The Jew, the Arab, the Pole: March 1968 in Poland and the Alliance Between Second and Third Worlds

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

Monika Bobako’s chapter applies Gil Anidjar’s framework of European identity defined through the Jew and the Arab to Poland’s domestic and foreign policy during the Cold War. It traces how the Polish People’s Republic (PRL) attempted to build a progressive socialist identity by simultaneously suppressing anti-Semitic discourse and forging alliances with Arab nations through anti-imperialist solidarity. The contradictory position of Polish Jews—tolerated in public life but stigmatized by “Judeo-Communist” stereotypes—created a fragile ideological field. The 1967 Six-Day War destabilized this balance: First Secretary Gomułka’s speech labeled so-called Zionist milieus as a fifth column, leading to a massive anti-Semitic media campaign in March 1968. The result was the exodus of roughly half of Poland’s remaining Jewish population and the severing of relations with Israel. The figure of the Arab, previously abstract, was used to polarize Poles against Jews and justify the purge. After 1968, Polish policy shifted toward “national communism,” while relationships with Arab and other Third World countries expanded but remained hierarchical. The chapter concludes that the ideological framework of socialist internationalism imploded, paving the way for a return to nationalist motifs and later geopolitical reorientation.

Key Events

Postwar Polish-Jewish contradictions (1945–1967): The PRL formally removed restrictions on Jews but suppressed public discussion of anti-Semitism and the Holocaust. Pogroms in Rzeszów, Kraków, and Kielce (1945–46) reflected deep societal anti-Semitism.
Polish foreign policy pillars (1950s–60s): Poland championed anti-colonial solidarity, “proletarian internationalism,” and peaceful coexistence. This included support for Arab states, scholarship programs for Third World students, and technical transfers.
Six-Day War (June 5–10, 1967): Israel’s swift victory humiliated Egypt and the USSR. The Eastern bloc severed diplomatic ties with Israel.
Gomułka’s speech (June 19, 1967): The First Secretary accused “Zionist milieus” of supporting the aggressor and urged them to emigrate, using the unprinted term “fifth column.”
March 1968 protests and purge: The banning of Mickiewicz’s Forefathers’ Eve sparked student demonstrations. The regime responded with violence and an “anti-Zionist” propaganda campaign that targeted Jews and intellectuals, resulting in over 300 expulsions and dozens of imprisonments.
Emigration of Polish Jews (1968–69): Approximately 15,000 Jews left Poland on one-way passports, ending centuries of Jewish presence.
Post-1968 reconfiguration: Poland deepened ties with Arab countries (Syria, Iraq, PLO) while official discourse shifted toward “national communism,” reviving Sarmatian cultural motifs and rejecting earlier internationalist rhetoric.

Character Development

Władysław Gomułka: Emerges as the catalyst whose speech in June 1967 legitimized anti-Semitic rhetoric within the Party. His move was initially unauthorized by the leadership.
Zygmunt Bauman: A Jewish sociologist forced from his post and into exile; his analysis of the “revolutionary” situation in Poland is quoted to illustrate the regime’s fragility.
Jan T. Gross: A student activist who emigrated after 1968; his summary that the regime fulfilled nationalist dreams of ethnic purity frames the chapter’s conclusion.
Mieczysław Moczar: Leader of the Ministry of Internal Affairs who directed the propaganda machine and witch hunt.
Intellectuals and students: Represent collective subjects—the “revisionists” who called for reform and were crushed, and the Jewish community forced to choose between Polishness and Jewishness.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Symbolic geometry of the Pole, Jew, and Arab: The chapter applies Anidjar’s idea that European identity is structured by the related and polarized figures of Jew and Arab. In Poland, this triad was asymmetrical but became decisive in 1967–68.
Anti-Zionism as anti-Semitism: The use of “Zionist” as a euphemism for Jew allowed condemnation of Israel while attacking Polish Jews, even those with no connection to Zionism.
The Arab as catalyst for rupture: The figure of the Arab—previously abstract—was mobilized to demand loyalty from Poles, breaking the fragile bond between Polishness and Jewishness.
National communism: The post-1968 ideological shift replaced internationalist rhetoric with a nationalist focus, reviving pre-socialist cultural themes (Sarmatism) and descending into “socialist in form, national in content.”
Implosion of the ideological field: The contradiction between declared internationalism and actual nationalist mobilization led to the collapse of the socialist legitimation strategy, as noted by Jerzy Szacki.
Eurocentrism in internationalism: Despite anti-colonial rhetoric, Polish technical cooperation often reproduced colonial hierarchies (e.g., guarded communities for experts, “Comintern version of Eurocentrism”).

Why This Chapter Matters

This chapter is crucial for understanding how the Cold War intersected with domestic ethnic politics in Eastern Europe. It demonstrates that the March 1968 anti-Semitic purge was not an isolated domestic event but was intimately linked to Poland’s foreign policy alignment with Arab nations and the fallout of the Six-Day War. The analysis shows how international solidarity with the Third World was used to justify the persecution of Polish Jews, revealing deep contradictions in socialist internationalism. It also explains the long-term consequences: the almost total disappearance of the Jewish minority, the consolidation of a nationalist communist regime, and the eventual reorientation of Polish foreign policy toward Israel in 1990. For students of modern history and political science, the chapter offers a nuanced case study of identity construction, othering, and the instrumentalization of anti-imperialist rhetoric.

Study Questions and Answers

Q1: How did the Six-Day War act as a catalyst for the anti-Semitic purge in Poland?
A: The war created a crisis of legitimacy for the Soviet bloc. Poland, aligned with the USSR, officially supported the Arab side. Gomułka exploited this by accusing Polish Jews who expressed sympathy for Israel of being a “fifth column.” This turned pre-existing anti-Semitic stereotypes into a state-sanctioned campaign that peaked in March 1968. The Arab figure became the loyalty test that broke the ideological bond between the Pole and the Jew.

Q2: What does the chapter reveal about the limits of socialist internationalism in Poland?
A: The chapter shows that socialist internationalism was superficial. Despite official rhetoric of fraternity with Arab nations, Polish experts working overseas often lived in privileged, segregated conditions. Similarly, Third World students in Poland faced racism and isolation. After 1968, the regime abandoned internationalist framing for nationalist appeals, indicating that the ideology was never deeply rooted and was easily discarded when politically expedient.

Q3: How does the author use Gil Anidjar’s concept to explain Polish identity politics?
A: Anidjar argues that Europe defined itself through the related and polarized figures of the Jew and the Arab. Bobako applies this to Poland, showing that before 1967, the Jew was a test for progressive Polishness, while the Arab served to universalize that identity within a global anti-imperialist project. In 1967–68, the Arab figure was weaponized to exclude the Jew, triggering a redefinition of Polishness as ethnically homogeneous and nationalistic. This demonstrates the applicability of Anidjar’s model even in a historically asymmetrical Polish context.