Two
Books on The Jews of Poland
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Poland's
Jewish Landmarks, A Travel Guide
By
Joram Kagan |
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The Jews
of Poland Between Two World Wars
Edited by Yisrael Gutman, Ezra Mendelsohn,
Jehuda Reinharz, and Chone Shmeruk |
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Poland's
Jewish Landmarks, A Travel Guide
By Joram Kagan
Hippocrene Books, Inc., New York
Softcover, 2001, 264 pages. $16.95
What can you say about Jewish Poland in 264 pages or less?
This is a subject for volumes, not for a thin paperback
travel guide. I suppose that if I had to describe Polish
Jewry "on one foot" (as they say) this book would be it.
This is the book that you carry with you on your trip
to Poland. It opens with the Kaddish. You'll be referring
to this text often, as you travel through the country.
It then goes on to list some of the Jewish landmark events
in a "Chronology of Jewish Presence in Poland before and
after WWII starting at 860 AD." That's just to give you
a taste of how rich our heritage was in Poland.
There are several short chapters on the history of the
Jews in Poland, and an introduction to Polish Jewish culture.
But the most interesting and useful information in this
book is the reference material. The book contains maps
of various sorts, showing not just geography but also
demographic information. There are lists and photos, diagrams,
and names, names and more names.
So many contributed to the rich Jewish life in Poland
that they are too great to mention. The section on famous
figures and their contributions simply lists their names
and their contributions in the fields of leadership, literature,
music and theater, painting, academic studies, and trades
and professions. Just to give you an idea of the cursory
nature of this section, Shalom Aleichem (1859 - 1916)
and Isaac Bashevis Singer (1904 - 1991) are each one line
entries under Yiddish and Hebrew Writers. Imagine that.
Almost a third of this book is a glossary of Polish Jewry.
Here you will find an alphabetical listing of some of
the most significant locations and a paragraph on each.
Though some of the entries are very thorough, I was disappointed
in the number of items missing from this 100-page section.
The chapter on major Jewish centers in Poland, focuses
on Cracow, Lodz, Lublin, and Warsaw, and includes the
cemeteries, memorials, schools, museums, and some photos.
The book has an interesting chapter on tracing ones roots
in Poland. It discusses the types of documents that are
helpful for tracing family members and the repositories
in Poland where they can be found. There is a list of
modern day congregations and synagogues, striking in that
it is two sides of a single page. There is another section
on current Jewish organizations, recommended reading and
an index.
I suppose if such a rich topic as Poland's Jewish Landmarks
had to be summed up in a portable paperback, this book
does the job. But readers of this book should take the
recommended reading section seriously, and use this book
as just the start of a fascinating study.
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The Jews of Poland Between Two World Wars
Edited by Yisrael Gutman, Ezra Mendelsohn, Jehuda Reinharz, and Chone Shmeruk.
University Pess of New England, www.upne.com
1989 Softcover, 574 pages. $32
This erudite and fascinating tome is an edited compilation of papers delivered at the International Conference on the Jews of Poland Between Two World Wars, which was organized under the auspices of the Tauber Institute for the Study of European Jewry at Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts, and the Center for Research on the History and Culture of Polish Jews at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, in cooperation with the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, New York.
The Tauber Institute for the Study of European Jewry of Brandeis University is dedicated to the memory of the victims of Nazi persecution between the years 1933 and 1945. The Institute seeks to study the history and culture of European Jewry in the modern period. The Institute has a special interest in studying the causes, nature, and consequences of the European Jewish catastrophe and seeks to explore them within the context of modern European diplomatic, intellectual, political and social history. The Institute includes scholars from a variety of disciplines.
This essays in this cover a wide spectrum of aspects of the lives of the Jews, in the social, religious, educational, intellectual, Zionist and political spheres. As Ezra Mendelsohn says in his Introduction: The Jews of Poland Between Two World Wars-Myth and Reality: "For many individuals belonging to the small nations of Eastern Europe, the years between the two world wars have attained the status of a golden age, and all-too-brief period during which the attainment and exercise of national independence more than made up for the prevalence of economic misery and political instability…The Jews certainly shared the hopes…that the end of the terrible war and the establishment of the new order would lead to a new and happier era."
The papers that follow examine the question of whether, and how far, these hopes were fulfilled in the interwar period despite poverty, uncertainty and antisemitism.
On the political front, Gershon C. Bacon examines Agudat Israel in Interwar Poland, Edward D. Wynot - the Polish Peasant movement and the Jews, Moshe Mishkinsky-the Communist Party of Poland and the Jews, and Abraham Brumberg - the Bund and the Polish Socialist Party. "Jewish political strategy in independent Poland took two major directions: cooperation and confrontation. With some exceptions, the Galician Zionists, the merchant groups, and Agudah tried to protect Jewish interests through cooperation with the government, while the Congress Poland Zionists, Bundists, and Folkists adopted oppositionist tactics of one form or another." (Gershon C. Bacon).
Antisemitism and attendant pogroms are addressed in papers by Yisrael Gutman, Antony Polonsky and Emmanuel Melzer. Melzer notes that: "After the Nazis came to power in Germany, the German embassy and consulates in Poland followed all anti-Jewish manifestations throughout Poland with special interest and sent home detailed reports about them. German propaganda succeeded in making capital of Polish antisemitism and endeavored to portray the anti-German line in Poland as a 'Jewish policy,' thereby hoping to undercut Poland's preparedness and its power of resistance in those critical months before the invasion." In the economic and social spheres, Jerzy Tomaszewski examines the role of Jews in Polish Commerce, Frank Golczewski - the problem of Sunday rest, Shaul Stamfer - marital patterns (which are evidently important social indicators), and Samuel D. Kassow - community and identity in the interwar Shtetl. Ephraim E. Urbach deals with the history of Polish Jews of the period as reflected in the traditional literature, David E. Fishman with the Musar movement, and Ben-Zion Gold gives his personal perspective of religious education there.
Literacy and cultural creativity is extensively covered in eight papers, which deal with all aspects of literature and theatre, and three other papers expound on the historiography of the Jews in interwar Poland. A very complete index rounds out the volume.
Not a book to be taken lightly, this is a readable and comprehensive guide to Jewish life in Poland during the interwar period. As interest and study in pre-Holocaust Poland escalates yearly, this is a worthy companion for all who wish to increase their knowledge.
The Tauber Institute for the Study of European Jewry, established by a gift to Brandeis |
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