The Brute Polak Stereotype on Display at Pier 21: Canada's Immigration Museum

From the Pier 21 Homepage Source

Bieganski, the Brute Polak stereotype, is everywhere in Western culture. It is in pulp paperback bestsellers. It is in pious, self-righteous Holocaust books written by Presbyterian elders and published by university presses. It is in mainstream movies.

Thanks to Malgorzata, a reader of this blog, I now know that Bieganski, the brute Polak, is also featured in a film shown at the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Pier 21 has been compared to Ellis Island, the United States' historic point of disembarkation for many immigrants. The film is shown to visitors to the museum. The film teaches the viewer about brute Poles, and reaffirms any prejudice they may already have.

The brute Polak stereotype exists for at least two vital reasons.

One is this. We need to come to terms with the Holocaust. It is incredibly challenging to admit that humans exactly like us could commit such atrocities. The Bieganski stereotype offers an easy out: it wasn't people just like us who committed the Holocaust. It was these very, very bad, very, very different people: Poles. As long as you hate and quarantine Poles, all is well.

Too, the Bieganski stereotype reassures its users in the same way that white supremacy reassured white supremacists. You are better than someone else, a group of people so debased and without merit, you can feel comfortable putting them down: The Poles.

I'm saying "Poles," here, but other Bohunks – Lithuanians, Ukrainians, Slovaks, Serbs, etc. – work just as well.

The Bieganski Stereotype on Display at Pier 21: Canada's Immigration Museum.

Malgorzata, after reading my blog, alerted me to a video presentation at Pier 21, Canada's Immigration Museum. Malgorzata sent me the DVD of the video.

"Oceans of Hope / Oceans D'Espoir" is a 26 minute long film. One may view it in English or French. It was made in 1999, with concept and direction by Michel Lemieux. It was funded by the Charles and Andrea Bronfman charities, the Province of Nova Scotia, and the Harrison McCain Foundation.

It offers to "take viewers on an emotional journey through Pier 21's past. Relive history form the late 1920s to the early 1970s when Pier 21 was Canada's front door to one million immigrants. Experience the desperate days when Pier 21 handled nearly 500,000 troops bound for Europe during World War II…featuring captivating vignettes depicting the long exhausting voyages, desire for distant homelands, and hope for a better future."

In short, this is a wholesome, educational film. In fact, "Oceans of Hope" is lovely film, with high production values, including an original score, scripted scenes performed by convincing actors, and authentic costumes. The film has genuine heart. I teared up several times. How could I not? It tells the classic story of immigration and the self-sacrifice of young soldiers who gave their lives in the fight against fascism.

And that's just the thing. The Bieganski stereotype is so all-pervasive, so universally sanctioned, it is entirely acceptable in a wholesome, educational film produced by a team which very clearly wanted to do the right thing.

"Oceans of Hope" consists of several brief vignettes dramatizing the arrival of immigrants to Canada. One depicts a young solider and amputee returning from fighting during World War II. A former pier 21 officer guides the viewer through the vignettes, while he reminisces about his forty-year service among immigrants. There are also montages of vintage photographs of immigrants and soldiers.

The first vignette features Ukrainian peasant immigrants. Jolly, accordion, oompah music plays on the soundtrack. The Ukranian peasant father sports a very large belly, thrusting out of his ill-fitting clothing. I've done a fair amount of reading on Ukrainian immigrants to Canada for a bibliography. The Ukrainians I read about, and saw in archival photos, indeed, my own peasant relatives in Eastern Europe, looked nothing like this fat clown. They were impoverished, hungry, and hard, from uninterrupted manual labor. Apparently these jolly and none-too-bright Ukrainians left Europe on a whim, for an adventure. "Oceans of Hope" never mentions any misfortunes that may have driven Ukrainian peasants out of their own homes. In fact, Ukrainians were driven out of their homes by the relentless hunger and oppression of serfdom. Galicia is a notorious site of poverty and famine. To put it simply – in a series of famines between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, millions of Ukrainians starved to death. "Oceans of Hope" never so much as alludes to any of this. Ukrainians must just like ocean voyages.

That vignette closes. Hitler is shown in profile. A soldier's vignette begins. It is very moving. Jean, a French Canadian, describes service in World War II. Next a group of War Brides, chatting while standing on line, provide comic, and romantic, relief.

The next vignette communicates very clearly that this immigrant is unique. She, unlike Ukrainians, unlike war brides, had a sad reason to leave home. There is a still photo of the barbed wire surrounding a concentration camp, and then one of people holding their hands over their heads. Very sad violin music plays. Anita, maybe 17, in red shirt and striped brown skirt, is seated at a desk, across from a middle-aged woman with a sweater tossed over her shoulders.

"The Jewish Immigrant Aid Society will make sure you will have whatever else you need," the woman declares. "A caring family will take you into their home." This is not a paraphrase – it's the actual dialogue.

Anita shakes her head. "Another home," she repeats, bitterly. "I've been to so many homes. In Poland – " there you have it. The antagonist is established: Poland. "My parents smuggled me out of the ghetto, into a Christian home … so that I could be safe?" she says with rising inflection. The implication is that the Christian home offered no safety.

"They sent me from place to place. I could not go to school, play with other children, anything like that." The girl pauses. The violin music grows louder and sadder. "Everyday I lived in fear. They told me, to be a Jew is to be dead…In Christian homes" a still shot of suffering children is shown "I learned how to be the perfect child. Because otherwise they would report me to the authorities. They said I was a danger to their families. I heard them talking about the way they were rounding up Jews." A still shot of a roundup is shown. No distinction is made between the "they" talking – Christian Poles who had taken in a Jewish child – and "they" – the group doing the rounding up. "like cattle. I never dared ask about my real parents. I was scared. Scared that they would tell me that they were dead. I wanted to be with them so much." More photos are shown of Jews suffering during the Holocaust. The music rises. "I'll never see my mother or my father again."

"I'm so sorry," the woman says. She rises. "But this isn't POLAND!" she announces, firmly, and triumphantly. She crosses the table to Anita. She stands behind Anita, in a supportive pose. "In Montreal, you will be with people who want to HELP you." The emphasis on the word "help" contrasts "people in Montreal" with the Christian Poles about whom Anita has been speaking. The woman rubs Anita's shoulders. "There are no police to take you away in the night. You'll be able to laugh and cry without fear."

Anita smiles for the first time. She turns her head upwards. "I want to believe in the kindness of people." The music loses its lachrymose quality.

I had to watch this vignette twice to reaffirm for myself what I noticed on first viewing, but couldn't really believe: this Pier 21 educational film never mentions the word "Nazi." It never mentions the word "Germany." It never mentions the word "occupation." It doesn't mention the word "war."

Poland. That's all it needs for a setting. Poland, that eternal, ahistorical, unmotivated, Iago of nations, Poland, destroyer of Jews. And "Christian." That word was enough, too.