Stefan Lacny1; 1 Slavonic Studies Section, University of Cambridge, UK
Discussion
Between 1925 and 1939, Soviet studios produced over 70 feature films containing Polish protagonists compared to 23 featuring American characters and 19 with German characters, a fact that makes Poles by some margin the most frequently occurring foreign nationality in interwar Soviet cinema. The consistency of attention paid to Poles can mostly be accounted for by the existence of large Ukrainian and Belarusian populations in eastern Poland, mainly consisting of poor peasants living in impoverished conditions on the estates of wealthy Polish nobles. This confluence of national and class divisions allowed for the regular portrayal of Poles as treacherous aristocrats who brutally suppressed dissent among their East Slavic subjects. This paper argues that films of the 1920s and 1930s sought both to convey to audiences the danger posed by Poland to Soviet nationalities and to assuage that threat through the suggestion of inherent Polish social weakness. These messages rely on gendered characterisations, since the frequent depictions of sexual violence committed by male Poles against female Ukrainians and Belarusians coincided with a presentation of Poles embodying an emasculating reversal of traditional gender norms. The paper also explores how the Soviet annexation of eastern Poland necessitated a new model of on-screen Polishness from 1939 to 1941 that maintained Polish national form but was supportive of Soviet rule and ideology.
