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ABSTRACT
Ber Mark, the longstanding director of ŻIH (1949–1966), is generally considered a regime historian who adhered to the Communist Party line in his histories of Jewish resistance during the Holocaust, most of which were significantly distorted by Communist bias. In 1957, however, he published a book dealing with premodern Jewish history. Di geshikhte fun yidn in poyln (bizn sof fun XV y[or]h[undert]) (The History of Jews in Poland [until the End of the Fifteenth Century]) represents an attempt by Mark to reconcile an orthodox Marxist interpretation of Jewish history with a Zionist Marxist construction, with its nod to Jewish nationalism. In this book, then, Mark had ultimately reached a crossroads in his writing of Jewish history. With its incorporation of a nationalist understanding of Jewish history in coexistence with a Communist one, Di geshikhte fun yidn in poyln marks the end of pure Marxist historiography in Yiddish.
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank Brett Winestock, my colleague at the Leibniz Institute for Jewish History and Culture – Simon Dubnow, as well as the anonymous readers and the editors of this issue, for their productive comments and insights.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Nalewajko-Kulikov, “Three Colors,” 213.
2 Mark, cited in ibid., 214, 215.
3 Friedman, "A shpogl naye oystaytshung fun varshever geto-oyfshtand"; Dawidowicz, The Holocaust and the Historians, 100–101, 106.
4 Nalewajko-Kulikov, “Three Colors,” 221–223.
5 Mark, Megiles oyshvits.
6 On Mark's Holocaust historiography, see Navon, "Historiyografyah marksistit shel hashoah." On his journalistic and cultural activity, as well as his writing on Yiddish literature, see Grözinger and Ruta (eds.), Under the Red Banner; Nalewajko-Kulikov and Ruta, "Yiddish Culture in Poland after the Holocaust."
7 Mark, Di geshikhte fun yidn in polyn, 423–447.
8 Greenbaum, Jewish Scholarship and Scholarly Institutions in Soviet Russia, 39–42, 134–135.
9 Navon, Bidyo adumah; Kassow, Who Will Write Our History, 75–77.
10 Navon, Bidyo adumah.
11 Hertz, Di yidn in ukrayne; Yuditzki, Etyudn tsu der alt-yidisher geshikhte.
12 Rosman, How Jewish Is Jewish History, 34–38.
13 Mark, Di geshikhte fun yidn in polyn, 6.
14 In the Polish context see Rosman, How Jewish is Jewish History, 83–94.
15 Navon, "Baḥazit hahistoriyografiyah hayehudit."
16 Mark, Geshikhte fun di sotsyale bavegungen in polyn.
17 Marx, Capital, 1:90 (the term used here is "trading-people"); Navon, "Handelsvolk."
18 Kautsky, Foundations of Christianity, 189; Heller, Der Untergang des Judentums, 44–45.
19 Schipper, Anfänge des Kapitalismus bei den abendländischen Juden im früheren Mittelalter, 1, 63; Mahler, "Tsi zenen di yidn ale mol geven a handelsfolk?"; idem, "Ven un vi azoy zenen di yidn geven a handelsfolk?"
20 Heller, Zmierzch Żydostwa.
21 Mahler, "Tsi zenen di yidn ale mol geven a handelsfolk?"; idem, "Ven un vi azoy zenen di yidn geven a handelsfolk?"
22 Nalewajko-Kulikov, “Three Colors,” 209.
23 Mark, Di geshikhte fun yidn in polyn, 17. See also 22, 24–25, 32, 41–42.
24 Ibid., 20.
25 Ibid., 65–66.
26 Ibid., 87–89.
27 Ibid., 18; see also 14.
28 Ibid., 19; see also 22–23, 26–28.
29 Ibid., 89–91.
30 Ibid., 48–57.
31 Ibid., 47.
32 Ibid., 237–238; see also 206–210.
33 Ibid., 234.
34 Ibid., 210–221.
35 Ibid., 256–273.
36 Ibid., 273–283.
37 Ibid., 263–270.
38 Ibid., 6.
39 Ibid., 283, 214.
40 Katz, "Farvos hobn zikh di yidn antvikelt in a shtotisher bafelkerung?"
41 Hoffman, "At What Cost Comrades?"; Michels, "Socialism with a Jewish Face."
42 Heller, Der Jude wird verbrannt; see also Navon, "'The Jew Is to Be Burned.'"
43 Yuditzki, Etyuden tsu der alt-yidisher geshikhte, 77–82.
44 Greenbaum, Jewish Scholarship and Scholarly Institutions in Soviet Russia, 79–80, 122–123.
45 Mahler, "In unzer tsvaytoyzend yorige geshikhte"; idem, "Ven un vi azoy zenen di yidn geven a handelsfolk?", 43; idem, "Der historisher materyalizm und di yidishe geshikhte," 65.
46 Heller, Der Untergang des Judentums, 34–35.
47 Kautsky, Foundations of Christianity, 217.
48 Katz, "Di problem fun 'Goles.'"
49 Mark, Di geshikhte fun yidn in polyn, 14–15.
50 Ibid., 16.
51 Ibid., 91.
52 Heylikman, Geshikhte fun der gezelshaftlikher bavegung, 166–167. Katz held a similar view on the matter.
53 Polak, Khazariyah.
54 Schipper, Di virtshaftsgeshikhte fun di yidn, 15–21, 24–26, 36–44.
55 Mark, Di geshikhte fun yidn in polyn, 124–126.
56 Ibid., 103–104.
57 Hertz, Di yidn in ukrayne, 9–10.
58 Nadel, Yidn in mizrekh eyrope.
59 Katz, "Fun vanen hobn zikh genumen azoy fil yidn in goles," 51.
60 Mark, Di geshikhte fun yidn in polyn, 116–117. See also 110–111.
61 Mahler, Karaimer: A yidishe geule-bavegung in mitelalter.
62 Mark, Di geshikhte fun yidn in polyn, 67.
63 Katz, "A vikhtige baytrag tsu der yidisher geshikhte."
64 Heller, Der Jude wird verbrannt, 83–84.
65 Mark, Di geshikhte fun yidn in polyn, 71.
66 Ibid., 10.
67 On the tight connection between historiography and nationalism see, e.g., Hobsbaum, "Introduction: Inventing Traditions," 12–14. In the Jewish context, see Myers, Re-inventing the Jewish Past, 13–16.
68 Navon, Bidyo adumah.
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Tom Navon
Tom Navon is a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Haifa in the Department of Jewish History. Between 2020–23 he spent a fellowship at the Leibniz Institute for Jewish History and Culture – Simon Dubnow in Leipzig. His research focuses on Jews in leftist politics in Central and Eastern Europe. He has recently completed two monographs: Marxist Interpretations of Jewish History (appeared in Hebrew with Zalman Shazar Center in 2023), based on his doctoral studies at the University of Haifa in 2020; and Radical Assimilation in the Face of the Holocaust: Otto Heller (1897–1945) (forthcoming with SUNY Press in January 2024).