For centuries, the Jews of Poland formed one of the largest and most creative communities in the world. By the end of the 18th century, when Russia, Prussia and Austria-Hungary partitioned the country, more than half the world Jewry lived within its borders. From this group derive not only Polish but also Russian, Belorussian, Lithuanian and Ukranian Jewry, as well as a very large part of the Jewish populations of Israel, Great Britain, the United States and elsewhere. An understanding of the history of the Jews of Poland is essential to a proper understanding of Jewish history in general and of the emergence in modern times of the Jewish question . This book, a compilation of essays written by scholars in the field, aims to provide that understanding and gives a clear account of the origins and development of the community and the many crises it experienced. The authors, based in Poland, Western Europe, North America and Israel, reflect different political and national perspectives but are united in their determination to surmount narrow ethnocentric history. All of the essays in this book, with the exception of the introduction by Anthony Polonsky were first published in Volumes 1-7 of Polin. They are here arranged chronomlogically and cover the entire period of Polish Jewish history, from the earliest of Jewish settlements in Poland to the establishment of Communist rule in the postwar period. While they do not provide a comprehensive history of the Jews in Poland, they do furnish illumination of the most critical aspects of that history and illustration of the way these issues are being treated by scholars in the field. A broad spectrum of subjects is discussed, including Jewish attitudes towards Poland and the Poles, the problems of Jewish emancipation in 19th century Poland, synagogue architecture in Poland, the emergence of modern Yiddish literature, the position of women in 19th century Eastern Europe, the Jewish experience in interwar Poland, the Western Allies and the Holocaust, and the persistance of the Jewish issue in postwar Poland.
