Development of the Education of Galician Jews at the Turn of the 19th and 20th Centuries as Exemplified by the City of Lviv

Abstract

In the 19th and at the beginning of the 20th century Galician Jews gradually left the isolated world of traditional culture for the open worldwide culture. At the start, they knew only one path of life, based on many centuries of tradition, but at the end it provided many paths to self-realization. Some of them were still devoted, other secular, some of them felt Jews, others felt Poles of Mosaic faith or Germans of Mosaic faith, some were involved in the Zionist movement, others in socialism. Many of them considered Galicia to be their own little motherland and manifested the features of local patriotism. It was possible thanks to the modernization of their lifestyle, and public education turned out to be one of the most important factors in this process. It was possible also thanks to the country authorities creating conditions which encouraged Jews to send their children to public school. Consequently, the majority of Jewish boys and girls completed compulsory education. It was the first step towards the modernization of their life.