The Reconstruction of Jewish Communal Institutions in Postwar Poland: The Origins of the Central Committee of Polish Jews, 1944-1945
The Reconstruction of Jewish Communal Institutions in Postwar Poland: The Origins of the Central Committee of Polish Jews, 1944-1945

Summary/Abstract: The manner in which Jews living in a particular town, province, or country have created and operated institutions for the regulation of their communal affairs has been a significant subject of Jewish historical scholarship since the end of the nineteenth century, when Simon Dubnow posited such institutions as no less an essential feature of Jewish life in the Diaspora than the religious and intellectual creation that had been the focus of historical investigations of the Jews until his day. This century-old scholarly literature reveals two different emphases in its descriptions of the operation of Jewish communal bodies. Some writers point out that through most of their history Jewish communities have conducted their business within the framework of enabling statutes or corporate charters of rights granted by the ruling powers in the various territories where Jews resided. [...]

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