Publisher's Synopsis
Before World War II, Yakov Leshchinsky was widely known as the dean of Jewish sociologists. In this study, first published in Yiddish in 1931, Leshchinsky blends ethnographic, historical and statistical material on the economic situation of Poland's three million Jews to provide rare insight into a vibrant community struggling to survive the period just before its annihilation. He proceeds class by class, moving from piece workers and petty merchants to factory workers, professionals and entrepreneurs, demonstrating how at each rung of the socioeconomic hierarchy Jews sought to mobilize their resolve and creative energies to fight for survival in the face of economic crisis exacerbated by growing state and popular discrimination. They were often unsuccessful, but Leshchinsky believed that transitory "conjunctures"-Polish government policy and the Great Depression-were the chief impediments to the successful integration of the Jews in Polish society. Accordingly, his study is not just a work of keen discernment but also a work of aching historical irony. It is presented here in English translation for the first time.
