Research in the portal | Copernico. Geschichte und kulturelles Erbe im östlichen Europa

Editorial

A Wounded City

What was the first day of the war like in Kharkiv? How has the city changed as a result of the devastating attack on Ukraine? How do people experience the war? Kharkiv residents were asked about this in the first months after February 24, 2022.

Background article

Góra Kalwaria or Ger

Góra Kalwaria was one of many shtetls in Poland whose Jewish life disappeared in the wake of WW II. Also goods of Jewish culture suffered immense losses. Particularly interesting is the wartime fate of library owned by tzaddik's family Alter. The history of its dispersal during WW II is exemplary for many Jewish library collections in Nazi-occupied Europe.

Background article

Hungarian – Communist – Jew?

This article sheds light on some facets of the life of the philosopher Ernő Gáll, who as a Jew, a communist, and a Hungarian was both politically persecuted and a perpetrator. A committed intellectual, he acted as a mediator between different political factions and hostile ethnic groups throughout his life. In doing so, he developed an ethic of dignity and responsibility and coined the phrase "the dignity of individual character," which also has relevance for today's debates around the issue of identity.

Bildergalerie-Seitenelement

In search of history - Gallery elements 1

Background article

In search of history at the Jewish Museum Vienna

Each of the objects on display at the Jewish Museum Vienna was once intended for daily or ritual use in Jewish families and communities and is bound up with the fates of Jewish people. Together, the objects, each torn from their original context, provide a memorial to the Jews who were displaced and murdered, and for this reason the story behind every object deserves to be told. Although only scant reliable information is available for most of the objects, this article describes an attempt to trace the story of a Torah crown from the JMV using just a few details.

Interview (video)

Interview with Andrij K.

"I know that I won't be able to go to my favorite places for the next few years. That hurts and
makes me very sad."

Interview (video)

Interview with Anton D.

"At the moment, I'm dreaming of doing the things we haven’t been able to do because of the war."

Interview (video)

Interview with Anton S.

"When I started volunteering, that’s when I got my daily routine under control."

Interview (video)

Interview with Kateryna I.

“We can buy everything, but not life”

Interview (video)

Interview with Liudmyla K.

"We have put our heart and soul into it for 30 years. We planted berries and fruit there. And now it's all gone."

Interview (video)

Interview with Mykola S.

"And we tried not to forget that we have to eat and drink and go shopping sometimes.”

Interview (video)

Interview with Oleksandr K.

"We talked about how it might be the last time we would see our neighborhood intact before it would be destroyed by war."

Interview (video)

Interview with Valerij S.

"The positive moments are when there’s news associated with the gradual liberation of areas of Ukraine."

Interview (video)

Interview with Vladyslav S.

"Everything in Kharkiv is great, no matter what it is."

Interview (video)

Interview with Yevhenii T.

"At night, the sky is almost always glowing red. In Leningrad they have white nights, we have red nights in Kharkiv."

Introduction

Jewish History in Eastern Europe: The 19th Century

In Jewish history, the 19th century stands for a time of comprehensive change in all areas of life. Jews, who had previously seen themselves primarily as a religious group, now became supporters of various political or national movements. This gave rise to a range of new, constantly contested Jewish affiliations.

Background article

Jewish Postcard Publishers and the Imagery of the Urban

In numerous cities across eastern Europe, Jewish publishers enjoyed notable success on the newly established postcard market. This article presents a socio-historical background of this topic and asks whether their social positioning influenced the depictions of the urban world they chose to feature on their postcards.

Introduction

Jews in Poland in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Times

The article offers an overview of Jewish history and the development of Jewish settlement in medieval and early modern Poland from the first recorded mentions of Jewish centers in the 11th century through to the end of the 18th century. As in the neighboring countries of Hungary and Bohemia, the Polish monarchs were also interested in Jewish settlement; the privilege of 1264 and its confirmations created the legal framework for this. Jews were involved in the economic and demographic development of Poland. The Jewish percentage of the urban population also grew, and their formative influence was particularly visible in the south-eastern provinces, which found expression in the concept of the Jewish "shtetl". In modern times, Poland-Lithuania also became a center of Jewish scholarship. The crises and wars in the mid-17th century brought an influx of messianic movements. In the 18th century, the impulses of the Jewish Enlightenment and the emancipation of the Jewish population were the subject of lengthy and lively discussion.

Introduction

Jews in Twentieth Century Eastern Europe

The twentieth century brought monumental changes and unprecedented challenges to the East-European Jewry. Its story is told here in the voices of six Jewish women, whose lives were marked by its turbulent course.

Background article

Memorials in Wrocław

The Jewish community in Breslau, which was the third-largest in the German Reich in 1925, was forgotten for many years. However, after 1989, new interest in local history began to emerge in Wrocław, Poland. Nowadays, monuments and a commemorative procession serve as reminders of the Jewish people who lived in Breslau (the pre-1945 German name for Wrocław) during the pre-war period.

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