Some Methodological Problems of the Study of Jewish History in Poland Between the Two World Wars

Summary

The growing public interest in the history of Polish Jews between the wars has been the reason for the publication of many books and articles. Some are based on only a superficial survey, others present a deep and penetrating analysis of specific problems. This body of literature deserves methodological consideration, together with a critical review of the most important sources, so that some queries, doubts and suggestions can be raised.

During at least the past hundred years, a tradition developed in some Jewish and Polish political circles of treating the Jews as a kind of alien body within Polish society. This attitude can also often be observed in contemporary historical studies, despite the authors’ declared intentions. This can partly be explained in terms of the distant past, when Jews constituted a distinctly different class of people with its own legal status and institutions, but there is no reason to maintain such an approach when investigating the history of the twentieth century.

In every country, especially in Poland with its complex social and ethnic structure, different classes and groups (ethnic groups among them) have their specific interests. But there are also other interests, common to some or even all of these groups and classes. A good example of such an interest, common to almost all Polish citizens, was resistance against the Third Reich in September 1939. Even some Polish citizens of German origin volunteered to defend Warsaw against the Wehrmacht. If we consider the Polish Jews to be an important part of Polish society and not an alien body inside it, we must discuss those common as well as particular interests, having full regard for the differentiated structure of the Jewish population. In some cases those particular interests separated Jews from Poles, from Ukrainians, and from other groups. In other cases, there were common interests that united, for example, workers, shopkeepers, or other professional and social groups, regardless of ‘their ethnic divisions. A good example of such an interest was the attitude of all commercial professional associations, irrespective of their ethnic character, to the tax reform introduced on the eve of World War II.