Polish Jewish historians before 1918: Configuring the liberal East European Jewish intelligentsia

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Notes

Artur Eisenbach, ‘Jewish Historiography in Interwar Poland’, in Yisrael Gutman, Ezra Mendelsohn, Jehuda Reinharz, Chone Shmeruk (eds.), The Jews of Poland between Two World Wars (Hanover and London: University Press of New England, 1989), 453.

Eisenbach, ibid., correctly asserts that ‘A history of Jewish historiography in Poland has yet to be written, although a number of critical studies deal with the activities of particular scholars and theories of the development of historical writing.’ Indeed, among existing critical studies of the works of Polish–Jewish historians of the interwar period we find only a number of articles by Filip Friedman, Isaiah Trunk and Artur Eisenbach. See Filip Friedman, ‘Pokłosie historiografii żydowskiej lat ostatnich w Polsce’ (A Glimpse at Jewish Historiography in Recent Years in Poland), Miesięcznik Żydowski, Nos. 3–4, 1935, 182–94; idem, ‘Polish–Jewish Historiography between the Two World Wars (1919–1939)’, Jewish Social Studies, No. 11, 1949, 373–408; Isaiah Trunk, ‘Le-toldot ha-historyografyah ha-polanit ba-shanim ha-ahronim’ (Towards a Polish Historiography of Recent Years), Gal Ed, No. 3, 1976, 245–68; Eisenbach, ‘Jewish Historiography in Interwar Poland’, 453–93.

Chone Shmeruk, ‘Hebrew–Yiddish–Polish: A Tri-Lingual Jewish Culture’, in The Jews of Poland between Two World Wars, 296. General historiography influenced Polish Jewish scholars, whose conceptions of Jewish history were informed by developments in historiography in Poland, Germany and the Soviet Union.

Eisenbach, ‘Jewish Historiography in Interwar Poland’, 453.

On the older generation of Polish Jewish historians, see Israel M. Biderman, Mayer Balaban: Historian of Polish Jewry (New York: Dr. I. M. Biderman Book Committee, 1976), XXV; Mateusz Mieses, ‘Udział Żydów Polskich w nauce (wiek XIX i początek XX w. do 1918): Historia Żydów w Polsce’ (The Contribution of Polish Jews to Scholarship, from the Nineteenth Century–Beginning of the Twentieth Century to 1918: A History of the Jews in Poland), in Żydzi w Polsce Odrodzonej: Działalność społeczna, gospodarcza, oświatowa i kulturalna (The Jews in Resurrected Poland: Social, Economic, Educational and Cultural Actitivity), Vol. 2, edit. by I. Schipper, A. Tartakower, A. Hafftka (Warsaw: Żydzi w Polsce Odrodzonej), 49–50; Jakub Goldberg, ‘Majer Bałaban – czołowy historyk polskich Żydów’ (Majer Bałaban: A Leading Historian of Polish Jews), Kwartalnik Historyczny, No. 3, 1991, 85–97; Rafał Żebrowski, ‘Mojżesz Schorr – wybitny lider Żydów polskich’ (Mojżesz Schorr: An Outstanding Leader of Polish Jews), in idem, Mojżesz Schorr i jego listy do Ludwika Gumplowicza (Mojżesz Schorr and His Letters to Ludwik Gumplowicz) (Warsaw: Żydowski Instytut Historyczny, 1994), 13–58.

Jakub Goldberg, ‘Pionier badań dziejów Żydów Polskich’ (Pioneer of Scholarship on the Jews of Poland), in Mojżesz Schorr, Żydzi w Przemyślu do końca XVIII wieku (The Jews in Przemyśl to the End of the Eighteenth Century) (Jerusalem: Center for Research on the History and Culture of Polish Jews, 1991), 9. See Majer Bałaban, Dzieje Żydów w Galicji i w Rzeczypospolitej Krakowskiej 1772–1868 (The Jewish Community in Galicia and the Cracow Commonwealth, 1772–1868) (Lwów, 1914), 178–79. On the social context of intellectual life in Galicia, see also Irena Homola, Kwiat społeczeństwa – Struktura społeczna i zarys położenia inteligencji krakowskiej w latach 1860–1914 (The Elite of Society: Social Structure and Survey of the Status of the Cracow Intelligentsia, 1860–1914) (Cracow, 1984), 98, 128, 275; Majer Bałaban, ‘Profesor Dr. Mojżesz Schorr’, in Księga jubileuszowa ku czci Prof. Dr. Mojżesza Schorra (Jubilee Book in Honour of Professor Dr Mojżesz Schorr) (Warsaw: Towarzystwo Krzewienia Nauk Judaistycznych w Polsce, 1935), 9; I. Osterzecer, ‘Profesor Mojżesz Schorr, w 60-lecie urodzin’ (Professor Mojżesz Schorr on His Sixtieth Birthday), Miesięcznik Żydowski, 1935, 460; Raphael Mahler, Der kampf tzvishn haskala un chasidys in Galitzje (The Struggle between the Haskala and Hasidism in Galicia) (New York, 1942), 45–49.

See Bałaban’s account of the attraction of the younger generation of Galician Jews possessing a traditional Jewish education towards secular studies, which he labelled as a ‘Sturm und Drangsperiode’. According to Bałaban, those who strove to combine secular and Judaic studies were able to undertake new research on Jewish history and the Hebrew language. See his ‘Profesor dr. Mojżesz Schorr’, 9.

Księga jubileuszowa dla uczczenia sześciesięciolecia profesora Majera Bałabana (Jubilee Book in Honour of the 60th Birthday of Professor Majera Bałabana) (Warsaw, 1938), 37.

Bałaban, ‘Zadania i potrzeby historjografii Żydów w Polsce’ (Tasks and Requirements of the Historiography of the Jews of Poland), in Pamiętnik V Powszechnego Zjazdu Historyków Polskich w Warszawie, 28 listopada do 4 grudnia 1930 r. (Proceedings of the Fifth Congress of Polish Historians in Warsaw, 28 November to 4 December 1930) (Lwów: Polskie Towarzystwo Historyczne, 1930), (emphasis in original)

Mojżesz Schorr, Organizacya Żydów w Polsce (od najdawniejszych czasów aż do r. 1772) (The Organisation of the Jews of Poland from Earliest Times to 1772) (Lwów, 1899).

Schorr, Żydzi w Przemyślu do końca XVIII wieku.

Schorr’s publications include ‘Zur Geschichte des Don Josef Nasi’, Monatschrift für Geschichte und Wissenschaft des Judentums, 1897, 169–237; ‘Krakovskyi svod evreiskikh statutov i privilegiya’ (Cracow Collection of Jewish Statutes and Privileges), Evreiskaia Starina, Vol. 3, No. 1, 1909, 247–64 and No. 2, 76–94, 223–45; ‘Die Hauptprivilegien der polnischen Judenschaft’, in Festschrift Adolf Schwartz zu siebzigsten Geburtstage 15. Juli 1916 (Berlin/Vienna, 1917), 519–38; Rechtsstellung und innere Verfassung der Juden in Polen – Ein geschichtlicher Rundblick, Der Jude, No. 2, 1917, 1–36.

Majer Bałaban, Przegląd literatury Historyi Żydów w Polsce (1889–1903) (Lwów, 1903).

Majer Bałaban, Życie prywatne Żydów lwowskich na przełomie XVI i XVII wieku. Studyum Historyczne (The Private Life of the Jews of Lwów at the Turn of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries: Historical Studies) (Lwów: Żydowska Spółka Wydawnicza ‘Kadimah’, 1905), printout from Rocznik Żydowski of 1905.

Bałaban, Żydzi lwowscy na przełomie XVI i XVII wieku (The Jews of Lwów at the Turn of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries) (Lwów: Nakładem Funduszu Konkursowego im. H. Wawelberga, 1906).

Bałaban, Dzielnica Żydowska, jej dzieje i zabytki (The Jewish Borough: Its History and Historical Sites) (Lwów, 1909).

Bałaban, Dzieje Żydów w Galicyi i w Rzeczypospolitej Krakowskiej 1772–1868 (Lwów, 1916).

Ignacy Schipper, Studya nad stosunkami gospodarczymi Żydów w Polsce podczas średniowiecza (Studies on the Economic Relations of the Jews in Poland in the Middle Ages) (Lwów, 1911).

Bałaban, ‘Zadania i potrzeby historjografii Żydów w Polsce’, 115–16. According to Schipper, ‘the […] very outdated works of [Herman] Sternberg, Kraushar, Maciejowski, Perles, L. Gumplowicz and H. Nussbaum, which dealt generally with the history of the Jews in Poland, proved to be completely useless. They [were] really only rewritings of Czacki’s treatise ‘O Żydach’ [On the Jews], done more or less skilfully’. See Ignacy Schipper, Studya nad stosunkami gospodarczymu Żydów, 2. See also Bałaban, ‘Prof. Mojżesz Schorr’, 11–13 (4–5).

Por. Biderman, Mayer Bałaban: Historian of Polish Jewry, 1–36.

Bałaban, ‘Przegląd literatury historyi Żydów w Polsce 1899–1903’, Kwartalnik Historyczny, 1903, XVIII, zeszyt. 3, 32–33.

Cecile Esther Kuznitz, ‘The Origins of Yiddish Scholarship and the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research’, PhD dissertation, Department of History and Committee on Graduate Studies of Stanford University, August 2000, 2.

Por. Mojżesz Schorr, Przedmowa, in idem, Żydzi w Przemyślu do końca XVIII wieku. On the limitations of research conducted by forerunners of Polish–Jewish historiography, see also Biderman, Mayer Bałaban: Historian of Polish Jewry, XXIII–XXIV.

M. Schorr, ‘Historya Żydów w Polsce’ (History of the Jews in Poland), in Pamiętnik III Zjazdu Historyków Polskich w Krakowie Urządzonego przez Towarzystwo Historyczne Lwowskie w dniach 4, 5 i 6 czerwca 1900 (Proceedings of the Third Congress of Polish Historians in Cracow Organised by the Lwów Historical Society, 4–6 June 1900) (Cracow: Nakładem Uczestników Zjazdu, 1900), 1.

Bałaban, ‘Przegląd literatury historyi Żydów w Polsce 1899–1903’, 32.

See Biderman, Mayer Balaban: Historian of Polish Jewry, XIV.

Bałaban, ‘Zadania i potrzeby historjografii Żydów w Polsce’, 115–18.

Schipper, Studya nad stosunkami gospodarczymu Żydów w Polsce podczas średniowiecza, 2.

Schorr, ‘Historya Żydów w Polsce’, 1. Similarly, Bałaban pointed to the relatively late beginning of Polish–Jewish historiography and linked it to the political and social realities of the partitions. He also complained there was no scholar who would have studied Jewish history in connection with research carried out by Polish historians. See his ‘Prof. Mojżesz Schorr’, 13 (7).

Bałaban, ‘Szymon Dubnow z powodu jego siedemdziesiątych urodzin’ (Simon Dubnow on the Occasion of His 70th Birthday) (Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Menora (printout from Miesięcznik Żydowski), 1931), 1.

Ibid., 5.

Majer Bałaban, Dzieje Żydów w Galicji i w Rzeczypospolitej Krakowskiej 1772–1868 (Lwów: Nakładem Księgarni Polskiej B. Polonieckiego, Warsaw, 1916). Schorr, on the other hand, after publishing several studies on aspects of Jewish Polish history, shifted his focus to Semitic studies. Yet the group’s sense of mission is still evident in the note of self-reproach in Schorr’s 1937 article commemorating Bałaban’s sixtieth birthday. Here Schorr chastises himself for not ‘fulfilling in this field [research on the history of Jews in Poland] hopes that were pinned on me and transferring to another field of historical research, namely the foggy field of the history of the ancient East. However, Majer Bałaban fulfilled those hopes to the greatest degree.’ See M. Schorr, ‘Prof. Dr. Majer Bałaban – z powodu 60-lecia Jego urodzin, 20 lutego 1877 r.’, Nasz Przegląd, 21 February 1937, as cited in Goldberg, ‘Pionier badań dziejów Żydów Polskich’, 12–13.

Bałaban, Żydzi lwowscy na przełomie XVI i XVII wieku, XVIII.

M. Schorr, Organizacya Żydów w Polsce (od najdawniejszych czasów aż do r. 1772) (Lwów: Nakładem własnym – osobne odbicie z Kwartalnika Historycznego, Vol. XIII, 1899), 2.

Majer Bałaban, Dzieje Żydów w Galicyi i w Rzeczypospolitej Krakowskiej 1772–1868, 1.

Ibid., 196. See also description of patriotic enthusiasm of the Jews in 1809 and their support of the French, ibid., 84.

Bałaban, Dzieje Żydów w Galicyi i w Rzeczypospolitej Krakowskiej 1772–1868, 201. He added: ‘Although the registers of the insurgents included many Jewish names, it is hard to distinguish the names of the Galician Jews among them.’

There already existed important attempts to synthesise the general history of the Jews in Poland. The first volume of Dubnow’s History of the Jews in Russia and Poland dealt with the history of Polish Jewry up to 1795: ‘The best work of this kind and, in many ways, still unsurpassed, was the collective history of the Jews in Poland which appeared in Russian as Vol. XI of the Istoria Evreiskago Naroda […] The story of the Jews in Poland up to 1795 was presented in a series of thorough studies by Balaban, Dubnow, St. Kutrzeba, J. Hessen, P.S. Marek, Schipper, M. Wischnitzer, S.L. Zinberg, S.M. Ginsburg, E.N. Frenk and others. It was edited by Wischnitzer, Hessen and Ginsburg.’

Salo Wittmayer Baron, A Social and Religious History of the Jews (New York, 1937), Vol. 2, 31.

Ibid., 40.

Schorr, Organizacya Żydów w Polsce, 4.

Ibid.

Biderman, Mayer Balaban: Historian of Polish Jewry, XXIV. Bałaban argued that legal sources did not sufficiently express the complexity of the relationship between Polish society and the Jews.

Bałaban, Żydzi lwowscy na przełomie XVI i XVII wieku, XVI.

Ibid.

Ibid, XVII. See also Bałaban, Dzieje Żydów w Galicyi i w Rzeczypospolitej Krakowskiej 1772–1868, 6; idem, Życie prywatne Żydów lwowskich na przełomie XVI i XVII wieku, 18–19.

Bałaban, Żydzi lwowscy na przełomie XVI i XVII wieku, XVIII.

Schorr, review of Bałaban’s Żydzi lwowscy na przełomie XVI i XVII w. (Lwów: nakładem funduszsu Konkursowego im. Hip. Wawelberga, Kwartalnik Historyczny, 1908), 545–46.

Bałaban, Żydzi lwowscy na przełomie XVI i XVII wieku, XVIII. On the cultural achievements of Polish Jewry, see Bałaban, Dzieje Żydów w Galicyi i w Rzeczyposlitej Krakowskiej, 10–11.

Bałaban, Dzieje Żydów w Galicyi i w Rzeczypospolitej Krakowskiej, 5. On the cultural divide that separated Polish Jewry from Gentiles, see ibid., 3.

Bałaban, Dzieje Żydów w Galicyi i w Rzeczypospolitej Krakowskiej, 10.

Ibid., 205.

Ibid., 210. However, Bałaban, supportive of cultural integration in general, criticised Jewish – German schools in Galicia introduced after 1787 because of what he labelled the ‘low ethical level’ of teachers who lacked understanding of local Jewish society and culture, ibid., 55.

According to Kuznitz, The Origins of Yiddish Scholarship and the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, 3, ‘Jewish historians in Eastern Europe were deeply concerned with preserving the past, yet their work sought to demonstrate the contemporary vibrancy of Jewish culture, strengthening Jewish group consciousness for nationalist ends.’