From Shtetl to Socialism

Until 1939 Poland was the heartland of European Jewry, and the Polish Jewish community was still one of the largest and most important in the world. For nine centuries it was one of the central forces in the shaping of Jewish culture and its impact on the shaping of modern Jewry - religious and secular - was profound.

An understanding of the history of the Jews of Poland is thus essential to a proper understanding of Jewish history. This book, comprising a selection of studies drawn from the first seven volumes of Polin, provides that understanding. Written by scholars from Europe (including Poland itself), Israel, and North America, it illuminates the most critical aspects of the history of the Jews in Poland and illustrates how these issues are being treated by the leading and most innovative scholars in the field.

A broad spectrum of subjects is discussed, covering the origins and development of the community and the many crises it experienced from the earliest date of Jewish settlement in Poland to the establishment of Communist rule in postwar Poland. Maps and a chronology of Polish Jewish history are also provided, and the book is prefaced by an extensive new introduction by Antony Polonsky, general editor of Polin.

Contributors

Monika Adamczyk-Garbowska, Israel Bartal, David Biale, Eugene C. Black, Jan Blonski, Norman Davies, David Engel, Jacob Goldberg, Gershon David Hundert, Krystyna Kersten, Stefan Kieniewicz, Pawel Korzec, Ewa Kurek-Lesik, Magdalena Opalski, Maria and Kazimierz Piechotka, Eugenia Prokopowna, Laura Quercioli-Mincer, M. J. Rosman, Szymon Rudnicki, Pawel Samus, Robert Moses Shapiro, Chone Shmeruk, Shaul Stampfer, Michael C. Steinlauf, Pawel Szapiro, Jean-Charles Szurek, Janusz Tazbir, Jerzy Tomaszewski, Paul Wexler, Anna Zuk 

Contents 

List of maps

Introduction 

Part I Pre-Partition Poland (to 1795) 

The Reconstruction of Pre-Ashkenazic Jewish Settlements in the Slavic Lands in the Light of Linguistic Sources PAUL WEXLER

Some Basic Characteristics of the Jewish Experience in Poland GERSHON DAVID HUNDERT

Images of the Jew in the Polish Commonwealth JANUSZ TAZBIR

A Minority Views the Majority: Jewish Attitudes towards the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Interaction with Poles M. J. ROSMAN

The Changes in the Attitude of Polish Society toward the Jews in the Eighteenth Century JACOB GOLDBERG 

A Mobile Class: The Subjective Element in the Social Perception of Jews-The Example of Eighteenth-Century Poland ANNA ZUK 

Part II The Nineteenth Century 

The Jews of Warsaw, Polish Society, and the Partitioning Powers, 1795-1861 STEFAN KIENIEWICZ 

The Jewish Community in the Political Life of Lódz in the Years 1865-1914 PAWEL SAMUS 

Aspects of the History of Warsaw as a Yiddish Literary Centre CHONE SHMERUK 

Non-Jews and Gentile Society in East European Hebrew and Yiddish Literature, 1856-1914 ISRAEL BARTAL 

Trends in the Literary Perception of Jews in Modern Polish Fiction MAGDALENA OPALSKI 

Eros and Enlightenment: Love against Marriage in the East European Jewish Enlightenment DAVID BIALE 

Gender Differentiation and Education of the Jewish Woman in Nineteenth- Century Eastern Europe SHAUL STAMPFER 

Polish Synagogues in the Nineteenth Century MARIA and KAZIMIERZ PIECHOTKA 

Part III Between the Two World Wars 

Ethnic Diversity in Twentieth-Century Poland NORMAN DAVIES

Some Methodological Problems of the Study of Jewish History in Poland between the Two World Wars JERZY TOMASZEWSKI 

Lucien Wolf and the Making of Poland: Paris, 1919 EUGENE C. BLACK

Aspects of Jewish Self-Government in Lódz, 1914-1939 ROBERT MOSES SHAPIRO

The Image of the Shtetl in Polish Literature EUGENIA PROKOPOWNA 

The Polish Jewish Daily Press MICHAEL C. STEINLAUF 

From 'Numerus Clausus' to 'Numerus Nullus' SZYMON RUDNICKI 

Part IV The Second World War

Jews and Poles under Soviet Occupation (1939-1941): Conflicting Interests PAWEL KORZEC and JEAN-CHARLES SZUREK 

The Western Allies and the Holocaust DAVID ENGEL

The Conditions of Admittance and the Social Background of Jewish Children Saved by Women's Religious Orders in Poland, 1939-1945 EWA KUREK-LESIK

Part V After 1945 

The Contexts of the So-Called Jewish Question in Poland after World War II KRYSTYNA KERSTEN and PAWEL SZAPIRO 

Is There a Jewish School of Polish Literature? JAN BLONSKI

A Voice from the Diaspora: Julian Stryjkowski LAURA QUERCIOLI-MINCER 

Poles and Poland in I. B. Singer's Fiction MONIKA ADAMCZYK-GARBOWSKA 

Notes on Contributors 

Chronological Table 

Maps