Polin: Studies in Polish Jewry Volume 16: Focusing on Jewish Popular Culture and Its Afterlife(16 Polin: Studies in Polish Jewry)

Scholarship on the civilization of Polish Jews has tended to focus on elite culture and canonical literature; even modern Yiddish culture has generally been approached from the perspective of ‘great works’. This volume of Polin focuses on the less explored but historically vital theme of Jewish popular culture and shows how, confronted by the challenges and opportunities of modernity in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, it blossomed into a complex expression of Jewish life. In addition to a range of articles on the period before the Second World War there are studies of the traces of this culture in the contemporary world. The volume as a whole aims to develop a fresh understanding of Polish Jewish civilization in all its richness and variety. Subjects discussed in depth include klezmorim and Jewish recorded music; the development of Jewish theatre in Poland, theatrical parody, and the popular poet and performer Mordechai Gebirtig; Jewish postcards in Poland and Germany; the early Yiddish popular press in Galicia and cartoons in the Yiddish press; working-class libraries in inter-war Poland; the impact of the photographs of Roman Vishniac; contemporary Polish wooden figures of Jews; and the Kraków Jewish culture festival. In addition, a Polish Jewish popular song is traced to Sachsenhausen, the badkhn (wedding jester) is rediscovered in present-day Jerusalem, and Yiddish cabaret turns up in blues, rock ‘n’ roll, and reggae garb. There are also translations from the work of two writers previously unavailable in English: excerpts from the ethnographer A. Litvin’s pioneering five-volume work Yidishe neshomes (Jewish Souls) and several chapters from the autobiography, notorious in inter-war Poland, of the writer and thief Urke Nachalnik. As in earlier volumes of Polin substantial space is also given to new research into a variety of topics in Polish Jewish studies. These include the origins of antisemitism in Poland; what is known about the presence of German forces in the vicinity of Jedwabne in the summer of 1941; and the vexed question of Jews in the communist security apparatus in Poland after 1944. The review section includes an important discussion of what should be done about the paintings in Sandomierz cathedral which represent an alleged ritual murder in the seventeenth century, and an examination of the ‘anti-Zionist’ campaign of 1968.

Table of Contents:
Note on Place Names Note on Transliteration Part I Jewish Popular Culture in Poland its Afterlife Introduction MICHAEL C. STEINLAUF The Badkhn: From Wedding Stage to Writing Desk ARIELA KRASNEY Remembrance of Things Past: Klezmer Musicians of Galicia, 1870-1940 WALTER ZEV FELDMAN Early Recordings of Jewish Music in Poland MICHAEL AYLWARD Jewish Theatre in Poland MICHAEL C. STEINLAUF A Tuml in the Shtetl: Khaym Betsalel Grinberg's Di khevre-kedishe sude FRANA OIS GUESNET Mordechai Gebirtig: The Folksong and the Cabaret Song NATAN GROSS Simkhe Plakhte: From 'Folklore' to Literary Artefact SETH L. WOLITZ Between Poland and Germany: Jewish Religious Practices in Illustrated Postcards of the Early Twentieth Century SHALOM SABAR Papers for the Folk: Jewish Nationalism and the Birth of the Yiddish Press in Galicia JOSHUA SHANES Shund and the Tabloids: Jewish Popular Reading in Inter-War Poland NATAN COHEN Dos yidishe bukh alarmirt! Toward a History of Yiddish Reading in Inter-War Poland ELLEN KELLMAN Exploiting Tradition: Religious Iconography in Cartoons of the Polish Yiddish Press EDWARD PORTNOY From 'Madagaskar' to Sachsenhausen: Singing about 'Race' in a Nazi Camp BRET WERB and BARBARA MILEWSKI The Badkhn in Contemporary Hasidic Society: Social, Historical, and Musical Observations YAAKOV MAZOR Transmigrations: Wolf Krakowski's Yiddish Worldbeat in its Socio-Musical Context ALEX LUBET 'The Time of Vishniac': Photographs of Pre-War East European Jewry in Post-War Contexts JEFFREY SHANDLER Repopulating Jewish Poland-in Wood ERICA LEHRER The Krakow Jewish Culture Festival RUTH ELLEN GRUBER Part II Documents A. Litvin: Chronicler of Jewish Souls Michael C. Steinlauf Excerpts from Yidishe neshomes A. LITVIN Urke Nachalnik: A Voice from the Underworld GWIDO ZLATKES Excerpts from Zyciorys wlasny przestepcy URKE NACHALNIK Part III New Views Making a Space for Antisemitism: The Catholic Hierarchy and the Jews in the Early Twentieth Century BRIAN PORTER Polish 'Neighbours' and German Invaders: Anti-Jewish Violence in the Bialystok District during the Opening Weeks of Operation Barbarossa ALEXANDER B. ROSSINO Jews in the Polish Security Apparatus: An Attempt to Test the Stereotype ANDRZEJ PACZKOWSKI Part IV Reviews REVIEW ESSAYS Some Remarks on Leszek Hondo's Study of the Old Jewish Cemetery in Krakow ANDRZEJ TRZCINSKI and MARCIN WODZINSKI The Last Controversy over Ritual Murder? The Debate over the Paintings in Sandomierz Cathedral ANNA LANDAU-CZAJKA The Anti-Zionist Campaign in Poland of 1967-1968 WLODZIMIERZ ROZENBAUM BOOK REVIEWS CORRESPONDENCE Exchange between Jozef Lewandowski and Joanna Rostropowich Clark Exchange between Dina Porat and Roni Strauber, and Alina Cala OBITUARIES Wladyslaw Szpilman (1911-2000) GARY FITELBERG Stanislaus A. Blejwas (1941-2001) JOHN RADZILOWSKI Notes on the Contributors Glossary Index

About the Author :
Michael C. Steinlauf is Associate Professor of History at Gratz College, Pennsylvania. Antony Polonsky is Professor Emeritus of Holocaust Studies at Brandeis University and Chief Historian of the Global Outreach Educational Project of the Polin Museum of the History of Polish Jews, Warsaw.

Review :
'This massive volume is a pioneering step in the study of popular Jewish culture in Poland ... a fascinating collection.' Shulamith Z. Berger, AJL Newsletter 'Without a doubt, an important contribution to the study of the folk and popular culture of Polish Jewry ... Such an important collection of articles ... must be read from cover to cover.' Itzik Gottesman, Forverts