Professor Polonsky is currently the Albert Abramson Professor of Holocaust studies at Brandeis.  Several of the books he has authored or edited are listed below. Besides Professor Polonsky’s books, I have also listed other selected books on the topic for those who would like to do further reading.  For additional information on the talk, click this link.

Books by Antony Polonsky at the Newton Free Library

The Jews in Poland and Russia. (3 vols.) Oxford; Portland, OR: Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 2010-2012.   947.004 P76J

The Neighbors Respond: The Controversy over the Jedwabne Massacre in Poland. Edited by Antony Polonsky and Joanna B. Michlic.  Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2004.   940.531 NEIGHBORS

From Shtetl to Socialism: Studies from Polin. Edited by Antony Polonsky.  London; Washington: Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 1993.  943.8 FROM

A Selection of Related Books

Cohen, Chester G. Shtetl Finder: Jewish Communities in the 19th and Early 20th Centuries in the Pale of Settlement of Russia and Poland, and in Lithuania, Latvia, Galicia, and Bukovina, with Names of Residents. Bowie, MD: Heritage Books, 1989.  929.1 COHEN

Dawidowicz, Lucy S. The Golden Tradition: Jewish Life and Thought in Eastern Europe. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 947.004 D32G

Encyclopedia of Jewish Life Before and During the Holocaust.  Edited by Shmuel Spector.  3 vols. Jerusalem: Vad Vashem/New York: New York University Press, 2001.  R 940.531 ENCYCLOPEDIA
—–This work provides the history of the shtetls and cities of nearly every country in continental Europe.  (Exceptions are Bulgaria, Finland, Portugal, Spain, and Switzerland.)

Gitelman, Zvi Y.  A Century of Ambivalence: The Jews of Russia and the Soviet Union.  New York: Schocken Books: 1988. 947.004 G44C

Gruber, Ruth Ellen. Upon the Doorposts of Thy House: Jewish Life in East-Central Europe, Yesterday and Today.  New York: J. Wiley, 1994.  943 G92U

Haumann, Heiko.  A History of Eastern European Jews. Budapest; New York: Central European University Press: 2002.  947.004 HAUMANN

Mokotoff, Gary, Sallyann Amdur Sack, and Alexander Sharon.  Where Once We Walked: A Guide to the Jewish Communities Destroyed in the Holocaust.  Revised ed. Bergenfield, NJ: Avotaynu, 2002. R 940.531 M72W
—–This work is key to finding the location of Jewish communities in Europe.  It not only gives you town names, but alternative names, nearby towns, and town names using the Daitch-Mokotoff Soundex System.  This system groups town names phonetically, by how the names sound.  This may be the only way you can find a town whose name has been misspelled. Read the explanatory text (pp. xi-xxvi) before using this book.

Reiss, Lionel S. (Lionel Samson) A World in Twilight: A Portrait of the Jewish Communities of Eastern Europe before the Holocaust.  New York, Macmillan, 1971. 914.7 R27W

Shternshis, Anna.  Soviet and Kosher: Jewish Popular Culture in the Soviet Union, 1923-1939.  Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2006.  947.004 S56S

Vishniac, Roman. To Give Them Light: The Legacy of Roman Vishniac. Edited by Marion Wiesel. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1993. 305.892 V82T
—–Vishniac was a photographer who traveled throughout Eastern Europe in the years before World War II.

Roth, Joseph.  Translated by Michael Hofmann. The Wandering Jew. New York : Norton, 2001.  305.892 R74W
—–This is the first English translation of the journalist Joseph Roth who died in 1939. These  writings are about Jews in pre-World War II Europe.

The Yivo Encyclopedia of  Jews in Eastern Europe.  Gershon David Hundert, editor in chief. (2 vols.) New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2008  R 305.892 Y65H

Zborowski, Mark and Elizabeth Herzog.  Life is with People: The Jewish Little-Town of Eastern Europe.  New York: International Universities Press, 1962. 296 Z19L

Website

YIVO Institute for Jewish Research
15 W. Sixteenth St.
New York, NY 10011- 6301
Telephone: (212) 246-6080
http://www.yivoinstitute.org

vea/28 September 2012
Newton Free Library
Newton, Mass
Library website:  http://www.newtonfreelibrary.net
Genealogy blog:  http://thecuriousgenealogist.wordpress.com

Tracking ancestors is only the beginning of  researching family history.  As in any research based on genuine interest and curiosity, answered questions create more questions. What was it like in that town or that city at that particular time? What were their lives like?  What did they care about?  How did local, state, and national events effect them? One source of information that people often overlook is local club records — both for locating people and also for learning about life at the time the records were kept.

The Newton History Series presents a series of lectures on Newton history that should be of interest to people with families who lived in this area during the periods covered in the lectures. On Thursday, March 10th at 7:00 pm at the Newton Free Library  Kate Stout and Virginia Leavy will give a program titled The Social Science Club of Newton in the Progressive Era. The series, Women Breaking Boundaries, focuses on the dynamic history of women’s activism in Newton, spanning a full century from the 1880s to the 1980s and is sponsored by Historic Newton.

Are you curious about what smart, motivated women of Newton did with their free time a century ago? Kate Stout will present a brief history of the women’s club movement as gleaned from the record books and papers given by members of the Social Science Club of Newton. Virginia Leavy will then speak about the club’s early educational and social initiatives, and some of the members involved in them. This program is concurrent with two exhibits of historic items from the Social Science Club which will be on view in the display cases in the Main Hall (throughout March) and outside the Special Collections Room (throughout March and April) at the library.

Virginia (Vivi) Leavy has been a member of the Social Science Club of Newton since 2004. From 2008- 2010 she served as its president.

Kate Stout is a writer, journalist and editor. She has been an avid member of the Social Science Club since 2003.

Program writeup taken from the Newton Free Library Newsletter, March 2011, pp. 1,7.

vea/1 March 2011
Newton Free Library
Newton, Mass
Library website:  http://www.newtonfreelibrary.net
Genealogy blog:  http://thecuriousgenealogist.wordpress.com

Newton Free Library 1992

An invitation is extended to you for  Tuesday, January 11th, from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. in Druker Auditorium (first doors on your left as you come into the library  from the parking lot.) . Cary Aufseeser, a member of the Board of the Jewish Genealogical Society, will  present an Introduction to Jewish Genealogy. Mr. Aufseeser began his own genealogical research in 2002 and has been able to trace some of his family lines back to the Middle Ages.

Points to be covered include:

* What’s Jewish about Jewish Genealogy
* How do you get started researching your roots
* Where do you find the records that give you information about your ancestors
* What are the most important online sites
* Where can you find resources to help you with your research in metro Boston

Everyone is  welcome.  No reservations are needed. No movie will be shown. There will be handouts. If you are (or want to become) involved in your own family search, you should take advantage of the opportunity offered by this program. Even if, like me, you have found no Jewish ancestors, I would still encourage you to come. I believe you will find much information here that will be extremely relevant to your own journey of discovery. 

The following evening, on Wednesday, January 12th, there will be a meeting of the Newton Genealogy Club from 7:00 to 9:00. It will be held in Meeting Room  A, which is in the group of rooms directly across from Druker Auditorium. The purpose of the club is to share information on records and approaches for starting or extending participants’ genealogical research. Novices and experienced researchers are both welcome. Participants are encouraged to bring questions from their own research for discussion. Come on in and get acquainted.

vea/5 January 2011
Newton Free Library
Newton, Mass
Library website:  http://www.newtonfreelibrary.net
Genealogy blog:  http://thecuriousgenealogist.wordpress.com

Newton Free Library November 2010

On Tuesday, December 14, from 7:00 t0 9:00 p.m.,  the Newton Free Library is hosting a viewing of the program “Who Do You Think You Are” featuring Zoe Wanamaker. It will be presented in the Druker Auditorium (first doors on your left as you come into the library  from the parking lot.) Following the showing, there will be  a  question and answer session on researching family history led by Carol Clingan,  Vice President of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Boston.

This episode of “Who Do You Think You Are” is from the original British  version, not the recently aired American series. The program shows how Zoe Wanamaker,  a British-American actress, researches her father’s past in America and his reasons for emigrating to Great Britain.  She then tracks her grandfather, Maurice,  a Russian Jew who settled in Chicago.  Ultimately she is able to follow her family name back to the Ukraine.   Whether you are already well into your family history research or just starting to trace  your family tree, you should find both the film and the question and answer session that follows informative and useful. 

On Tuesday, January 11th, beginning at 7:00 p.m. in Druker Auditorium, there will be an additional program, an Introduction to Jewish Genealogy.  Cary Aufseeser, a member of the Board of the Jewish Genealogical Society, will be the presenter. He  began his own genealogical research in 2002 and has been able to trace some of his family lines back to the Middle Ages. 

All are welcome.  No reservations are needed. If you are (or want to become) involved in your own family search, you should take advantage of the opportunity offered by these two programs. You do not have to have Jewish ancestors to find the information given here extremely relevant to your own journey of discovery.

vea/9 December 2010
Newton Free Library
Newton, Mass.
http://www.newtonfreelibrary.net
http://thecuriousgenealogist.wordpress.com