Excursion to Your Hometown in Poland and Homeland in Eretz Israel - American Jews Homeward Bound?

• In Event: Graduate Student Lightning Session: Modern Jewish History in Europe and Israel

Abstract

While considering the world’s two largest Jewish populations during the interwar period--America and Poland--what comes to mind are immigration quotas and the often-desperate attempts to leave Eastern Europe due to deteriorating economic conditions and increasing antisemitism. Contrary to popular opinion though, the movement of people was not unidirectional. New immigrants to America missed their hometowns, and many traveled to the places of their origins to visit relatives, friends, and carry aid funds gathered by landsmatschaftn or the JOINT. In shtetls and even big cities the visiting “new Americans” caused a sensation, leaving a meaningful impression on both the visiting and the visited.

Nostalgia for the “old country” was not the sole reason to embark on these trips. One of the most popular journeys were two-in-one voyages, namely, to “Your hometown (Poland) and your homeland (Palestine).” This was a sea voyage that took Jewish passengers from the East Coast of the United States to Gdynia, a port city on the Baltic, and after visiting one’s hometown, passengers returned to Gdynia and then set sail for Palestine. These trips can be seen as precursors to those offered by today by “March of the Living” and “Birthright,” even with strikingly similar narratives.

These trips were not like those that most immigrants took when they came to America. They were luxurious. Among the many enticements offered by the Gdynia-America Line (GAL) to attract Jewish travelers, passengers on these Purim, Pesach, and Shavuot cruises were served exquisite and haimish kosher cuisine, they could spend time in spacious ball rooms where live orchestras played, use a library, or attend a series of lectures on Eretz Yisrael. This talk will focus on how these trips were marketed to Jewish passengers versus the way ethnic Polish travelers returning “home” were sold Christmas and national holiday trips. Jewish visitors were sold on the possibility of seeing relatives and friends, somewhat disembodied from Poland itself, whereas the narrative to entice ethnic Poles to return home was couched in nationalistic terms. This exercise in differential marketing suited both Polish nationalists and Zionist organizations that partnered with GAL.

Author

• Ula Madej-Krupitski, University of California, Berkeley /McGill University