The Greater War as a Turning Point in East European Jewish History

Session Submission Type: Panel

Brief Description

World War I and its violent aftermath were a major turning point in European history that shook old regimes and created new orders and nation-states. The changes inevitably affected Jews living in Eastern and East Central Europe. This panel addresses these developments during the last years of the Russian empire, post-war Galicia, and Ukraine. Anastasiia Strakhova will examine Jewish emigration from the war-torn Russian empire and point to the continuities between this and the pre-war periods. Jan Rybak will speak about Jewish armed self-organization in post-war Galicia, conceptualizing Jews not only as victims but as active participants in the reorganization of the region. Olga Petrova will focus on the Ukrainian and Jewish visions of autonomy that came to the fore in the Revolutions of 1917 and argue that the negotiations on autonomy signaled ideological affinities and cooperation between Ukrainians and Jews. Collectively, these papers point to new directions in the study of East European Jews during World War I and its aftermath and center Jewish agency and the multifaceted responses to the crisis and violence following the empires’ collapse and the formation of new states and societies.

Sub Unit

• Jewish Studies

Chair

• Oskar Czendze, UNC at Chapel Hill

Papers

• Jewish Emigration from the Russian Empire during WWI - Anastasiia Strakhova, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

• 'The Best Fruit of the Russian Revolution': Jewish Autonomy in Ukraine, 1917-1918 - Olga Petrova, Central European U (Hungary)

Discussant

• Polly Zavadivker, U of Delaware