Jewish-Catholic Intermarriage in Poland Before, During and After the Holocaust

Magdalena Dziaczkowska, Postdoctor at Lund University

The purpose of the study is to understand how Jewish-Catholic couples experienced in everyday life being in a mixed marriage in a period of intense intergroup tensions (antisemitism and the Holocaust), and this purpose could be divided into five aims. Firstly, to understand the internal dynamic of a mixed couple in times of conflict. Secondly, to describe the differences in the experience of men and women and their gender roles in this setting. Thirdly, to grasp the relation of the spouses to their respective ingroups and then, their relation to the outgroup (their spouse’s group), both considering the gender factor. Finally, the study seeks to assess the influence of these couples on intergroup relations in their environments, as previous research suggests intermarriage is one of the most powerful tools in overcoming intergroup prejudice and tensions. These questions are considered in the timeframe of 1930’s until 1950’s, thus, the period directly preceding, encompassing, and following the Holocaust. The study will follow the experiences of these couples throughout the entire period (the chronological aspect being crucial), and will be limited to the Polish citizens, who either stayed in Poland or left for Sweden, Israel after the war. Specific research questions following these aims are:

• What were the cultural and religious views on intermarriage that impacted the experience of the couples?
• How were men and women treated when engaging in heterogamy? Why? How did it change over time?
• Did intermarriage help Jewish Poles to survive the Holocaust? If so, how? 
• What was the impact of these relationships on the respective ingroups?
• What changed in the perceptions of the individuals in mixed couples regarding the outgroup? How was it related to the Holocaust? What other factors mediated the change?
• What do these findings tell us about how mixed couples navigate intergroup conflict and violence? How can the findings be translated into contemporary multicultural, minority-majority communities today? What does it suggest about the gendered experiences of mixed marriage in general?

The project is realized within the framework of an International Postdoc financed by the Swedish Research Council. The administrating institution is Centre for Theology and Religious Studies at Lund University and the host institutions are: Hebrew University of Jerusalem, University of Haifa, Jagiellonian University, and Inez and Julius Polin Institute for Theological Research at Åbo Akademi.

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