BRESLAU – WROCŁAW: TRANSNATIONAL AND TRANSREGIONAL ENCOUNTERS. RESITUATING RESEARCH OF GERMAN-JEWISH BRESLAU AND POLISH-JEWISH WROCŁAW.

Beginning in the early nineteenth century, immigration from the Polish territories of Prussia helped transform Breslau’s Jewish community into the third largest in Germany, with a lasting influence on the development of modern Jewish identity and scholarship. Yet after the Holocaust and the transformation of Breslau into Wrocław—with almost the entire population of the city replaced—the traces and memory of Breslau’s Jews seemed to vanish from both German and Polish public consciousness.

It was only with political changes and the opening of archives to Western researchers in the 1980s that Polish and German historiography began to seriously engage with the city’s Jewish history. This renewed scholarly interest was largely shaped by approaches rooted in social history. German researchers, in particular, examined the subject through the lens of Bürgertumsforschung—the study of the emerging German middle class—focusing on questions of Jewish integration, interaction, and agency within a community defined by bourgeois values.

Polish academics reconstructed Jewish Breslau through the exploration of previously unknown sources with cemeteries serving as important sources for genealogical and biographical research. At the same time—and in line with broader trends in Polish intellectual life—new publications appeared on Polish-speaking Holocaust survivors who had settled in the former German territories. This research focused on the pioneering attempts to rebuild Jewish culture in the challenging environment of communist rule —a context that largely marginalized the legacy of Breslau’s German Jews.

This special issue of Studia Judaica seeks to contribute to current research in European Jewish studies to historize the divide between Polish and German Jewry. The editors believe that this line of investigation is crucial for a deeper understanding of the specific history of Jewish Breslau/Wrocław as a space of contact, conflict, and transition. We are particularly yet not exclusively interested in new research with relevance for the following three topics of Breslau’s/Wrocław’s Jewish history from the nineteenth century to the present:

(1) Demography and migration. What role did shared geographical origins play in the formation of groups and networks in certain professional fields, in religious, cultural, academic and political life, in sports or in the activities of Jewish associations and the congregation? How were geographical and linguistic origins perceived and negotiated within the Jewish population before and after 1945? Case studies of Polish-speaking, Yiddish-speaking and groups of people who moved from Poznań area after 1918 are of particular interest for the Breslau period, while the significance of regional bonds should be investigated for Polish Wrocław since 1945.

(2) Cultural entanglements with transregional and transnational phenomena which, in the context of German Breslau, encompassed not only the history of the Jewish bourgeoisie and the intellectual tradition—emphasising, as some previous publications have done, the significance of the Jewish Theological Seminary—but also the strong presence of “Ostjuden,” with the Yiddish language and a distinctly conservative orientation. An instructive example can be found in the ways the history of the Jews of Breslau has been represented and researched —both in a historical context (for example, the research of Alfred Grotte (1872-1943) and his attempts to unite eastern and western influence in the synagogue architecture) and in contemporary discourse, where a persistent popular perception continues to portray the Jewish community of Breslau as thoroughly German. This category invites reflection on the ambiguity of German-Jewish identity in Breslau, as well as on the regional—and even national—diversity of the Jews who settled in Wrocław after 1945. These diverse backgrounds shaped the formation of the new community and influenced the character of the organizations that emerged.

(3) Memory and international contacts after 1945. The persecution since 1933 and the expulsion of the surviving German Jews after 1945 led to the emergence of a worldwide Jewish “Breslau diaspora.” In associations and with their own magazine, the former Breslau residents communicated with each other, practiced remembrance and came to terms with the present of Polish Wrocław. On what occasions and in what capacities did contacts exist across the Iron Curtain, between Germany and Poland, and between Israel and other countries? What influence did personal contacts and political developments like recompensation and reconciliation have on the appropriation of Breslau Jewish traditions, memory and the material heritage of the Jewish and non-Jewish community in Wrocław? What forms these contacts take now and how is the memory of the Jews of Breslau presented?

We invite scholars in the humanities—particularly in history, art history, cultural studies, ethnography, memory studies, language studies and related fields—to submit paper proposals (150-250 words) and a CV including a list of publications. Proposals should include a tentative title, a clear definition of the article’s scope, a main argument or research question, a brief description of the key sources or literature to be consulted, and, where relevant, the methods to be employed. Please send the application as a single file by January 15, 2026, to stolarskafronia@gmail.com or tim.buchen@uwr.edu.pl. The special issue and all accepted articles will be published in English.

Applicants will be notified of the decision by February 15, 2026, and the deadline for submission of full articles is August 2026. For any questions, please feel free to contact one or both editors.