The Jewish Yishuv of Dzierżoniów (Reichenbach) in Lower Silesia after World War Two - Perspectives for common Polish and Jewish remembrance

The formerly German territories of Lower Silesia were witness to concentrated settling of survivors of the Holocaust after the Second World War. Dzierżoniów (Reichenbach) was, next to Wrocław (Breslau), one of the centres of Jewish settlement. Some envisaged a Jewish settlement, a Yishuv to arise there. Others saw the place as being a mere place of transit, offering the possibility to prepare for emigration. Through the project, we want to make our own picture of the coexistence of the remaining German inhabitants and the new Jewish and Non-Jewish population - mainly Polish repatriates from the eastern territories - in Dzierżoniów. Furthermore, we will try to estimate what significance this chapter had for the Jews that later emigrated, for the former German inhabitants and for the after 1945/50 dominating Polish population of the town.

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Project team

• Rafael Blau
• Wolf Borchers
• Dominik Kretschmann
• Elzbieta Opilowska