Published : 2011-12-31

The Majer Bałaban’s historical school – the young Jewish historians in Poland in the interwar period

Natalia Aleksiun



Abstract

A seminar in Polish Jewish history at the Institute of Jewish Studies and the Warsaw University directed by Majer Bałaban created a scholarly setting of great consequence, enabling him to train over sixty students of Polish Jewish history according to the University curriculum and his understanding of scholarship. Bałaban equipped them with research skills and teaching methods. He shaped their views on the role of Jewish historians in Poland as they embarked on academic and public careers in the last decade of the Second Polish Republic. Bałaban’s students belonged to a generation with an intimate relation with Polish culture, drawn to the study of Polish literature and history. They enrolled at the University and the Institute of Jewish Studies for a variety of reasons. A university diploma could lead to a career in education, since the Ministry of Education required all teachers in secondary schools to obtain university training. The diverse social backgrounds and individual motivation of Bałaban’s students suggest the wide appeal of the study of Polish Jewish history to Jewish youth in Poland. The analysis of research topics selected by his students, questions they posed in their theses and research methods they applied sheds light on the intellectual framework of these young scholars. Their research and their social activism in the field of education demonstrate Bałaban’s influence on this emerging school of Polish Jewish history. Both the sense of being rooted in Polish culture and a commitment to Jewish nationalism inspired their writings and their career paths as scholars, teachers, and educators.

Keywords:

history of Polish Jews, interwar period, Majer Bałaban, Institute of Jewish Studies in Warsaw, crossing social barriers



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Aleksiun, N. (2011). The Majer Bałaban’s historical school – the young Jewish historians in Poland in the interwar period. Jewish Studies. Almanac, 1(1), 89–100. https://doi.org/10.56583/sz.573

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