The Jews in Poland

By the end of the 17th century probably three quarters of world Jewry dwelt within the borders of the Polish republic, which became not only a haven from persecution but the centre of a flourishing Jewish culture. This culture survived the decline and partition of the Polish state and in the 19th century became the seedbed for the intellectual movements that were to transform the Jewish world - zionism, secularism, socialism and neo-orthodoxy. With the development of mass emigration from the late 19th century onwards, the influence of Jews from the former Polish Republic was carried to Western Europe, North and South America, South Africa and Australasia.

The Jews in Poland focuses on the relationship of the Jews to the other peoples with whom they lived - sometimes in harmony, sometimes in conflict - to offer a general outline of the most significant factors in the evolution of Jewish life in Poland from the beginnings of Jewish settlement to the present day.

The beginnings of Jewish settlement in Polish lands Aleksander Gieysztor

Merchants and businessmen in Poznan and Cracow, 1588-1668 Daniel Tollet

The privileges granted to Jewish communities of the Polish Commonwealth as a stablizing factor in Jewish support Jacob Golberg

The implications of Jewish economic activities for Jewish-Christian relations in the Polish Commonwealth Gershon Hundert

A footnote to the history of the integration of converts into the ranks of the `szlachta' in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth Andrzej Ciechanowiecki

Polish society and the Jewish problem in the nineteenth century Stefan Kieniewicz

Polish-Jewish relations in the territories annexed by the Russian empire in the first half of the nineteenth century Daniel Beauvois

Jews in the Lublin region prior to the January uprising, 1861-1862 Ryszard Bende

Rural anti-semitism in Galicia before World War I Frank Golczewski

Notes on the assimilation and acculturation of Jews in Poland, 1863-1943 Joseph Lichten

Interwar Poland: good for the Jews or bad for the Jews? Ezra Mendelsohn

Relations between Polish and Jewish left wing groups in interwar Poland Jerzy Holzer

Polish-Jewish relations in occupied Poland 1939-1945 Wladyslaw Bartoszewski

The Relief Council for the Jews in Poland, 1942-1945 Teresa Prekerowa

Polish and Jewish historiography on the question of Polish-Jewish relations during World War II Yisrael Gutman

Polish-Jewish relations 1944-1947 Michal Borwicz

The Jewish issue in post-war Polish communist politics Lukasz Hirszowicz

Chimen Abramsky respectively former Goldsmith Professor of Jewish History, University of London. By the end of the 17th century probably three quarters of world Jewry dwelt within the borders of the Polish republic, which became not only a haven from persecution but the centre of a flourishing Jewish culture. This culture survived the decline and partition of the Polish state and in the 19th century became the seedbed for the intellectual movements that were to transform the Jewish world - zionism, secularism, socialism and neo-orthodoxy. With the development of mass emigration from the late 19th century onwards, the influence of Jews from the former Polish Republic was carried to Western Europe, North and South America, South Africa and Australasia.

The Jews in Poland focuses on the relationship of the Jews to the other peoples with whom they lived - sometimes in harmony, sometimes in conflict - to offer a general outline of the most significant factors in the evolution of Jewish life in Poland from the beginnings of Jewish settlement to the present day.