Mimicry and Jewish Identity(ies) in contemporary Polish and Russian-Jewish Literature

This article considers the phenomenon of mimicry as dealt with in contemporary Polish-Jewish and Russian-Jewish literature. Due to the massive social, religious and political marginalisation of Jews in the 20th century, mimicry once again became widespread among Eastern European Jews over this period as a special means of ethnic and cultural assimilation, dissimulation and deception. The effects of mimicry on the identity of Jews, often long after the end of the Holocaust, or more recently the fall of the communist dictatorships, are reflected in texts by Eastern European Jewish authors. The article considers mimicry as a complex-laden strategy that gives contemporary relevance once again to the problems of the socially constructed "Jewish body", and ancient historical phenomena such as European crypto-Judaism.