Jewish Nationalism and Indifference between Posen and Poznań: The Jewish People’s Council, 1918–1920*

Abstract

This article analyses the role of the Jüdischer Volksrat—the Jewish People’s Council—in Posen/Poznań between 1918 and 1920. In establishing this institution, Zionist activists gained a significant amount of influence in a traditionally German-acculturated Jewish space during the period of transition from German to Polish rule in the city. Claiming to represent the city’s ‘third nation’ and making demands for Jewish national autonomy, the Jüdischer Volksrat was instrumental in reshaping intercommunity relations and the Jews’ place in society, winning the support of sizeable sections of the Jewish population. This article argues that these successes can be attributed not to the reception of grand ideological concepts of Jewish nationalism, but rather to the fact that Jüdischer Volksrat activists played a central role in people’s everyday lives. They provided economic support, food deliveries, legal aid, and collective security, thereby placing themselves at the centre of the community. The article shows, however, that contrary to activists’ hopes, support for the Volksrat did not necessarily mean an immediate acceptance of Jewish-national concepts. As the debates around the establishment of a Jewish school illustrate, support for national claims and institutions was primarily situational and related to immediate local pressures.