Thoughts of a Polish Jew To KasieDka from Grandpa [Hardcover]

To KasieDka from Grandpais a document of a personal and family memory, authored by Artur Lilien-Brzozdowiecki (18901958) in 1944/45. This memoir, which was written in Polish and translated to English for the family circulation alone, now becomes a public asset. Lilien invites his new-born granddaughter to encounter her family, generations of Polish Jewry: merchants, lease-holders, bankers, industrialists, politicians, communal leaders, army officers, scholars, physicians, artists, and art collectors. They dwell in a broad Jewish and Christian world, integrated into the national life of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Habsburg Empire, and the Second Polish Republic. The reader is encouraged to enjoy reminiscences of this worthy life and bitter choices that challenged Polishparticularly GalicianJewry in the twentieth century.A family story of Polish Jewslease-holders, bankers, industrialists, politicians, communal leaders, army officers, scholars, and artistsintegrated into the national life of the Old Commonwealth, the Habsburg Empire, and the Second Polish Republic.Memoirs can help understand the past, they can show how people have perceived their own past and they can lead readers to reconsider the past. This fascinating book does all three. The author wrote it for his granddaughter and now she is sharing this intimate document with the broader public. The story of her family, a rich and privileged one, challenges many popular assumptions about the Jewish experience in Poland and raises many questionsbut gives no superficial answers. This is precisely what we expect from a good memoirand this is a very good one.Artur Lilien-Brozdowieckis family memoirs have a particular, intimate, charming quality, involving the reader in his family chronicle lovingly written for his little granddaughter. He proudly presents his lineagefrom the era of emancipation, through a staunch Polish assimilation, to World War IIseven generations of Liliens and thel3,