Ammunition in the struggle for national rights: Jewish historians in Poland between the two world war

This study examines the emergence and dissemination of academic and popular writing on Polish Jewish history by university-trained Jewish historians in interwar Poland. Tracing the development of the field from the late nineteenth century to the outbreak of the Second World War and the Holocaust, it discusses the training of scholars, their research agendas, their intended audiences, and the arguments and motives central to their work. Drawing on a model created in Galicia before the First World War, and expanding it in the newly-established Polish state, the field of modern Polish Jewish scholarship became part of Jewish public culture. The dissertation looks at the scholars involved in these endeavors collectively rather than as individual historians. Such a perspective facilitates exploration of the ways in which these scholars and communal activists created a conceptual framework for the construction of the history of Polish Jewry.;In the Second Polish Republic, Jewish historians saw themselves as part of an academic community, committed to the standards of research and writing for the benefit of both Jewish and Polish historiography. However, their commitment to making Jewish history writing a part of Polish scholarship stemmed not only from their training at Polish universities and their familiarity with Polish historical literature but also from their commitment as national Jewish historians. The ways in which they envisioned their field and its institutions stemmed from their sense of a mission beyond the academy.;While studying and interpreting history became increasingly professionalized, Jewish historians targeted wide audiences, both Jewish and Polish, disseminating scholarly responses to current and urgent questions and disputes. Their work appeared not only in academic venues but also in the popular press. Not only read in academic circles, it also played a role in the training of future rabbis and teachers. Their findings and interpretations made their way into school textbooks, political speeches, public sermons, and classroom discussions. Jewish historians could play such a role because academic credentials were held in high regard in the Polish political arena. In the future envisioned by Jewish historians, Polish Jews would be at home in Poland while still maintaining a strong Jewish national identity and culture.