The Jews in Congress Poland:

At The Dynamic Centre of Political,

Economic and Cultural Change
A One-Day Conference
Organised by the Institute for Polish-Jewish Studies and the
Institute of Jewish Studies, UCL. Co-organised and supported by
the Embassy of the Republic of Poland and the Polish Cultural
Institute, London.
This conference is devoted to the history of the Jews in the Kingdom of
Poland, also known as Congress Poland. Created as an outcome of the
Congress of Vienna in 1815, Congress Poland was part of an attempt to
set up a post-Napoleonic European order. It incorporated lands that for
many decades had been the most important centres of Polish politics,
finance, education and culture. Its semi-autonomous status allowed for the
development of a liberal policy towards Jews quite different from that of
Russia proper. Congress Poland thus became fertile ground for a dynamic
economy and the growth of Jewish movements of all sorts, many of which
are still influential today. The rise of Hasidism as well as ideas of reform and
political integration were particularly prominent. The region rapidly attracted
large numbers of Jewish and non-Jewish immigrants and for many decades its
capital Warsaw remained the largest Jewish community in the world.
The conference brings together a wide range of scholars to present a broad
view of the Jewish life of this important area at a critical moment in its history.
Of special interest is the final session, a round table discussion devoted to the
Polin Museum of History of Polish Jews, where the permanent exhibit was
opened recently.

Thursday 15th January 2015, 9.30am - 6.00pm

Embassy of the Republic of Poland,
47 Portland Place, London W1B 6JH
The conference marks the launch of
Studies in Polish Jewry:
PO LI N VO LU M E 2 7 Jews in the Kingdom of Poland, 1815-1918.
Edited by Glenn Dynner, Antony Polonsky and Marcin
Wodziski. Published by the Littman Library of
Jewish Civilization. The volume will be available at the
conference at a 25% discount.

Reservation is essential.
Registration fee 15, student concession 10, plus booking charges.
Registration on-line only:
http://jewsincongresspoland.eventbrite.co.uk
For all enquiries: Sara Ben-Isaac, Institute of Jewish Studies,
University College London. Email: ijs@ucl.ac.uk

The Institute for Polish-Jewish

Studies (established 1984)
is a non-profit, educational institution
devoted to the history and culture
of Polish Jewry. It is an associated
institute of the Oxford Centre for
Hebrew and Jewish Studies.
The Institute for Polish-Jewish Studies is a
company limited by guarantee.
Registered Charity No. 293643.
Incorporation No. 1977852.
Registered office: Oxford Centre for
Hebrew and Jewish Studies, Summit House,
12 Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4QD

The Institute of Jewish Studies

(IJS) is dedicated to the promotion
of all aspects of Jewish scholarship
and civilisation, and collaborates with
other academic institutions within the
University of London, and beyond.
Institute of Jewish Studies, UCL, Gower Street,
London WC1E 6BT. www.ucl.ac.uk/ijs
The IJS is a Registered Charity No. 213114.

Embassy
of the Republic of Poland
in London
Conference convenors:
Professor Antony Polonsky
(Brandeis University),
Dr Franois Guesnet
(University College London)
Conference coordinator:
Ms Sara Ben-Isaac
(Institute of Jewish Studies,
University College London)
This one-day conference, organized by
the Institute for Polish-Jewish Studies
and the Institute of Jewish Studies, UCL,
has been co-organised and supported
by the Embassy of the Republic of
Poland and the Polish Cultural Institute,
London. The organizers also wish
to thank the Rothschild Foundation
(Hanadiv) Europe and the American
Association for Polish-Jewish Studies for
their continued financial support.

The Jews in Congress Poland:

At The Dynamic Centre of Political,
Economic and Cultural Change

This conference is dedicated to the

memory of Professor Jerzy Tomaszewski
who died on November 7th 2014 at the age of 84
and was for many years professor and Director of
the Mordechai Anielewicz Centre for the Study and
Teaching of the History and Culture of the Jews in
Poland at Warsaw University. He was also professor
of the Wysza Szkola Gospodarki Krajowej in Kutno.
He was one of the pioneers in the study of national minorities in Poland
in the twentieth century, above all the Jews, and a great expert on the
history of Central Europe, particularly that of the Czechs and Slovaks.
He was present at all the conferences which transformed Polish-Jewish
studies. As one of the founders of Polin: Studies in Polish Jewry Jerzy
Tomaszewski was a member of its editorial collegium, and he was among
the founding fathers of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews.
His many publications include Z dziejw Polesia 19211939. Zarys
stosunkw spoeczno-ekonomicznych (On the History of Polesie 1921
1939. An Outline of Social and Economic Conditions) (Warsaw, 1963);
Rzeczpospolita wielu narododw (A Republic of Many Nations) (Warsaw,
1985), Ojczyzna nie tylko Polakw: Mniejszoci narodowe w Polsce w latach
19181939 (A Fatherland not only for Poles: National Minorities in
Poland in the Years 19181939) (Warsaw, 1985), and Preludium zagady:
wygnanie ydow polskich z Niemiec w 1938 r. (Prelude to Destruction: the
Expulsion of Polish Jews from Germany in 1938) (Warsaw, 1998).

The Institute of Jewish Studies

Embassy
of the Republic of Poland
in London

His latest book Czechy i Sowacja (Czech Lands and Slovakia) was
published only a few months before his death. He will be sorely missed.

Conference convenors:
Professor Antony Polonsky
(Brandeis University),
Dr Franois Guesnet
(University College London)
Conference coordinator:
Ms Sara Ben-Isaac
(Institute of Jewish Studies,
University College London)

The Jews in Congress Poland:

At The Dynamic Centre of
Political, Economic and
Cultural Change
Thursday 15th January 2015

The Jews in Congress Poland:

At The Dynamic Centre of Political,
Economic and Cultural Change
Conference Programme
Thursday 15th January 2015,
Embassy of the Republic of Poland,
47 Portland Place, London W1B 6JH
9.30am Registration
10.00am Welcome

H.E. Mr Witold Sobkw, Ambassador of the Republic of Poland

Sir Sigmund Sternberg, President of the Institute for Polish-Jewish Studies

Mr Ben Helfgott, Chairman of the Institute for Polish-Jewish Studies

10.15am P
 anel

1
Introducing Polin 27: The Jews of Congress Poland

The Institute of Jewish Studies

Embassy
of the Republic of Poland
in London

Chair: Dr Franois Guesnet (University College London)

Trajectories of Congress Polish Jewry

Professor Marcin Wodziski (University of Wrocaw)

The Place of Jews in Congress Polish Economy and Society

Professor Glenn Dynner (Sarah Lawrence College)

11.30am Coffee Break

12 noon Panel

II

Insiders and Outsiders: Identifications of Congress
Polish Jewry
Chair: Professor Antony Polonsky (Brandeis University)

Yiddish Culture in Congress Poland

Dr Joanna Nalewajko-Kulikov (Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw)

Acculturation and Liturgy: Liberal Judaism in Congress Poland

Cantor Benjamin Matis (Shelter Rock Jewish Center, New York)

Conference convenors:
Professor Antony Polonsky
(Brandeis University),
Dr Franois Guesnet
(University College London)
Conference coordinator:
Ms Sara Ben-Isaac
(Institute of Jewish Studies,
University College London)

1.00pm Lunch Break

The Jews in Congress Poland:
At The Dynamic Centre of
Political, Economic and
Cultural Change
Please note that the programme may be subject to change.

Thursday 15th January 2015

The Jews in Congress Poland:

At The Dynamic Centre of Political,
Economic and Cultural Change
Panel II (continued)
2.30pm The Jews of Congress Poland As Reflected in Missionaries' Reports

Dr Agnieszka Jagodziska (University of Wrocaw)

'Dying of Thirst at the Fountain of Life'. Cultural Horizons of
Jewish Bourgeois Life in Congress Poland

Dr Franois Guesnet (University College London)
3.30pm Tea Break
4.00pm P
 anel

III Round Table Discussion

The Institute of Jewish Studies


The Museum of the History of Polish Jews
Its Creation, Tasks and Potential
Chair: Professor Glenn Dynner (Sarah Lawrence College)

Professor Dariusz Stola (Museum of the History of Polish Jews)

Embassy
of the Republic of Poland
in London

 Professor Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett (Museum of the History of Polish

Jews)

Professor Antony Polonsky (Brandeis University)

Followed by:
Film: A Day in Warsaw (USA 1938, dir. Shaul Goskind, 10 mins)

6.00pm End of Conference

Lunch and tea/coffee breaks courtesy of the Embassy of the Republic of

Poland.

Conference convenors:
Professor Antony Polonsky
(Brandeis University),
Dr Franois Guesnet
(University College London)
Conference coordinator:
Ms Sara Ben-Isaac
(Institute of Jewish Studies,
University College London)

The Jews in Congress Poland:

At The Dynamic Centre of
Political, Economic and
Cultural Change
Please note that the programme may be subject to change.

Thursday 15th January 2015

The Jews in Congress Poland:

At The Dynamic Centre of Political,
Economic and Cultural Change
Notes on Speakers
Glenn Dynner is Professor of Judaic Studies and Chair of Humanities
at Sarah Lawrence College and the 2013-14 Senior NEH Scholar at
the Center for Jewish History. He is author of Men of Silk:The Hasidic
Conquest of Polish Jewish Society (2006), which was winner of the Koret
Publications Prize and finalist for the National Jewish Book Awards, and
Yankels Tavern: Jews, Liquor & Life in the Kingdom of Poland (2013). He has
edited several volumes, including Holy Dissent: Jewish and Christian Mystics
in Eastern Europe (2011).
Franois Guesnet is Reader in Modern Jewish History in the
Department of Hebrew and Jewish Studies at University College London.
He holds a PhD in Modern History from Albert-Ludwigs-Universitt,
Freiburg im Breisgau, and specializes in the early modern and 19th
century history of Eastern European, and more specifically, Polish Jews.
He held research and teaching fellowships at the Hebrew University
Jerusalem, University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia), and University
of Oxford. He held academic positions at the Dubnow-Institute in
Leizpig, the University of Potsdam, and, since 2008, at University College
London. His publications include Polnische Juden im 19. Jahrhundert:
Lebensbedingungen, Rechtsnormen und Organisation im Wandel (1998) and numerous contributions
and articles. The volume Warsaw.The Jewish Metropolis. Studies in Honor of the 70th Birthday
of Professor Antony Polonsky, co-edited with Glenn Dynner (Boston, Leiden: Brill Academic
Publishers 2015) is forthcoming.

The Institute of Jewish Studies

Embassy
of the Republic of Poland
in London

Agnieszka Jagodziska is Assistant Professor at the Department

of Jewish Studies at the University of Wrocaw, Poland. She is an author
of the monograph Pomidzy. Akulturacja ydw Warszawy w drugiej poowie
XIX wieku; editor of two volumes W poszukiwaniu religii uniwersalnej?
Konwersja a ydzi and Ludwik Zamenhof wobec kwestii ydowskiej.Wybr
rde; translator and editor of Moshe Rosmans book Jak pisa histori
ydowsk?; and co-editor (together with Marcin Wodziski) of Izraelita
1866-1915.Wybr tekstw. Her main academic interest is the history
of Polish Jews in the 19th and early 20th century, in particular Jewish
acculturation and integration, Christian missions and conversion of Jews,
Jewish literature and iconography. Currently she is working on the topic of the missions of the
London Society for Promoting Christianity among the Jews in Poland.
Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, for many years distinguished
University Professor at New York University, is Program Director of the
Core Exhibition at the Museum of the History of Polish Jews. Her books
include Destination Culture:Tourism, Museums, and Heritage; Image before My
Eyes: A Photographic History of Jewish Life in Poland, 18641939 (with Lucjan
Dobroszycki); and The Art of Being Jewish in Modern Times (edited with
Jonathan Karp). Her edited volume Writing a Modern Jewish History: Essays
in Honor of Salo W. Baron won a National Jewish Book Award. They Called
Me Mayer July: Painted Memories of a Jewish Childhood in Poland Before the
Holocaust, which she co-authored with her father Mayer Kirshenblatt,
also won several awards. In 2015 she will receive an honorary doctorate from the Jewish
Theological Seminary of America.
Benjamin Matis began singing publically at the age of fifteen and
attended the Peabody Conservatory of Music at The Johns Hopkins
University in Baltimore, Maryland. He then attended the Pardes Institute
of Jewish Learning in Jerusalem, as well as singing with the choir of the
Great Synagogue of Jerusalem. After returning to the United States, he
attended the Cantors Institute (now the Miller Cantorial School) of the
Jewish Theological Seminary and the Aaron Copland School of Music,
Queens College of the City University of New York to study music
history and was called to the pulpit at a number of New York synagogues.
He has also been trained in liturgy, theology and Jewish musicology, and
gained a Master of Sacred Music degree as well as Diploma of Hazzan in 2008.

Conference convenors:
Professor Antony Polonsky
(Brandeis University),
Dr Franois Guesnet
(University College London)
Conference coordinator:
Ms Sara Ben-Isaac
(Institute of Jewish Studies,
University College London)

The Jews in Congress Poland:

At The Dynamic Centre of
Political, Economic and
Cultural Change
Thursday 15th January 2015

The Jews in Congress Poland:

At The Dynamic Centre of Political,
Economic and Cultural Change
Notes on Speakers
Joanna Nalewajko-Kulikov is Assistant Professor at the Institute
of History, Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw, Poland. Her research
interests include history of East European Jewry in the 19th and 20th
centuries, history of Yiddish culture (especially Yiddish press) and
Polish-Jewish relations. Her books include Strategie przetrwania. ydzi po
aryjskiej stronie Warszawy (2004), Obywatel Jidyszlandu: Rzecz o ydowskich
komunistach w Polsce (2009), Studia z dziejw trjjzycznej prasy ydowskiej
na ziemiach polskich (2012, editor) and Lesestunde/Lekcja czytania (2013,
co-editor). She was a fellow at the Herder-Institut in Marburg (2014)
and the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research (2010-2011). Recipient of
2010 Jan Karski and Pola Nireska Award, she serves currently as the Chairperson of the Polish
Association of Yiddish Studies.
Antony Polonsky is Albert Abramson Professor of Holocaust Studies
at Brandeis University and the United States Holocaust Memorial
Museum and Chief Historian of the Museum of the History of Polish
Jews, Warsaw. Until 1991, he was Professor of International History
at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He is chair
of the editorial board of Polin: Studies in Polish Jewry, author of Politics in
Independent Poland (1972), The Little Dictators (1975), The Great Powers and
the Polish Question (1976), co-author of A History of Modern Poland (1980)
and The Beginnings of Communist Rule in Poland (1981) and co-editor
of Contemporary Jewish writing in Poland: an anthology (2001) and The
neighbors respond: the controversy over the Jedwabne Massacre in Poland (2004). His most recent
work is The Jews in Poland and Russia volume 1, 1350 to 1881; volume 2 1881 to 1914; volume 3
1914 to 2008 (Oxford, 2010. 2012), published in 2013 in an abridged version The Jews in Poland
and Russia. A Short History.

The Institute of Jewish Studies

Embassy
of the Republic of Poland
in London

Dariusz Stola is a historian, Professor at the Institute of Political

Studies, Polish Academy of Sciences, and fellow at the Center for
Migration Research, Warsaw University. Since March 2014 he has been
the director of the Polin Museum of the History of Polish Jews. He has
published ten books and more than hundred articles on the history
of Polish-Jewish relations, the communist regime in Poland and on
international migrations in the 20th century, including: Nadzieja i zagada
(1995); Kampania antysyjonistyczna w Polsce 1967-1968 (2000); Kraj bez
wyjcia? Migracje z Polski 1948-1989 (2010); Patterns of Migration in Central
Europe (2001, with C. Wallace); PRL: trwanie i zmiana (2003, with
M. Zaremba); PZPR jako machina wadzy (2012, with K. Persak). He has lectured in history for
many years and served on the advisory boards of several Polish and International institutions
and journals.
Marcin Wodziski is Professor of Jewish history and literature at
the University of Wrocaw, Poland. He has published widely on Jewish
material culture and the social history of Jews in nineteenth-century
Eastern Europe, especially on the history of Hasidism and Haskalah.
His books include: Hebrew Inscriptions in Silesia 13th-18th c. (Pol., 1996),
Bibliography on the History of Silesian Jewry II (2004), Haskalah and Hasidism
in the Kingdom of Poland: A History of Conflict (2005), and Hasidism and
Politics:The Kingdom of Poland, 1815-1864 (2013).

Conference convenors:
Professor Antony Polonsky
(Brandeis University),
Dr Franois Guesnet
(University College London)
Conference coordinator:
Ms Sara Ben-Isaac
(Institute of Jewish Studies,
University College London)

The Jews in Congress Poland:

At The Dynamic Centre of
Political, Economic and
Cultural Change
Thursday 15th January 2015