Polin: Studies in Polish Jewry Volume 36: Jewish Childhood in Eastern Europe - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1802070354 ISBN 13: 9781802070354

Publisher: The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 2024

Synopsis

Changes in childhood and children’s roles in society, and in how children participate in determining their own lives, have long been of interest to historians. Recent years have seen the emergence of new perspectives on the study of childhood, both in historical scholarship and in literary and cultural studies. Children’s experiences are now scrutinized not only as a means of examining the lives and self-representation of young individuals and their families, but also to investigate how the early experiences of individuals can shed light on larger historical questions. This volume applies both approaches in the context of Jewish eastern Europe. Historian Gershon Hundert has argued that studying the experience of children and attitudes towards coming of age offers an important corrective to the way we think of the Jewish past. This volume proves the potential of this approach in exploring many areas of historical interest. Among the topics investigated here are changes in perceptions of childhood and family, progress in the medical treatment of children, and developments in education. The work of charitable institutions is also considered, along with studies of emotion, gender history, and Polish–Jewish relations. From the First World War until after the Holocaust and the Second World War, countless children experienced traumatizing events. A special section is dedicated to their fate.

About this title

About the Authors

Natalia Aleksiun is the Harry Rich Professor of Holocaust Studies at the University of Florida, Gainesville. She is the co-editor, with Antony Polonsky and Brian Horowitz, of 'Writing Jewish History in Eastern Europe' (2016), and has published widely on Polish Jewish issues. Among several prestigious fellowships, she has been a fellow at the Institute of Contemporary History in Munich and at the Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies in Vienna, and the Pearl Resnick Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, US Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington DC.

François Guesnet is Professor of Modern Jewish History in the Department of Hebrew and Jewish Studies at University College London.

Antony Polonsky is Professor Emeritus of Holocaust Studies at Brandeis University and Chief Historian of the Global Outreach Educational Project of the Polin Museum of the History of Polish Jews, Warsaw.

Edition details

• Publisher: The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization
• Publication date: 2024
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1802070354
• ISBN 13: 9781802070354
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 504
• Editor: Aleksiun Natalia, Guesnet François, Polonsky Antony