| abstract |
The intersection of family history, academic study, and professional experiences led to my dissertation. Using a multidisciplinary and multimodal approach in researching and presenting a microhistory of this Jewish community in south-central Poland, I address the following questions: What were the origins of Staszów Jews? What were the key moments in the five-hundred-year plus life of Staszów Jews and their descendants? What and where are Jewish Staszów sites of memory? How were and are Staszów's Polish-Jewish relations? What role did women play in Jewish Staszów life? What impact, if any, did and do Staszów Jews make on local, national, and international levels? How did the experiences of Jews in Staszów compare to those of their co-religionists in other parts of Poland? What was the life of Staszów Jews before, during, and after the Shoah? Where is the Jewish Staszów Diaspora, and why does the memory and history of their ancestors continue to resonate with them?
The dissertation's five chapters capture critical findings. Chapters One and Two covering 1525 through 1939 demonstrate that while Poles and Jews lived in close proximity in Staszów — as neighbors and/or economic partners, the latter were always considered the "Other." Nurtured by hope and Jewish tradition, they continued to transmit their history and memory from generation to generation. Focusing on the Shoah and its aftermath, Chapter Three highlights the extraordinary human agency that Staszów Jewish women and men displayed as they strove to adjust to suffering, tragedy, and trauma. Chapter Four's history of the Jewish Staszów Diaspora focuses on the years 1895-2021. Chapter Five describes exemplary Jewish Staszów memory agents and their representations. This chapter, together with the Jewish Staszów sites of memory placed throughout the dissertation, help illuminate the enduring impact of the Jewish Staszów story and facilitate its joining the "remarkable, ongoing story, connecting Jews across centuries and continents." Applicable to diverse cultural and social groups, my work serves as an educational tool for individuals and organizations dedicated to preserving their history and memory.
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