News

This conference will focus on the phenomenon of revived Jewish life in Poland, comparing developments in other countries of the region during 1945–1955. Particular attention will be paid to the situation of Jewish communities in the countries that became part of the Soviet bloc, as well as in Germany, where Jewish social and political life also thrived in DP camps.

Despite the catastrophe of the Holocaust, Jews in Poland after World War II managed to build a diverse network of institutions of social, political, cultural, religious, and economic life. The first postwar years saw a period of flourishing Jewish life. At the same time, however, there was a fundamental tension between the favorability and support of state authorities and the hostility emanating from a significant portion of society. The end of the pluralism of Jewish institutions came with the Stalinist uniformity imposed from Moscow.

This conference and the exhibition "1945: Not the End, Not the Beginning," presented simultaneously at the POLIN Museum, mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.

Contributions may address the following issues:

• Political, social, economic, demographic, etc. determinants of Jewish life in Poland and countries of the region after the war.
• Jewish migrations – return and flight from the homeland, repatriation from the USSR, emigration to Palestine/Eretz Israel and other countries.
• The institutional structures of Jewish life in Poland and other countries in the region.
• The prospects for the continuation of pre-war forms of individual and collective Jewish life versus the problem of the Holocaust and Communism breaking this continuity.
• Zionism, Communism, and Orthodoxy as forms of postwar Jewish political identity.
• Processes of assimilation.
• Relations of the Polish Jewish community with Jewish communities in other countries, inside and outside the Iron Curtain.
• Relations between Jews and non-Jewish society, including antisemitism and anti-Jewish violence.
• National and global debates about the future of Jews in Poland and/or Central and Eastern Europe.

Call for papers

Researchers at all stages of their research career – from PhD students to full professors – are invited to apply. To submit your paper proposal, please fill in the form by 1 March 2025. Papers presenting new, original research and reflection are preferred. Invited participants will be notified of their acceptance by 1 April 2025.

The conference’s language is English.

Food, accommodation, travel expenses

The organizers will provide meals and accommodation during the conference and partially reimburse international speakers for travel expenses to and from Warsaw (economy class tickets) as follows:

• from Europe up to 200 USD
• from Israel up to  300 USD
• from elsewhere up to 750 USD

For participants travelling within Poland up to 75 USD.

Organization committee:

• Dr Anna Cichopek-Gajraj (Arizona State University Jewish Studies) 
• Dr Monika Heinemann (Leibniz Institute for Jewish History and Culture – Simon Dubnow)
• Dr Ella Florsheim (Yad Vashem – The World's Holocaust Remembrance Center)
• Dr Kamil Kijek (Taube Department of Jewish Studies, University of Wrocław)
• Dr Ewa Koźmińska-Frejlak (The Emanuel Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute)
• Dr Krzysztof Persak (POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews and Institute of Political Studies, Polish Academy of Sciences)

Organizers:

The conference is organized within the Global Education Outreach Program.

This program was made possible thanks to Taube Philanthropies, the William K. Bowes, Jr. Foundation, Libitzky Family Foundation, and the Association of the Jewish Historical Institute of Poland.