No Way Out: The Politics of Polish Jewry, 1935‒1939

Abstract

Monographs of the Hebrew Union College, no. 19(Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College Press, 1997); pp. xii + 236 The first edition of this book, written as a doctoral dissertation, was published in 1982 in Hebrew. The present edition was condensed but also updated, now that political changes have made it possible to study documents from Polish archives (notably Archiwum Akt Nowych in Warsaw). The author presents the basic political and economic problems of Jewish society in Poland; the attitudes of the government, political parties, and Polish society towards Jews; and the responses of the Jewish leaders, political parties, and ordinary people. Several of these topics have been treated in books and articles published by both Polish and Jewish historians and covering specific areas of Polish and Jewish history. This book’s merit is that it analyses a complex of issues and takes into consideration different elements of the changes going on not only in Poland, but in the whole of Europe as well. Such analysis can help readers to understand the situation of Jews in Poland and indicate the main directions for future studies....