Polens letzte Juden

Warsaw, 1968. Students are protesting against the Polish state and party leadership. They are not advocating the abolition of Socialism, but rather the fulfillment of its promises. Many of the young protestors, including Irena Grudzińska, Adam Michnik, and Jan T. Gross, come from Jewish families. However, only a few of them identify with Judaism, seeing themselves rather as Polish patriots and as Communists. Nevertheless, their origins are implicitly evoked in their protests. David Kowalski’s study examines the meaning of this belonging in the early opposition movement. Reaching back to the interwar period, he illuminates the experiences of the generation preceding the dissidents of 1968, examines the repercussions of the Holocaust, and demonstrates the interconnections of origins, Communist hopes, and Socialist disappointments.