Prasa żydowska w języku polskim w Krakowie w latach 1918–1939

Abstract

[Jewish Press Written in Polish in Cracow between 1918-1939]

Cracow's Jewish press of the inter-war period was carefully researched and described by Czesław Brzoza. This paper deals with Jewish newspapers published in Polish in Cracow in the years 1918-1939. Titles written in Polish dominated Cracow's market of Jewish newspapers, as they constituted 52% of the published material. They included dailies, weeklies, fortnightly publications, monthlies and a magazine published twice a week. Jewish press in Polish was rather ephemeral, as 50% of the titles failed to survive for more that one year; in some cases only the first or several first issues appeared. Only one paper continued to be published over the whole inter-war period. It is worth noticing that the Jewish press written in Polish dealt with a great number and variety of topics. It was dominated by newspapers of political parties and organisations. Associations and groups of professionals had their organs; newspapers were published by youth organisations connected with political parties. There were socio-cultural newspapers and dailies. There was one magazine for children. Analysis of the content shows that the papers devoted a lot of time and space to politics, economy and Polish-Jewish relations. Numerous political polemics, postulates for the improvement of Poland's economic condition prove that the Jewish community was involved in the matters of the whole country. Cultural and ideological differences presented in the papers were to help in the fight against religious and national intolerance. Political positions, ideological and philosophical polemics mirrored the process of change taking place in Jewish political life. Jewish press written in Polish, apart from the variety of topics, had innovative editorial forms.