Polish-Jewish Literature in the Years 1944-1949: People and Institutions

The goal of this paper will be surveying of the various endeavours to organize anew Jewish cultural and literary institutions in the Polish language between 1944 and 1949. These years formed a short period of relative political and cultural plurality before the elimination of minorities` cultural autonomy and the ideological subjecting of cultural creativity that were undertaken by the communist regime.

The description will encompass the formation of the survivors’ literary circles that included both writers and journalists who were active in the years 1918-1939 (e.g. Horacy Safrin, Szymon Spund, Rachela Auerbach) and younger generations began their literary careers (e.g. Natan Gross, Meir Bosak). The role of the Jewish press in the Polish language representing Zionist orientation (“Mosty”, “Opinia”, “Nasze Słowo”) in this process will be explored.

On the one hand the analysis will focus on the literary and cultural manifests and polemics on the situation of the Jewish culture in Polish language after the Holocaust as well as on the possibility to continue the interwar tradition thereof. On the other hand the ways of adapting the interwar models of institutional organization and cultural activity to the post-Holocaust reality and the new political situation under the communist regime will be discussed.