Polish Literature in Israel. A Reconnaissance

Abstract

The article Polish literature in Israel. A reconnaissance is based on archival materials collected during the preliminary research for the book Polish literature in Israel. A lexicon (Karolina Famulska-Ciesielska, Sławomir Jacek Zurek, Kraków-Budapeszt 2012) and is an attempt at a synthetic presentation of the history of this literature. The view of it takes into consideration the works of Polish-Jewish writers coming to Palestine before the outbreak of World War II (1939 – emigration of Polish Zionists), during it (1939-1945 – refugees and soldiers who came there with General Władysław Anders’s army), and also after the end of it (1945-1948 – Jews who survived the Holocaust). The article discusses the literary and cultural work of Polish Jews in Israel who came there in three waves (1948-1953, 1957-1959, and 1968-1970) with the emphasis on the role of Polish language periodicals whose editorial staff for several dozen years animated Polish cultural and literary life in that country (Kronika Tygodniowa, Kronika Izraelska, Kronika, Przekrój, Kurier Powszechny, Iskry, Echo Tygodnia, Przekrój Izraelski, Po Prostu w Izraelu, Od Nowa, and especially Nowiny-Kurier), and also on libraries, bookshops and second-hand bookshops (“Hasefer”, “Gloria”, “Księgarnia Polska” – run by Edmund and Ada Neusteins) as institutions that were significant for promoting Polish literature and culture.

Among all the authors who published their works in Polish (there were more than a hundred of them) first of all the names of the most distinguished ones are taken into consideration: Irit Amiel, Eli Barbur, Ruth Baum, Anna Ćwiakowska, Henryk Dankowicz, Ida Fink, Anna Garncarska-Kadary, Ignacy Iserleas, Filip Istner, Renata Jabłońska, Aleksander Klugman, Kalman Segal, Arnold Słucki, Viola Wein, Stanisław Wygodzki.