Now in its fifth volume, Polin is established as the leading forum for authoritative historical and cultural material on Polish and East European Jewry. Each volume contains articles presenting original research, often including previously unpublished documents. Each issue also features an extensive review essay section and a forum for the exchange of ideas and views between authors. Volume 5 covers three special subject areas in the field of Polish and East European Studies. Firstly, it explores the Jewish influence on the art and architecture of Poland, particularly in respect to town planning and town buildings. The second section looks at the subject of Jews in Germany in a historical context. Thirdly, it looks at the important issues of Zionism in Poland. All these issues and more are discussed in this 5th volume of Polin.

Counters the traditional image of Jews being in a permanent state of conflict with their eastern European neighbors by exploring neglected aspects of inter-group interaction, focusing on commonalities, reciprocal influence, and exchange.

From 1772-1918 Jews were concentrated more densely in Galicia than in any other area in Europe. Bartal (modern Jewish history, Hebrew U. of Jerusalem) and Polonsky (Judaic and social studies, Brandeis U.) are joined by a number of other scholars of Judaism to explore the Jewish community in Galicia and its relationship with the Poles, Ukranians, and other ethnic groups. Essays include discussions of the consequences of Galician autonomy; Galician Jewish migration to Vienna; the reforms of Maria Theresa and Joseph II in the 18th century, the assimilation of the Jewish elite; and levels of literacy among Poles and Jews. This volume also include 13 book reviews. Distributed by ISBS. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Winner of the 2022 PIASA Anna M. Cienciala Award for the Best Edited Book in Polish StudiesThe majority of Poland’s prewar Jewish population who fled to the interior of the Soviet Union managed to survive World War II and the Holocaust. This collection of original essays tells the story of more than 200,000 Polish Jews who came to a foreign country as war refugees, forced laborers, or political prisoners. This diverse set of experiences is covered by historians, literary and memory scholars, and sociologists who specialize in the field of East European Jewish history and culture.

Few Polish cities have evoked more affection from their Jewish inhabitants than Krakow, and this volume brings together the work of leading historians - from Israel, Poland, Great Britain, and the US - to explore how this relationship evolved. It takes as its starting point 1772, when Poland was partitioned between the Great Powers and Krakow came under Austrian rule, and it 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 during World War II. An additional perspective is provided by a consideration of how Jewish life in Krakow 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 Krakow seems to be that Jewish acculturation to Polish culture was more pronounced in Krakow 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 Jews 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 center 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 anti-Semitism 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 centers 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 laborers 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 World War II. [Subject: History, Jewish Studies, Polish Studies, Cultural Studies]

During World War II Poland lost more than six million people, including about three million Polish Jews who perished in the ghettos and extermination camps built by Nazi Germany in occupied Polish territories. This book is the first to address the representation of the Holocaust in Polish film and does so through a detailed treatment of several films, which the author frames in relation to the political, ideological, and cultural contexts of the times in which they were created. Following the chronological development of Polish Holocaust films, the book begins with two early classics: Wanda Jakubowska’s The Last Stage (1948) and Aleksander Ford’s Border Street (1949), and next explores the Polish School period, represented by Andrzej Wajda’s A Generation (1955) and Andrzej Munk’s The Passenger (1963). Between 1965 and 1980 there was an “organized silence” regarding sensitive Polish-Jewish relations resulting in only a few relevant films until the return of democracy in 1989 when an increasing number were made, among them Krzysztof Kieślowski’s Decalogue 8 (1988), Andrzej Wajda’s Korczak (1990), Jan Jakub Kolski’s Keep Away from the Window (2000), and Roman Polański’s The Pianist (2002). An important contribution to film studies, this book has wider relevance in addressing the issue of Poland’s national memory.

Zimmerman examines the attitude and behavior of the Polish Underground towards the Jews during the Holocaust.

This volume is made up of essays first presented as papers at the conference held in May 2015 at POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw. It is divided into two sections. The first deals with museological questions--the voices of the curators, comments on the POLIN museum exhibitions and projects, and discussions on Jewish museums and education. The second examines the current state of the historiography of the Jews on the Polish lands from the first Jewish settlement to the present day. Making use of the leading scholars in the field from Poland, Eastern and Western Europe, North America, and Israel, the volume provides a definitive overview of the history and culture of one of the most important communities in the long history of the Jewish people.

This book examines the intersection of urban society and modern politics among Jews in turn of the century Warsaw, Europe's largest Jewish center at the time. By focusing on the tumultuous events surrounding the Revolution of 1905, Barricades and Banners argues that the metropolitanization of Jewish life led to a need for new forms of community and belonging, and that the ensuing search for collective and individual order gave birth to the new institutions, organizations, and practices that would define modern Jewish society and politics for the remainder of the twentieth century.