The Catholic Church and Antisemitism

Interwar Poland was home to more Jews than any other country in Europe. Its commonplace but simplistic identification with antisemitism was due largely to nationalist efforts to boycott Jewish business. That they failed was not for want of support by the Catholic clergy, for whom the ''Jewish question'' was more than economic. The myth of a Masonic-Jewish alliance to subvert Christian culture first flourished in France but held considerable sway over Catholics in 1930s Poland as elsewhere. This book examines how, following Vatican policy, Polish church leaders resisted separation of church and state in the name of Catholic culture. In that struggle, every assimilated Jew served as both a symbol and a potential agent of security. Antisemitism is no longer regarded as a legitimate political stance. But in Europe, the United States, and the Middle East, the issues of religious culture, national identity, and minorities are with us still. This study of interwar Poland will shed light on dilemmas that still effect us today.

Chapter 1 Poland, Jews, and the Catholic Church: History and Context; Chapter 2 Liberalism: The Masonic-Jewish “Alliance”; Chapter 3 The Protocols : The Myth of World Domination; Chapter 4 The Soviet Union and “Judeo-Communism”; Chapter 5 Nazi Germany and Racist Antisemitism; Chapter 6 Jews and the Spanish Civil War; Chapter 7 Everywhere Else: Why not Poland?; Chapter 8 Accusations against the Talmud; Chapter 9 The Interwar Economy: Poverty and the Boycott; Chapter 10 A Culture Catholic or else not Polish; 11 Catholic Solutions to the “Jewish Question”; Chapter 12 Violence at the Universities and in the Streets; Chapter 13 The Vatican and the Polish Bishops; Chapter 14 By Way of Contrast: The Polish Opponents of Antisemitism; Epilogue; Index;

Ronald Modras