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Call for PapersIV International Conference
Jews in Galicia. Histories, Topographies, and Texts
Kraków, Galicia Jewish Museum, October 20-21, 2025
Organizers:
Marcell and Maria Roth Center for Research on the History and Culture of Jews in Poland and Polish-Jewish Relations, Institute of Jewish Studies, Jagiellonian University
Center of Jewish History and Culture, Institute of History, University of Rzeszów
Galicia Jewish Museum, Kraków
in cooperation with
Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv (Ukraine)
The organizers of the IV International Conference Jews in Galicia. Histories, Topographies, and Texts welcome applications for participation in the conference, which will be held in person in Kraków on October 20-21, 2025.
In recent years, research on Jewish heritage in Galicia has expanded across multiple countries, as we could observe during the international conferences organized by scholars from the Jagiellonian University and the University of Rzeszów. The first conference, held in Rzeszów in 2017, was followed by subsequent meetings in Kraków in 2019 and 2023. From the outset, we envisioned these events as a recurring series. The inaugural “Jews in Galicia” conference, held in Rzeszów in 2017, was highly successful, bringing together scholars from various countries interested in Jewish heritage in Galicia. Selected papers from that conference were published in the book “Z dziejów i kultury Żydów w Galicji/From the History and Culture of Jews in Galicia” (Rzeszów, 2018). The second conference took place in Kraków in 2019 at the Galicia Jewish Museum, with selected papers published in volume 18 (2020) of “Scripta Judaica Cracoviensia”. The third conference, also hosted at the Galicia Jewish Museum in Kraków in 2023, will result in a monograph to be published by Austeria Publishing House in Kraków by June 2025.
This year’s conference will once again be held in Kraków at the Galicia Jewish Museum, and we are delighted that the Museum has become our permanent partner and host. This collaboration significantly enhances the presentation of research on the history and heritage of Jews in Galicia, providing a valuable platform for scholarly exchange while also fostering social and public engagement. We hope that, as a result, an expanding community of researchers dedicated to this subject will emerge.
From 1772 to 1918, Galicia played a significant role in the history of the Jewish Diaspora, emerging as a vibrant and diverse center of Jewish life within a multicultural environment. This conference will explore three key dimensions of contemporary Galician Jewry: historical, topographical, and textual. Additionally, we welcome presentations that examine the heritage of Galician Jewry within a broader historical and cultural context, including Jewish relationships with the region’s non-Jewish population.
Contributions may address the following topics:
• The histories of Galician Jews and their political, economic, and social roles;
• Jewish interactions with neighboring communities;
• Historical processes and geopolitical changes and their impact on Jewish identity and cultural expressions;
• The topographies of Jewish life: urban centers, shtetls, rural spaces, and their physical and symbolic landscapes;
• Jewish religious life and its institutions;
• Literary and cultural representations of the Galician Jewish experience in different languages: Yiddish, Hebrew, Polish, Ukrainian, and German;
• Galician Jewish culture – texts and contributors, including writers, artists, and intellectuals;
• Archival sources, memoirs, religious texts, and modern reflections on Galician Jewry;
• (Post)memory and heritage; descendants of Galician Jews and their relationship with the country of their ancestors;
• Jewish genealogy: current research and future directions.
We invite scholars conducting research on topics related to Jews in Galicia to submit original papers for presentation.
The language of the conference will be English.
Applications for participation in the conference should be submitted by June 15, 2025. Please submit a paper abstract (max. 400 words) and a short bio. The conference program will be announced in early July 2025.
For applications and inquiries, please contact: [email protected].
We plan to publish an edited volume featuring chapters based on talks given at the conference.
Please note: The conference will not be transmitted online.
We encourage you to share information about the conference with colleagues and students who may be interested in attending.
On behalf of the organizing committee:
Prof. Michał Galas – Jagiellonian University
Prof. Wacław Wierzbieniec – University of Rzeszów
Dr. Jacek Stawiski – Galicia Jewish Museum
Dr. Vladyslava Moskalets – Ukrainian Catholic University
Dr. Katarzyna Suszkiewicz – Galicia Jewish Museum – coordinator
Dr. Karolina Koprowska – Jagiellonian University – coordinator
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Żydowskie Muzeum Galicja, ulica Dajwór 18, 31-052 Kraków, Polska, Krakow, Poland
