ABOUT THIS LECTURE: Negative references to the Galitsianer as cunning, unlearned, coarse, or a religious fanatic are still heard in the early twenty-first century. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, in addition to its nineteenth-century Hasidic, rabbinic, and maskilic celebrities, Galicia produced countless Zionist and socialist leaders as well as a cadre of literary and academic stars in the twentieth century, most notably the noble laureate S. Y. Agnon. Galicia – the portion of the old Polish empire ruled by Austria from 1772 to 1918 – was the cradle of much of modern Jewish civilization. This talk will survey the history of this community and its place in the East European Jewish experience.
