One hundred years ago my Jewish grandmother and her many siblings lived with
their parents (the Kerners) in Stryi, Galicia. From 1772-1914, this Galicia was
a semi-independent province on the outskirts of the Austro-Hungarian empire,
encompassing Krakov and Lviv. Many peoples lived there – Stryi’s mixture of
‘Hebrews’ (35-40%), Poles (35-40%), ‘Ruthenians’ (later called ‘Ukrainians’)
and a few Germans was not unusual in this ethnically diverse region. Galicia was very poor, but people got
along side by side.
In the late 19th century, Galicia’s population expanded rapidly. Stryi’s
population almost doubled between 1880 (12,600) and 1900 (23,210). Galician oil
was discovered in the 1870s – the richest European reserves west of Russia -
but the oil was exploited too quickly, running down fast in the mid-00’s. In
eastern Galicia fear of Russian annexation was a more important driver of
peoples. Between 1888 and 1910 there were 260% more
Polish people in Stryj, 180% more Ukrainians, and 100% more Jews.
My grandmother had bad memories of the Polish and Ruthenian nationalists
who came there, many of whom had fascist inclinations. While
in 1889 the Jews had about 63.8% (55,969 hectares) of land in Stryj, in 1902
they had only 20.3%, or 16,278 hectares. The numbers tell the story. Then, between 1914-1918 Russia seized Stryi
twice, inflicting famine. Post-war, Stryi was briefly controlled by Ukrainians
with whom the Jewish leaders sided; then part of Poland whose people reacted
against the Jews. Driven by these political-economic forces, her siblings began
emigrating to New York City in the 00’s and she followed as soon as she was of
a suitable age (16) in 1922. Nationalism, scarcity and warfare drove my people
to the ‘nation of immigrants’, the United States, and to the most diverse major
city in the world.
(Two siblings remained – his fate unknown. In all likelihood he perished
by Nazi or Ukrainian hands.)
Last week, Emily and I saw a wall size photo of Stryi at Ellis Island.
What a surprise! It shows a lively day at the market in 1905.
We can see men and women, Jews and Poles trading together. They are selling hats and coats in the foreground, and many foodstuffs in stalls at the junction. The tradesmen have come far by horse and cart (back-right) to exchange goods at the market. This, for me, is one of the greatest strengths of capitalism – that it encourages people of very different cultures and instincts to work together to get the way of life they want.
Thus capitalism depends on identity, which shapes the form of our wants.
Imagine how sad the world would be if all we wanted was x food, y clothing and
z housing - a fundamental error inherent to communism. Identity also shapes
what we are able and willing to supply – hence historical attacks on Jews for
‘usury’; on women for conducting unsuitable work; on all persons of alternative
identity for not playing servant to the majority identity.
Alas majority identities can warp into the mask of aggressive
nationalism, especially when people are driven by fear and anger at the
lacerations of events beyond their control. Scapegoating and bigotism are
popular nationalist pastimes. No nation is immune. This nationalism is what
ripped the Jews from Eastern Europe and sent them to the USA. (This anger is
driving anti-immigrant sentiment in the UK today – hence the rise of UKIP.)
I mention this in prelude to discussing the caption on the photo at
Ellis Island:
Market day is Stryi,
Galicia, 1905. Over 800,000 Poles from Galicia emigrated to the United States
between 1880 and 1924. Large
numbers of Galician Jews also left for America.
Note that the caption was written in 1990, shortly after Polish
elections dramatically ejected the Communists from power in June and September
1989. It was a key time to affirm the unitary American narrative of all
persecuted peoples being welcome in the US. But another interesting point is
that while there were more Poles in Galicia than any other group, this was not
the case in Stryi. Stryi, at that point, belonged to the Ukraine Soviet Socialist
Republic; it only became Ukraine a year later in December 1991. It was thus
politically expedient to emphasise the Polish and Jewish characteristics of the
region, all streaming towards the ethnically diverse and affluent USA. (Never
mind that USA imposed highly restrictive quotas on immigrants from 1924 – 1940s,)
The US inspires liberty throughout the world! Just look: the Polish, like the
Jews in 1948, seemed to be fulfilling Woodrow Wilson’s old project of national
self-determination.
Yet while this project ensured loyalty from nationalist forces within
these states, it was also a factor in Europe becoming far more ethnically
segregated by country from 1945 onwards than at any time in the past. The
rearrangement of European peoples by the major Allied powers post-war was an
even more important factor. In a strange way, Hitler achieved his objective of
a more ethnically homogenous Europe by driving nationalism to such an extreme
that it was thought that moving people was the best way to silo nationalistic
violence.
Apart from the Balkans, the Galicias of the past were no more. The Nazis
killed almost all Jews who remained in Galicia – including probably the aforementioned siblings. The post-war settlement drove all the Poles westwards
into modern day Poland. Stryi became a heartland for nationalists in the
Ukrainian republic – people who my grandmother loathed. The Soviet Union only
intensified the deprivation of the region – such that it will take a long time
for western Ukraine to recover, if ever, from the corruption and self-limiting
aspirations of the Soviet regime. And without dynamic businesspeople, the rule
of law and well-regulated transactions it will never do so.
