Lecture 3 - Jewish life in Europe by Joël KOTEK

Core content

The session begins with the reminder that Jews lived in almost every country in Europe before the Holocaust, with especially large communities in Eastern Europe, including Poland, the Soviet Union/Russia, Romania, and Hungary. It also highlights that Germany was not home to the largest Jewish population, despite common misconceptions.

A central part of the session focuses on the diversity of ways of being Jewish. In Eastern Europe, many Jews lived in shtetls, where Jewish life was organized around family, religion, and community, and where Yiddish culture played a major role. In Western Europe, Jewish populations were often more urban and more integrated into national life, while still maintaining distinct identities and traditions.

The session also addresses the social diversity of Jewish communities. Jews worked in many different professions, from craftsmen and workers to doctors, teachers, accountants, farmers, and small entrepreneurs. The idea of a single “rich Jewish elite” is challenged by showing that many Jewish families lived modestly or in poverty.

An overview of european jewish political and cultural life before the war 

The course also explores the political diversity of Jewish populations before the Shoah. Jews were divided between different political and ideological currents, including communists, Bundists, religious movements, assimilationists, and Zionists. This diversity illustrates that Jewish society was not monolithic, but marked by debate, plurality, and evolving responses to modernity.

Finally, the session underlines the richness of Jewish cultural life in Europe. Yiddish language, theatre, press, music, literature, and the arts formed a vibrant cultural world that was profoundly European. Jewish men and women also contributed strongly to civic and intellectual life, and figures such as Franz Kafka, Marc Chagall, Arnold Schoenberg, Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud, and others reflect this broad cultural influence.

1. A presence throughout Europe 

Jews lived in almost every country in Europe, particularly in Eastern Europe. Germany, by contrast, was home to only a small Jewish minority.

2. A great diversity of lifestyles 

Between the shtetls of Eastern Europe and the assimilated urban environments of Western Europe, there was no single way of being Jewish.

3. A contrasting social reality

Jews worked in all types of professions. Some were well-off, but many were poor. The myth of the "rich Jew" is a false stereotype.

4. Deep political divisions 

Jews were deeply divided politically, between communists, Bundists, religious traditionalists, assimilationists and Zionists.

5. A very rich cultural life 

Yiddish language, theatre, press, music, literature and the arts. Jewish culture was alive, creative and profoundly European.

6. Multiple identities 

Jews were often deeply attached to their Jewishness while also being patriotic citizens. They participated fully in the civic life of their respective countries.

7. Real yet fragile integration 

Despite emancipation and the acquisition of citizenship rights, antisemitism persisted, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe.

8. The lasting impact of the holocaust 

The Holocaust fundamentally transformed the way Jews relate to religion and nationhood. Exile, widespread imposed silence and resilience followed. After the collapse of communist and Bundist utopias, Jewish identity was rebuilt around the centrality of Israel. Jewish life in Europe had been destroyed.

Zionism ultimately imposed itself as the dominant framework for Jewish identity in the aftermath of the Holocaust.