Mrówka i król. Żydowski bojkot niemieckich filmów w przedwojennej Polsce
The Ant and the King. Jewish Boycott of German Films in Pre-WW II Poland

Summary/Abstract: The article looks at the campaign of boycotting German films staged by the Anti-Hitlerite Jewish Youth Committee in the years 1935-1936 against a broad background of Polish-German and Polish-Jewish relations in the late 1930s. The protest, analyzed here chiefly based on unpublished archive materials, had a nationwide scope. The Committee spread information using friendly printed media, printed and distributed posters and leaflets, wrote to cinema operators as well as engaging in urban actions that resembled performances. The boycott drew interest from two ministries, the Polish and German embassies and the local authorities of several provincial capitals. An order was issued to disband the Committee and punish its leaders. The second part of the article is an attempt to explain why the top-level state authorities engaged in suppressing the boycott, which was not illegal as it was a form of passive resistance. The argument focuses on three issues. First, the reasons should be sought in the tense Polish-Jewish relations, especially the aggravating economic conflict. Second, a short time before the boycott, cooperation with the German film industry began with a view to producing a historic saga about Augustus II the Strong. The Polish authorities hoped for financial and propaganda gains, while the radical right milieux expected that to help weaken the position of the Polish film industry, which was predominantly in Jewish hands. Third, the boycott affected Polish-German political relations, in particular the trade negotiations under way at the time.

• Details
• Contents