New Books in History The Jews in Poland-Lithuania and Russia: 1350 to the Present Day
Mar 23, 2026
Antony Polonsky, distinguished historian of modern Jewish life in Eastern Europe and author of a three-volume history, traces Jewish settlement from medieval towns to modern transformations. He discusses Hasidism, the Haskalah, urbanization, pogroms and mass emigration, wartime choices and comparative Holocaust responses, Stalinist repression, and post-1989 efforts to revive memory and culture.
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Polonsky's South African Roots And Political Turn
- Antony Polonsky recounts his family origins: Russified Lithuanian Jews and Yiddish speakers who emigrated to South Africa.
- His South African upbringing shaped early political views and guilt about racial divisions that led him toward Marxism.
Synthesize New Research To Revise Collective Memory
- Synthesize new archival research into single-author narratives to correct myths and sentimental or overly negative histories.
- Polonsky condensed vast YIVO and archival findings into a three-volume synthetic history.
Modern Jewish Politics Replaced Integration
- New political currents—nationalism, Zionism, and socialism—emerged as responses to failed integration.
- These movements fueled secular Hebrew/Yiddish culture and shifted goals from legal equality to cultural or territorial nationhood.
