Żydzi wschodniej Polski. Seria XI: Wobec polityki

Abstract

The volume brings the materials of the conference series „Jews of Eastern Poland” held in Bialystok. Thus began the third five-year anniversary of this project. The 11th International Conference „Jews of Eastern Europe and Politics. Biographies–Ideas–Cultural Texts” was organized by the Chair of Philological Research „East-West” of the Faculty of Philology of the University of Bialystok and the Department of Philological and Bibliographical Research of the Łukasz Górnicki Library, co-organizing this event from the beginning. The third series of sessions run under the motto: „Jews of Eastern Europe: Reinterpretations of Heritage.” The session was sponsored by the Scientific Committee composed of researchers from Poland, the United States, Israel, Turkey, and Ukraine. Organizational matters were coordinated by the Organizing Committee, chaired by Prof. Jarosław Ławski (Unit of Philological Research „East-West”, Faculty of Philology, University of Bialystok) and Director Beata Zadykowicz (the Łukasz Górnicki Library). The following research issues were addressed in 2022: The political life of Jews in Poland and Eastern Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries; the image of the Jewish politician in literature and art; ideas and political discourses of Eastern European Jews; Jewish political life in Central and Eastern Europe and the ideas of Zionism; „great” and „small” Jewish politics: center and province; press, radio, film and the political life of the Jewish community; Jewish politicians in the face of totalitarianism of the 20th century; political life of Jews in Podlasie and Białystok; great figures of the Jewish political world; Jewish political life through the eyes of anti-Semites; Jewish writers and artists as politicians; the image of Jewish political life in historical, historical-literary, political science and cultural studies. The conference was held under dramatic historical conditions. In 2020, due to the pandemic, the proceedings were held in absentia, while in 2021 they were held in hybrid mode, with most of the speakers appearing online. On May 16, 2022, a dozen people gathered at the Podlaska Bookstore to connect online with other participants in the Conference. The pandemic and the war in Ukraine limited the mobility of Western and Eastern European researchers. Twenty researchers from universities in Poland, Germany (Berlin), and Ukraine (Odessa Literature Museum) participated in the discussions, which were held in four 5-person panels. The wide thematic range of papers, which this year included issues of politics, culture, literature, press, and photography. It is worth noting that, on the one hand, a promising element of the 11th Conference was the presence of representatives of new research environments (Institute of Judaic Studies of the Jagiellonian University, Berlin), with the participation of Polish Studies students from Gdansk and Białystok. As Professor Anna Janicka emphasized in the future more attention should be devoted to the social-scientific dimension of the Conference, the opportunity provided by direct meetings of researchers, and their trips to places of Jewish-Polish memory in Podlasie. The three-chapter volume presents most of the papers delivered (see English table of contents), and brings rich photographic material, related to a multimedia presentation by Dr. Tomasz Butkiewicz (Berlin), entitled “The End of the Jewish Enclave of Bialystok and the Region in German Photographs from 1939–1943.” The volume was edited by Professor Jarosław Ławski, the conference organizer on behalf of the University of Bialystok, and Dr. MichaŁ Siedlecki on behalf of the Łukasz Górnicki Library.