• Polish Jews in the Soviet Union (1939–1959)
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Polish Jews in the Soviet Union (1939–1959)

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The 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 ...
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  • 14 December 2021
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Winner of the 2022 PIASA Anna M. Cienciala Award for the Best Edited Book in Polish Studies
The 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.
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Price: $139.00
Pages: 350
Publisher: Academic Studies Press
Imprint: Academic Studies Press
Series: Jews of Poland
Publication Date: 14 December 2021
Trim Size: 9.21 X 6.14 in
ISBN: 9781644697498
Format: Hardcover
BISACs: Refugees and political asylum, The Holocaust
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”The various articles, along with the bibliography and Edele’s ‘paths ahead’ discus- sion in the epilogue (pp. 287–289), should greatly benefit both the general public and scholars who are interested in such topics as the Holocaust, the history of the Second World War, East European Jewry, Soviet Union studies, and Polish studies. More spe- cifically, it is an important contribution to the understanding of a unique and impor- tant part of the Polish Jewish experience during the war.”

— Na’ama Seri-Levi, The Hebrew University, Yad Vashem, Contemporary Jewry


“[T]he volume demonstrates the strong development that research on Polish Jews in the Soviet Union has taken in recent years, and it also hints at the direction that future research may further evolve.”

— Kai Struve, Slavic Review

Katharina Friedla is a historian specializing in East European and Jewish history, with a major focus on nationalism and identity politics, culture, state ideology, and forced migrations.

Markus Nesselrodt is a historian of East European history and specializes in Polish history, history of migration, and urban history.

Table of Contents

Note on Translations, Transliterations, and Place Names

Antony Polonsky
Foreword

Katharina Friedla / Markus Nesselrodt
Introduction

Part One: History

Markus Nesselrodt
Who, When, and Why? Escaping German Occupation in 1939 versus 1941

Eliyana Adler
Children in Exile: Wartime Journeys of Polish Jewish Youth

Albert Kaganovitch
Together and Apart. Poles and Polish Jews in the War-Torn Soviet Union

Katharina Friedla
“I’m rushing with millions of others to the battlefield”—Jewish Soldiers in the Polish Army in the Soviet Union, 1943–1946

Wojciech Marciniak
Repatriation of Polish Catholics and Jews from Distant Parts of the Soviet Union in Polish-Soviet Relations (1944–1947)

Serafima Velkovich
Polish Citizenship as a Way to Freedom: How Soviet Jews Escaped the USSR Using Polish Documents

Miriam Schulz
The Deepest Self Denies the Face: Polish Jewish Intellectuals and the Birth of the “Soviet Marrano”

Gennady Estraikh
Hersh Smolar: A Polish Personage in the Soviet Jewish Cultural Scene, 1940s–1960s

Part Two: Memory

Natalie Belsky
Contested Memories: Soviet and Polish Jewish Refugees and Evacuees Recount Their Experience on the Soviet Home Front

John Goldlust
Neither “Victims” nor “Survivors”: Polish Jews Reflect on Their Wartime Experiences in the Soviet Union During the Second World War

Lidia Zessin-Jurek
A Matzeva Amid Crosses: Jewish Exiles in the Polish Memory of Siberia

Przemysław Kaniecki and Renata Piątkowska
Before, During, and After: The Objects and Archival Material in the POLIN Museum

Mark Edele
Epilogue

Bibliography
Acknowledgements
Notes on Contributors
Index of Places
Index of Names