Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
Date of Degree
9-2022
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Program
History
Advisor
Richard Wolin
Committee Members
Marta Petrusewicz
Julia Sneeringer
Subject Categories
European History | History | Intellectual History | Political History
Keywords
Marxism, Christianity, exile, emigration, Polish-Jewish relations, identity, Cold War, reception
Abstract
This work focuses on Aneks (1973-1989), a publication that a small group of post-1968 émigrés, mostly Polish Jews, created in exile. Conceptualized as an “annex” to intellectual life in Poland, the publication was founded to help Polish intellectuals look beyond the country to better understand national problems. At the core of the enterprise were the Smolar brothers, who were in a unique position to offer such help: soon after their forced emigration due to rising antisemitism in communist Poland, Aleksander began to study with the great French liberal, Raymond Aron, and Eugeniusz began a career at the Polish section of the BBC. Like the older émigré journal Kultura, Aneks was printed in France for the majority of its publication run though its target audience was in Poland. What follows is an intellectual history or history of ideas framed by societal and generational trauma (war, antisemitism, genocide); by people grappling with Polishness and Jewishness both within themselves and society; by identity as something people struggle against and something they make for themselves.
Recommended Citation
Chelminski, Lukasz, "Émigrés as Aneks: Polish Intellectuals Between East and West, 1968–1989" (2022). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/5068