Mendel Gdański is a short story by Polish poet and short-story writer Maria Konopnicka published for the first time in 1890 in the Przegląd Literacki magazine.
The main reason for Maria Konopnicka's writing Mendel Gdański was the prevailing outbreak of anti-Semitism in Poland at that time.
One of the people that inspired the author to write Mendel Gdański was a Polish writer Eliza Orzeszkowa who sent a letter to Konopnicka, in which she asked "in prose or in verse, write one or ten pages, your word carries much weight, many will find hope, it will inspire good emotions, and quench the bad…" (" czy prozą, czy wierszem, napisz jedną lub dziesięć kartek, słowo Twoje wiele zaważy, u wielu wiarę znajdzie, wiele uczuć wzbudzi, złych uśpi…").
When one day the little boy returns from school without his cap and reveals that it was taken by a young hooligan, who bullied him for being a Jew; Mendel grows enraged.
Then, women come and advise to hang a picture of Saint Mary in front of the building, as only then Mendel and his family can be protected.
[2] Finally, Mendel says that he has lost his love for the city, thus ending the story on a pessimistic note about how difficult it is for Jews to assimilate.