Jews of East-Central Europe after the Catastrophe: Multiplicity of Experiences, 1945–1956

On March 27-28, the Center for Urban History will host a conference organized by the Ukrainian Association for Jewish Studies dedicated to Jewish life in East-Central Europe during the first decade after the Holocaust.

The Jews' experiences of the post-war period in the various countries of East-Central Europe. State antisemitism existed in the USSR as well as in Soviet controlled East Bloc states. However, it manifested itself in various forms and had varying scales. The displacement of Jews from party apparatuses, from administrative authorities, and from cultural and educational institutions was embodied under different scenarios. The status of Jewish women also significantly differed. It depended on the level of their engagement in social and political life. Various factors influenced on the general situation, i.e., the size of communities, the scale of the local population's participation in the Holocaust, the preservation of Jewish community structures, activities of Jewish organizations, and the agreement of the authorities to let Jews of their countries make Aliyah.

During the conference, it is planned to discuss various aspects of Jewish life in East-Central Europe after the Holocaust and the impact of the Holocaust. In particular, they propose to raise the topic of the experience of Jewish women in the East bloc states in the post-war decade, the attitude of the USSR and Soviet satellite states' security services toward organized Jewish life, the authorities' perception of the initiatives "from below" to memorialize the victims of the Holocaust, and the conditions in which the Jewish culture and Jewish studies developed.

The primary conference language is English.

To join online, please, register.

Organizers: Ukrainian Association of Jewish Studies.

Credits

Cover Image: Sigmund Erdheim. Jewish Quarter, Borislav. Claudia Erdheim Collection / Urban Media Archive of the Center for Urban History