Description
Book SynopsisFew Polish cities have evoked more affection from their Jewish inhabitants than Kraków, and this volume brings together the work of leading historians from Israel, Poland, Great Britain, and the United States to explore how this relationship evolved. It takes as its starting point 1772, when Poland was partitioned between the Great Powers and Kraków came under Austrian rule, and examines the relationship between the Jewish minority and the Polish majority in the city in the different stages of its history down to the period of German occupation in the Second World War. An additional perspective is provided by a consideration of how Jewish life in Kraków has been remembered by Holocaust survivors, and how it is portrayed in post-war Polish literature. The main explanation for the specific nature of relations between Poles and Jews in Kraków as it emerges from these studies seems to be that Jewish acculturation to Polish culture was more pronounced in Kraków than anywhere else in Poland. The Jewish community as a whole opened itself up to contemporary currents and participated in the life of the city, above all in its cultural dimension, while nevertheless retaining a highly articulated sense of Jewish identity and unity. This meant that they were able both to defend their interests effectively and to establish links with the rest of the population from a position of strength. An additional important factor appears to have been the more tolerant atmosphere which prevailed in the Austro-Hungarian empire, which meant that ethnic tensions were less acute than elsewhere on the Polish lands. Furthermore, the fact that the city was largely pre-industrial and conservative, and was a spiritual and intellectual centre for both Catholics and Jews, may paradoxically have mitigated ethnic conflict, as did the fact that the two societies—Polish and Jewish—were largely socially separate. While the increase in antisemitism after 1935 and the consequences of the Holocaust are still etched in the minds of many, the city nevertheless has a special place in Jewish hearts and will continue to be remembered as one of the great centres of Jewish culture in east-central Europe. As in other volumes of Polin, the New Views section examines a number of important topics. These include a general investigation of the situation of the Jews in Galicia; an analysis of the position of Jewish slave labourers in the Kielce area under Nazi rule; an investigation into the resurgence after 1944 of the myth of ritual murder; and a discussion of the history of the Jewish settlement in Lower Silesia after the Second World War.
Trade Review'Together the essays give a well-rounded view of one of the oldest and largest Jewish communities in Eastern Europe.'
Research Book News'This collection of studies on post-1772 Kraków Jewry is an extremely valuable and very readable contribution to the literature . . . Most are by well-known specialists, but not all of them have been widely published in English, which gives added value to this volume . . . corrects many misconceptions about Judaism in modern Poland. The articles can also stand alone, which adds to the utility of the volume for students. The glossary and fine index help to make this book very accessible to non-experts.'
Religious Studies ReviewTable of ContentsNote on Place Names Note on Transliteration PART I: JEWS IN KRAKÓW SINCE 1772 Introduction MICHAŁ GALAS AND ANTONY POLONSKY Jewish Primary and Seconday School Education in the Free City of Kraków (1815–1846) ANNA JAKIMYSZYN Changes in the Jewish Community of Kraków in Autonomous Galicia ŁUKASZ TOMASZ SROKA Ambiguities of Assimilation: The Kraków Conservatives and the Jews PHILIP PAJAKOWSKI The History of the Jewish Community of Podgórze BARBARA ZBROJA The Kraków Association of Progressive Jews 1864–1874 HANNA KOZIŃSKA-WITT The Impact of New Ideologies: The Transformation of Kraków Jewry between 1895 and 1914 ANDRZEJ ŻBIKOWSKI Orthodox Jewry in Kraków at the End of the Nineteenth Century RACHEL MANEKIN The Polonization of Jews: Some Examples from Kraków JACEK PURCHLA Jewish Participation in the Elections to Kraków City Council during the Interwar Period (1919–1939) CZESŁAW BRZOZA The Political Thought of
Nowy Dziennik in its Early Period: July 1918–February 1919 JANUSZ FAŁOWSKI Between Politics and Spirituality: The Case of Dr Oziasz Thon (1870–1936), Reform Rabbi of Kraków EMANUEL MELZER Soroh Schenirer (1883–1935), Founder of the Beis Yaakov Movement: Her Vision and her Legacy CAROLINE SCHARFER ‘The Borderland’: The Beys Yaakov School in Kraków as a Symbolic Encounter between East and West AGNIESZKA OLESZAK Future Generations: Associations for Jewish Children in Kraków, 1918–1939 SEAN MARTIN Jewish Artists in Interwar Kraków NATASZA STYRNA Jewish Antiquarian Booksellers in Kraków RYSZARD LÖW The Ethnic Panorama of Nazi-Occupied Kraków ANDRZEJ CHWALBA The Jewish Orphanage in Kraków ROMAN ROSDOLSKY The Image of Post-War Kraków in Jewish Writing, 1945–1950 MONIKA STĘPIEŃ {1 table} ‘Kraków was my world. My home was there and my mother; whoever of my family was alive would return to Kraków’ – Kraków in Post-1945 Jewish Literature KATARZYNA ZECHENTER ‘A World before a Catastrophe: Krakow Jews between the Wars’: An Exhibition at Kraków’s International Cultural Centre
HANNA KOZIŃSKA-WITT Speech by Rafael Scharf given at the former building of the Jewish High School in Kazimierz PART II: NEW VIEWS Notes on Galician Jews MICHAEL C. STEINLAUF Jewish Slaves in Forced Labour Camps in Kielce, Radom District, September 1942–August 1944 SARA BENDER The Myth of Ritual Murder in Post-War Poland: Pathology and Hypotheses MARCIN ZAREMBA A History of Jewish Settlement in Lower Silesia after the Second World War (1945–1950) EWA WASZKIEWICZ OBITUARY Abe Brumberg MICHAEL ROSENBUSH Glossary Notes on the Contributors Index
