Jewish Space in Contemporary Poland [Paperback]

In a time of national introspection regarding the countrys involvement in the persecution of Jews, Poland has begun to reimagine spaces of and for Jewishness in the Polish landscape, not as a form of nostalgia but as a way to encourage the pluralization of contemporary society. The essays in this book explore issues of the restoration, restitution, memorializing, and tourism that have brought present inhabitants into contact with initiatives to revive Jewish sites. They reveal that an emergent Jewish presence in both urban and rural landscapes exists in conflict and collaboration with other remembered minorities, engaging in complex negotiations with local, regional, national, and international groups and interests. With its emphasis on spaces and built environments, this volume illuminates the role of the material world in the complex encounter with the Jewish past in contemporary Poland.

Return of the Jew: Identity Narratives of the Third Post-Holocaust Generation of Jews in Poland by Katka Reszke (Academic Studies Press, 2013). ISBN 9781618113085.

Lehrer and Meng have edited an important interdisciplinary work, which should make an immediate impact on the field of Polish Jewish Studies.

There has been a surge of interest in the history and lives of Polish Jews by Polish Gentiles and the descendants of Holocaust survivors in recent decades. . . This collection offers deep insights into and thoughtful analysis of this fascinating phenomenon. Highly recommended.[This] collection is an important step toward deeper and clearer understanding of what Polands Jewish spaces were, are, and may yet become.October 2016The diversity and uniqueness of examples presented in 'Jewish Space in Contemporary Poland' make this book a significant contribution to Polish-Jewish memory studies.10/13/15Jewish Space in Contemporary Poland fills one with hopefor Poland as well as for the field of Jewish Studies. Indiana University Press is to be commended for a fine, anlC+