Poland, Palestine, and the Politics of Belonging
Poland, Palestine, and the Politics of Belonging
This chapter traces Betar's complex relationship to Polish nationalism from the diverse and often conflicting vantage points of Betar's members, leaders, and Polish government officials. Betar's efforts to link Zionism with Polish nationalism became a regular feature of their activities in the early 1930s. At the very moment that Betar's leaders claimed to perform a distinct national identity, they modeled their ceremonies on Polish patriotic rituals, called for their members to “act Polish,” and attempted to include Polish government officials as both observers and participants in their celebrations. The chapter then explores the dynamics and paradoxes of acculturation for young Jews coming of age in interwar Poland, as well as the complex factors at play when government officials attempted to determine the extent to which young Jews and other minorities could be integrated into the new Polish state.
Keywords: Betar youth movement, Polish nationalism, Zionism, national identity, Polish patriotic rituals, Polish government officials, young Jews, interwar Poland
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