Irena Krzywicka wrote about women "who, in the darkness of the taxi, are taken over by an inevitably crawling hand". Antoni Słonimski joked that he would like to carry out "personal searches" of beautiful ladies himself.
Wanda herself did not know if she was more indignant or disgusted. The situation she found herself in was unusual, to say the least. She was on the crowded tram number eight. There was nothing surprising about this one:the Krakow 8 was always overcrowded during rush hours, and the journey by this means of transport was not the first for Wanda. The company is different.
A strange man sat next to her, a cigarette in his mouth. Despite the crush, he had no intention of extinguishing his pet. Even the fact that there were no ashtrays in the car did not make him do it. The ash gradually accumulated on the tip of the cigarette. It was time to shake him off and the gentleman did it… right to the neighbor's feet.
"This is how I am, that if I litter, I have to clean up"
- "Sorry for the mess!" - He immediately jumped up and "devoutly began to clean the knocked down knee." Wanda would even have believed in the mishap if it weren't for the fact that… the guy was still kicking. And ash landed invariably on her legs. The traveling companion started cleaning again. This time, however, "he cleaned slower and longer". Wanda "frowned angrily and stepped back." It didn't do much. The man:"swallowing his saliva, he started cleaning for the third time." It was too much. The offended lady called the conductor. The latter sent for the police.
Tram passengers in the illustration from Światowid magazine.
For Wanda, the matter was obvious. "This gentleman specially shook the ashes on me and brazenly ran his hand over my knee!" - she complained. The smoker was identified. As reported in November 1932, "The Last News of Krakow", it was Antoni Wiorek, who lived at 5 Szczęśliwa Street. The delinquent did not feel guilty at all. Because he didn't molest anyone.
“There was no lap ride, only regular cleaning. I've been like this since I was a child, that if I litter, I have to clean up, ”he replied with evident pride. He repeated the same translation before the municipal court. But for "grossly inappropriate" behavior towards the woman, he was awarded a symbolic fifty zloty fine anyway.
The art of seduction or the uninvited tentacles?
"Where are you, gentlemen with a gardenia in a buttonhole, with a mustache stiffened with a binda, with a monocle in the eye?" - asked in the same 1932 progressive journalist Irena Krzywicka. With a certain irony, but also with distinct fondness, she recalled the institution of former lovers and lovelies who were ready to persistently fight for the favors of women. Instead of touching without asking, they limited themselves to "ever-hungry glances at cleavages or petticoats".
In her time, you did not meet restrained, salon seducers. A man of the twentieth century felt that everything was due to him. And that women applauding the reform of life and the slogans of the sexual revolution , they will give them to him, for example, in the carriage seat or in the hotel for hours.
The classic art of seduction has given way to uninvited tentacles. Krzywicka wrote about women "who, in the darkness of the taxi, are taken over by the inevitably crawling hand of their fellow passengers. She meant women in the company of which they chose themselves. But, after all, similar situations also took place in trains, shops, and in trams. Not only those in Krakow.
"The man turns out to be equal to the task"
Groping belonged to a rich group of phenomena so common and so obvious to the people of the interwar period that attention was paid to it only in moral manifestos. Or in ordinary jokes. Even the leaders of social progress did not shy away from joking about unwanted touches.
Too literally. A cartoon joke published in 1929 in the popular weekly Światowid
A close colleague of Krzywicka, Antoni Słonimski, announced in 1929 that he was "a supporter of the search." He emphasized that he did not mean "such searches in a gendarme's cap, with a revolver and at night", but an intellectual "revision of concepts". Though he couldn't help but say that he would "like" to "search a couple of women he has an eye on" on the occasion.
In turn, the satirical "Stork" published in 1926 an entire short story about groping on the train:
In the interval (...), you and your lady are riding. The man turns out to be equal to the task, as after a while her indignant voice is heard.
- Lord! Take that hand!
But then he starts acting too brusquely because he can hear the sound of a pungent cheek and the angry woman runs out into the hallway.
Exquisite men's tailoring. Bogusław Herse's advertising catalog from 1935.
Up to this point, it is not so much a joke as a description of a completely probable event. The harassed passenger calls the conductor and demands that the horny man suffer the consequences of his act. Kolejarz starts writing down the protocol. To information about harassment, she replies with the question:"Yes ... And how old are you?" And now there is a supposedly funny twist.
The woman withdraws all accusations and pretends the heca did not take place. Anything, even vulgar groping, so as not to admit your age!
Country without touching
It was difficult to write about the situation seriously, because there weren't enough words for it. Today we are armed with precise, unambiguous terminology. Rape, incest, harassment or even - groping. Polish sexual vocabulary may seem too hermetic; it could be argued that whatever the context, it compels us to use terms that suggest something disgusting and repulsive. But it is also extremely legible. Before the war, the situation was completely different.
Rape was a violation of sexual freedom. But it could also mean any attack combined with the use of force - and that is how it was defined by the penal laws. Moreover, the press preferred to use blurred euphemisms to describe sex crimes. Children were not abused, but "made unhappy." Women were not raped, but at best "enslaved", "seduced", "abused of their trust".
Incest could refer to relative erotic relationships, but also ... to political issues. In 1924, opponents of the government of Wincenty Witos fought against the "paid apostles of the incestuous company" of the coalition. At the same time, a Zionist daily published in Krakow read about the "reactionary electoral law" that arose out of an "incestuous alliance" of fanatics "foaming hatred for free Jewry."
Similar epithets were used even in the times of the partitioning powers. As early as 1893, Polish socialists wrote about the new political configuration that had been established in Vienna. It was supposed to be an "unnatural, incestuous relationship."
The meanings of the words were blurring. Often, however, these meanings simply… were not there. Palpation? This word could refer to medical examinations ("palpating the right hypochondrium is usually very painful"; "groping and tapping Polish eskulap-Jew players") or to customers "groping" vegetables at the market. But not for an activity with any erotic overtones. Molestation? You could molest a philanthropist for a donation or passers-by for a donation. But not a woman.
Pre-war press material:
- The beastly murder of an old peddler , "People's Daily", No. 147 (1928).
- Midgets and avalanche , "Nowy Dziennik", no. 121 (1924).
- Krakow on December 1st , "Forward", No. 23 (1893).
- Chronicle of Bielsko-Biała , "Krakowski Kurier Wieczorny", no. 185 (1938).
- Magnetic elbow , "The Last News of Krakow", No. 324 (1932).
- Orthodox bowls in Siberia , "Polish Word", No. 196 (1899).
- Sub-diaphragmatic abscesses as a complication of gastric ulcer perforation , "Polish Surgeon", No. 4 (1937).
- A great start for the Peasants' Union , "A Friend of the People", No. 22 (1924).
- Among dust, dung and dirt , "Ilustrowana Republika", No. 146 (1934).
- Zakopane-Obrzezane , "The Podwawelskie Password", No. 5 (1934).