הפרויקט לחקר יהדות גליציה ובוקובינה אוניברסיטת חיפה בשיתוך העמותה למורשת יהדות גליציה ובוקובינה

Summary: This final lecture tried to emphasize a couple points. Above all, the Holocaust was not a monolithic enterprise or experience. No single explanation suffices. It was experienced in radically different ways, particularly among the various East European Jewish communities, and was facilitated by a variety of factors and motivations. Some older assumptions in the historiography have been uprooted of late, a process that will no doubt continue. Finally, the Holocaust meant the decisive end of the East European Jewish era. It did not mean the end of all East European Jewish life. Many survived, mostly in the Soviet Union but also in other places (250,000 in Poland, for example, out of a prewar population of some three million). More importantly, emigres brought their heritage to countless new locations where it continues in new forms. Even Galicia – where nearly all local Jews were killed and remnants of Jewish life were allowed to decay or were destroyed – has seen a revival of interest in its Jewish heritage, and a growing effort to salvage and restore its surviving landmarks. May it continue.

Recommended Reading:

Frank Golczewski, “Shades of Grey: Reflections on Jewish-Ukrainian and German-Ukrainian Relations in Galicia,” in The Shoah in Ukraine, 114-55
Omer Bartov, “White Space and Black Holes: “Eastern Galicia’s Past and Present” in The Shoah in Ukraine 318-53
Recommended: Jan Gross, Neighbors (entire book)
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