Between Imperial Past and the Nation-State. New York Jews Face Cultural Alienation in Interwar Poland

• In Event: Jewish Travel and Tourism in the Modern Era

Abstract

Following the First World War, the Habsburg Empire along with the region of Galicia vanished from the map of Europe. Being replaced by a newly established nation-state, Galicia found itself within the borders of the Second Polish Republic. In the 1920s and 1930s, New York Jews who originated in the former province of Galicia traveled to this region. No longer citizens of a multiethnic empire, they travelled as tourists on a visa to a nation-state that did not recognize them as its citizens. Even though this return to the hometowns symbolized only a temporarily visit, the travelers were caught between an emotional attachment to a sense of regional belonging that originated in the imperial past and experiences of cultural alienation in the new state. They started to rethink what it means to be from a no-longer-existing region like Galicia and ultimately, realized that they in fact became American Jews. Yet, using the label of the Galitsyaner, they activated their war relief networks to alleviate both the impacts of the Great Depression and rising authoritarianism in interwar Poland. By looking at both the personal experiences of these visits as captured in amateur films, photographs and travelogues, and the communal response of relief organizations, this paper shows how regional identities from the imperial past not only persisted throughout the migration experience but became stronger when confronted with new nation-states. It impels us to think about continuities of imperial concepts of belonging beyond East Central Europe and shows how Jewish self-understanding was constantly reshaped in dialogue with both the imagined past and the political reality of the places of origin. Actively trying to preserve a Jewish future in former Galicia, rather than simply visiting a lost past, New York Jews offer a more nuanced understanding of the processes of Americanization in the interwar era.

Author

• Oskar Czendze, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill