The aim of Polin vol. 31 is to explore the parallels, connections, and differences between Polish and Hungarian Jewry.  These two Jewish populations, the largest in Europe and arguably the  most culturally vibrant at the beginning of the twentieth century, have rarely been studied comparatively.  Historians of Hungarian Jewry, in particular, have tended to downplay these parallels and connections, preferring instead to emphasize the Central European character of Hungary and Hungarian Jewry.  With the aim of shedding additional light on both Jewries, this volume explores the world of Polish and Hungarian Jews from multiple perspectives: communal life, religious mentalities, political status, economic life, education, political activity, cultural life, and the status of women.

Possible topics for papers could include, and are not limited to: magnate-Jewish relations; Jews as financial agents, tavern keepers, and wine traders; Jews as commercial and industrial entrepreneurs; Jews of the Carpathian Mountains; Prague rabbis such as Ezekiel Landau as models for Polish and Hungarian rabbis and scholars; synagogues and temples; religious movements and the Polish counterparts to Hungarian Ultra-Orthodoxy and Neolog; Hasidism in Hungary and Poland; Jews as participants in national uprisings and nationalist movements; the image of Jews in Polish and Hungarian literature; ethnic triangles, assimilation, and the complexities of acculturation in a multi-ethnic society; migration and the urban experience of Jews in Warsaw and Budapest; the impact of socialism and Zionism; women’s associations; Jewish literature, music, theater, and art; the challenges of the Interwar, Holocaust history and historiography, and the Iron Curtain; post-communist Jewish communities

To contribute, please contact:

Howard Lupovich: hlupovitch@wayne.edu

Antony Polonsky: polonsky@brandeis.edu