The Anti-Zionist Campaign in Poland of 1967‒1968: Documents

Abstract

This chapter describes the anti-Zionist campaign in Poland of 1967-1968. The anti-Zionist campaign in Poland which culminated in March of 1968 has been given much attention in the last few years by historians. However, for the most part, published works have focused on anecdotal evidence rather than analysis, mainly because of restricted access to the archives, lack of familiarity with primary sources, and insufficient knowledge of the period. Moreover, the Jewish aspect of the events of March of 1968 has been relegated to the status of an almost secondary, ‘embarrassing’ factor, and the authentic heroes of the events who chose to remain in Poland ‘Polonized’ the character of these events in their own recollections and analyses. A monograph by Dariusz Stola, a historian at the Instytut Studiów Politycznych Polskiej Akademii Nauk (Institute of Political Studies, Polish Academy of Sciences) in Warsaw, is a remarkable departure from the standard literature on the subject published to date. Stola sets the record straight in his introduction, referring to the perverse character of the anti-Zionist campaign. Stola maintains—and the documentation he has assembled bears him out—that Polish political leaders had no qualms about applying racist criteria when launching the anti-Zionist campaign.