Description: Winner of the 2022 PIASA Anna M. Cienciala Award for the Best Edited Book in Polish StudiesThe majority of Poland's prewar Jewish population who fled to the interior of the Soviet Union managed to survive World War II and the Holocaust. This collection of original essays tells the story of more than 200,000 Polish Jews who came to a foreign country as war refugees, forced laborers, or political prisoners. This diverse set of experiences is covered by historians, literary and memory scholars, and sociologists who specialize in the field of East European Jewish history and culture.
Brief description: Katharina Friedla is a historian specializing in East European and Jewish history, with a major focus on nationalism and identity politics, culture, state ideology, and forced migrations.
Review Quotes:
"The various articles, along with the bibliography and Edele's 'paths ahead' discus- sion in the epilogue (pp. 287-289), should greatly benefit both the general public and scholars who are interested in such topics as the Holocaust, the history of the Second World War, East European Jewry, Soviet Union studies, and Polish studies. More spe- cifically, it is an important contribution to the understanding of a unique and impor- tant part of the Polish Jewish experience during the war."
-- Na'ama Seri-Levi, The Hebrew University, Yad Vashem, Contemporary Jewry