation as a social movement, legitimized his personal efforts to escape racist labels (Ortwin).

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