Jews in Post-War Wrocław and L'viv: Official Policies and Local Responses in Comparative Perspective, 1945-1970s Official Policies and Local Responses in Comparative Perspective, 1945-1970s Izabela Kazejak, Andreas Umland

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kazejak, Izabela, Author.

Contributor:

Umland, Andreas, Editor.

Series:

Soviet and post-Soviet politics and society ; Volume 269.

Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics and Society

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Ukraine.

Poland.

Polen.

Jewish Communities.

Jüdische Gemeinden.

Communist Regimes.

Kommunismus.

Local Subjects:

Ukraine.

Poland.

Polen.

Jewish Communities.

Jüdische Gemeinden.

Communist Regimes.

Kommunismus.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (191 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Hannover ibidem 2023

Biography/History:

Dr. Izabela Kazejak studied culture and history in Frankfurt (Oder) and Florence where she obtained her PhD from the European University Institute. Kazejak's papers have been published by, among other outlets, Témoigner. Entre Histoire et Mémoire , Cultures d' Europe Centrale, and Exilforschung. Ein internationales Jahrbuch.

Dr. Izabela Kazejak studied culture and history in Frankfurt (Oder) and Florence where she obtained her PhD from the European University Institute. Kazejak's papers have been published by, among other outlets, Témoigner. Entre Histoire et Mémoire , Cultures d' Europe Centrale, and Exilforschung. Ein internationales Jahrbuch.

Summary:

This book examines the process of re-establishment of Jewish communities in two post-war European cities – in Wrocław which passed after 1945 from Germany to Poland, and in L’viv which passed from Poland to the Soviet Union. These processes were thus overseen by two different Communist regimes. The book compares similarities and differences in the policies of the two countries. The attempt to re-establish full-blown Jewish life failed, in both cases. This study explains why the efforts to create communities that were self-identified as Jewish and loyal to the Communist state did not succeed. After reviewing the prewar history and wartime destruction of Jews in German Breslau and Polish Lwów, the book explores the efforts of the postwar regimes, supported by Jews who had survived the Holocaust, to reconstitute Jewish life. It examines the history of the nascent communities up to 1968 in Wrocław and up to the 1970s in L’viv. The comparison is made in relation to five inter-related contexts. These contexts are the official policies towards Jews of the governments of the Polish People’s Republic and Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, how these central policies were implemented at the local level, the particular national frameworks of Jewish life in communist Poland and Soviet Ukraine, the effects of popular and official antisemitism on postwar Jewish communities in Wrocław and L’viv, and the repercussions of the economic and social modernization of the Communist regimes for local Jewish communities.

Contents:

Intro

Acknowledgements

Introduction

1. The historical background

1. Jews in Breslau

2. The rise to power of Hitler and its effect on Jews in Breslau

3. Jews in Lwów in 1918

4. Polish Jews and the Second Polish Republic

5. Attitudes towards Jews in the Polish Second Republic

6. Emigration of Jews

7. Jews, Ukrainians and Russians

8. Jews in the Soviet Union in the interwar years

9. The Second World War: Poles, Ukrainians and responses to the Holocaust

Conclusion

2. Jews in Wrocław and L'viv, 1945-48

1. Shifting of the borders and the exchange of populations

2. Jews and Politics in Poland

3. The transformation of Lwów into L'viv

4. Jewish settlement in Wrocław

5. Finding a job in Wrocław

6. German Jews

7. Jewish educational and cultural organizations in Wrocław

8. Antisemitism in Wrocław

9. The reconstruction of the Jewish community in L'viv

10. Antisemitism in L'viv

3. Jewish life from 1948 through the 1950s

1. The Soviet Union and the Creation of the State of Israel

2. Polish Jews and the Creation of Israel

3. Jewish Life in Wrocław in the 1950s

4. 1956 as a turning point

5. Jewish Life in L'viv in the 1950s

4. The decline of the Jewish communities in the 1960s and 1970s

1. The Closure of the Synagogue in L'viv

2. Jews in Wrocław in the 1960s

3. Schooling for Jews in Wrocław

4. Pressures to Assimilate

5. The Six-Day War of 1967 and the Crisis of 1968

6. Jewish Emigration from Poland

7. Emigration of Jews from the Soviet Union in the 1970s

Bibliography.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

3-8382-7802-X

Publisher Number:

9783838278025