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Resurrecting the Jew: Nationalism, Philosemitism, and Poland’s Jewish Revival
An in-depth look at why non-Jewish Poles are trying to bring Jewish culture back to life in Poland today
Since the early 2000s, Poland has experienced a remarkable Jewish revival, largely driven by non-Jewish Poles with a passionate new interest in all things Jewish. Klezmer music, Jewish-style restaurants, kosher vodka, and festivals of Jewish culture have become popular, while new museums, memorials, Jewish studies programs, and Holocaust research centers reflect soul-searching about Polish-Jewish relations before, during, and after the Holocaust. In Resurrecting the Jew, Geneviève Zubrzycki examines this revival and asks what it means to try to bring Jewish culture back to life in a country where 3 million Jews were murdered and where only about 10,000 Jews now live.
Drawing on a decade of participant-observation in Jewish and Jewish-related organizations in Poland, a Birthright trip to Israel with young Polish Jews, and more than a hundred interviews with Jewish and non-Jewish Poles engaged in the Jewish revival, Resurrecting the Jew presents an in-depth look at Jewish life in Poland today. The book shows how the revival has been spurred by progressive Poles who want to break the association between Polishness and Catholicism, promote the idea of a multicultural Poland, and resist the Far Right government. The book also raises urgent questions, relevant far beyond Poland, about the limits of performative solidarity and empathetic forms of cultural appropriation.
Since the early 2000s, Poland has experienced a remarkable Jewish revival, largely driven by non-Jewish Poles with a passionate new interest in all things Jewish. Klezmer music, Jewish-style restaurants, kosher vodka, and festivals of Jewish culture have become popular, while new museums, memorials, Jewish studies programs, and Holocaust research centers reflect soul-searching about Polish-Jewish relations before, during, and after the Holocaust. In Resurrecting the Jew, Geneviève Zubrzycki examines this revival and asks what it means to try to bring Jewish culture back to life in a country where 3 million Jews were murdered and where only about 10,000 Jews now live.
Drawing on a decade of participant-observation in Jewish and Jewish-related organizations in Poland, a Birthright trip to Israel with young Polish Jews, and more than a hundred interviews with Jewish and non-Jewish Poles engaged in the Jewish revival, Resurrecting the Jew presents an in-depth look at Jewish life in Poland today. The book shows how the revival has been spurred by progressive Poles who want to break the association between Polishness and Catholicism, promote the idea of a multicultural Poland, and resist the Far Right government. The book also raises urgent questions, relevant far beyond Poland, about the limits of performative solidarity and empathetic forms of cultural appropriation.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published September 27, 2022
46 people want to read
About the author
Geneviève Zubrzycki
12 books3 followersGeneviève Zubrzycki is Associate Professor of Sociology, Director of the Copernicus Program in Polish Studies, and Faculty Associate at the Frankel Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Michigan. She studies national identity and religion, collective memory, mythology and the politics of commemorations, and the place of religious symbols in the public sphere.
Her work focuses on linkages between religion, politics, and collective memory and combines historical and ethnographic methods, considering evidence from material and visual culture.
Dr. Zubrzycki's work has been funded by the Charlotte W. Newcombe Foundation.
Her work focuses on linkages between religion, politics, and collective memory and combines historical and ethnographic methods, considering evidence from material and visual culture.
Dr. Zubrzycki's work has been funded by the Charlotte W. Newcombe Foundation.
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November 14, 2022
I purchased this book after hearing the author make a presentation via Zoom in an event sponsored by the Polish based organization, Forum for Dialogue. I discovered a short monograph that I just could not put down. It answered my question as to why so many Poles are interested in Jewish history and also what does it mean to be a Jew in Poland today.
Displaying 1 of 1 review