The Jews and the Messianic Ethos of the Second Polish Republic. Stanisław Rembek’s Interwar Literary Writings

Abstract

Rembek’s conviction of Polish “chosenness” is expressed in the characterizations of the Jewish protagonists in his fiction. While Rembek’s diaristic writing reveals his antiSemitic prejudices, in his novella Dojrzałe kłosy [Ripe spikes], and novel Nagan [Revolver] he portrays the Jews as patriotic officers fighting for Poland. These characterizations of the Jews highlighted Poland’s democratic open-mindedness toward its Jewish citizens. Nonetheless, as Jews they were excluded from the nation’s Christian destiny. Time and again, the Jewish officers in Rembek’s fiction articulate their despondency over their failure to accept Christ despite their irresistible attraction to the Christian faith. The failure points to their inability to achieve grace. Their sense of religious inadequacy elucidates a theological perspective which posits that a Jewish presence was indispensable to Poland’s redemptive destiny; the Jew as an affirming witness sanctioned the Polish claim to a messianic calling. To achieve legitimacy, the Polish national messianic mission needed to be acknowledged by Jews. The perspective in Rembek’s fiction illuminates an important facet in the complexity of the Polish-Jewish relationships in reborn Poland.