Always an Idea of Galicia
MEMORY IN ACTION: EMBRACING THE PAST FOR THE FUTURE
INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDIES OF GALICIA
Institute for the study of Galicia
NO MYTH OF EASTERN GALICIA
Interdisciplinary Projects: Ukrainian, Jewish and Polish Subjectivities in
Interwar Eastern Galicia, 1918 – 1939, (modern Ukraine). Digitization, cataloguing, and indexing of the
interwar periodical press.
- The Idea of Galicia in Ukrainian, Jewish, and Polish Perspectives: Religious, Cultural, and Political Self-Identification
- Historicizing Eastern Galicia from post-Holocaust Historical Perspective
- The Future of Ukraine and the Future of Europe: always a Russian Factor. Geopolitics of Uncertainty.
Dr. Volodymyr Melamed
Interwar Eastern Galicia: Political and Cultural Discourse, 1918 – 1939
Selected Essays
The idea of this monograph lies with elucidation, analysis and interpretation of Ukrainian, Jewish, and Polish subjectivities in interwar Polish Eastern Galicia. The emphasis is on the interwar period that is on Polish Eastern Galicia. It was a distinctively different from the traditionally perceived phenomenon of Austrian Galicia. The social and cultural legacy of old Austrian Galicia still remained in effect but the geopolitical realities have irreversibly changed. Since the end of the First World War, Polish and Ukrainian communities experienced mutual enmity bordering with open confrontation. Polish and Ukrainian societies gained disproportional statuses, they were all but equal. The imperial center vanished, Poland gained independence and with international support managed to integrate Eastern Galicia into the Second Polish Republic. The Jewish community could no longer rely on suitable for them Austrian order and had to balance between the Polish state and Ukrainian ethnic majority of the region. It was a challenge of political choice: either unconditional loyalty to the State or solidarity with the territorial Ukrainian majority. Jewish leading Zionist political establishment could not take a definitive stance but continued to navigate through the course of their own politics. In real life Ukrainian and Jewish historical Subjectivities acting in bona fide, largely not in mutual solidarity, however, not diametrically apart. Both national entities, Ukrainian and Jewish, were engaged in evocative objectification of their ‘individually crafted’ political narratives.
Aspiring to largely opposite ideological premises, Ukrainian and Jewish societies faced and grappled with the strongly determined administrative and political apparatus of the Polish State. Conducting independent from each other political courses vis-à-vis the Polish State, the activities of Ukrainian and Jewish political establishments would often resulted in mutually unacceptable outcomes. On the other hand, dealings with ‘the third force,’ that is with the Polish State, could inspire a sense of solidarity that in turn would lead to the development of a less apprehensive approaches towards each other.
The new internal and external geopolitical realities substantiated the rise of hardly plausible for the Austrian Galicia political forces. Radicalization and authoritarianism characterized the Ukrainian society and the rise of authoritarianism – the Polish state. As for the Jews, the Zionist parliamentary parties continued to dominate in Jewish politics although with noticeable influence of Jewish communist and social-democratic forces present in mundane life. While Polish and Jewish societies became politically more polarized than before, it was the Ukrainian society that produced the most radicalized nationalist underground, namely the Ukrainian Military Organization (Ukrainian acronym UVO) and its heir the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (Ukrainian acronym OUN). The latter created the new political narrative of integral revolutionary struggle to be waged until an independent Ukrainian state is attained. The OUN political narrative overlived the interwar period and stretched well beyond the end of the Second World War.
These selected essays reflect on the eventful and existentially marked developments, in which all three communities were engaged. In this regard the Ukrainian, Polish, and Jewish daily press serve as our primary source allowing determine and trace evocatively influential and mutually affective situations. The interwar realities leave little room for mythologization of Eastern Galicia according to the patterns of the 19thcentury Austrian Galician history. The mission of Ukrainian Piedmont unfortunately has not been completed owing to the internal and external factors. A myth of cross-cultural mutual home for Ukrainians, Poles, and Jews, that actually never war realistically warranted in the course of the 19th century, had become illusory in the interwar period. Once fruitful process of Jewish emancipation, acculturation and rising of national awareness in the course of interwar time became deterred by unresolvable mistrust and antagonism withing the Jewish society. Cultural and social tensions between the Jewish – Poles (assimilators), Religious Orthodoxy (largely pro-government groups), the National-Zionist democratic block, and Jewish communist and social-democratic movement were vividly exhibited in Jewish periodical press.
There is a common thread, a sort of a common denominator, connecting these essays together, notably the narratives of existential situations, relevant to all ethno-national and political entities. Traditionally, the literature on the subject presents a singular macro-history of the region within the Polish, Ukrainian or Jewish frameworks. Another larger group of works focuses on Lviv in historical and cultural contexts. While our work also significantly reflects on Lviv from the perspective of political and cultural histories thus making it a ‘centerpiece’ of the presented experience, although we are not seeing it as a mythological center of bygone civilization. Indeed, the events described and analyzed in these essays largely took place in Lviv while effected the entire region.
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Help Our Cause: INSTITUTE OF GALICIA
Archival indexing of digitized collections of Galician press, 19-20th centuries.
Selected essays reflecting existentially marked for all three communities developments.
Interwar realities leave little room for the myth of Galicia according to Austrian historical patterns, but the Idea of Galicia re-emerged again.
INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDIES OF GALICIA
THE IDEA OF INTERWAR EASTERN GALICIA (HALYCHYNA)
A forthcoming monograph
Nowadays historical writings about Ukrainian past serves to the purpose of educated and unbiassed understanding of the current geopolitical situation in Eastern and Central Europe. The Ukrainian Question is truly relevant to the changing in front of our eyes world order. The ongoing Russian aggression and Ukrainian precarious situation brings up the same, unfortunately unresolved ages-long issues caused by the Russian imperial and then the Soviet claims on its sovereignty. Nowadays we can see a new imperial edition vigorously applied against Ukraine by the Putin regime.
The idea of this monograph Eastern Galicia in Interwar Period, Political and Cultural Discourse lies with the re-interpretation of Ukrainian, Jewish, and Polish subjectivities in interwar Polish Eastern Galicia (modern Ukraine). In a way I pursue the goal of de-construction and de-mythologizing of often applied populist stereotypes seen in relatively recent post-Holocaust historiography.
These selected essays reflect on eventful and existentially marked developments in the life of all three communities. In this regard the Ukrainian, Polish, and Jewish daily press serves as our primary historical source allowing determine and trace the evocatively influential and mutually affective situations.
There is a unifying thread, a sort of a common denominator connecting all these essays together in a singular narrative, notably the narrative of existential situations, relevant and related to all ethno-national and political entities of the time. Traditionally, the literature on the subject presents a singular macro-history of the region within either Polish, or Ukrainian or Jewish frameworks. Oppositely, in my case, drawing on the microhistories I am attempting to re-create a broader, interconnected discourse.
Dr. Volodymyr Melamed
About INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDIES OF gALICIA (HALYCHYNA)
Our Directors and Advisors
Directors:
Rabbi Dr. Norbert Weinberg,President and CEO of Research and Education, Rabbi of Hollywood Temple Beth El
For his background go to:
Dr. Vladimir Melamed, Chief Executive Officer, noted Historian and Researcher of Modern European History
For his background:
Bill J. Greenberg, Director for Technology
and Marketing , who brings his experience in web technology and archiving documents.
President of Net Data Systems, Inc.
Advisors:
Richard Hirschhaut-expert on Jewish communal affairs
Regional Director, American Jewish Committee, Los Angeles
https://www.ajc.org/bio/richard-s-hirschhaut
Edward Melamed, Content Manager
He graduated from Columbia University with degree in Psychology. His work experience includes applied research at Children's Hospital Los Angeles and University of Southern California
Alex Holt, Consultant on advanced education, literature, and film
Archives and Collections
The Online Archives will be available for research and education. We will be cataloguing, indexing and digitizing the documents for our Projects: official records, daily press, literary work, personal correspondences, memoirs and family photo-documents.
We are focusing on the documented history in the regions of interest: Los Angeles, East-Central Europe, Middle East and on the oral histories of a broader personal experience.
See also articles by our staff on Academia.edu and Academia and Academia Letters in this regard: https://www.academia.edu/50926698/UKRAINIAN_AND_JEWISH_VICISSITUDES_EAST_GALICIA_1918_1923_OBJECT_SUBJECT_RELATIONSHIPS_AND_INTERSUBJECTIVITY_Existential_Analysis
Article and Essays
Literary and Arts Section
From Academia Letters
ACADEMIA
Letters
Dr. Vladimir Melamed
Keywords: Eastern Europe; Ukraine; Austro-Hungary; collective memory; historical narrative
Other Articles and Essays
https://independent.academia.edu/VMelamed
Literary and Arts Section
A Visual History of LA Jewry
Literary and Arts Section
Literature of European and American Modernism: literary and comparative analysis
Polish-Jewish Literature: Literature in Polish written by Jews
Polish modernist literature by Jewish-Polish authors
Existential Central European Literature in German before and after the First World War
The Art of Weimar Republic and the European reflections
Bruno Schulz, Polish-Jewish writer and artist. Explore his inner circle of the non-ordinary world
https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2023/05/02/bruno-schulz-nocturnal-apparitions-benjamin-balint/
Joseph Roth, writer and philosopher. He was a man of few possessions and a haunted, lonely mind, whose life stands out for unrepentant self-destruction.
Hans Fallada, modernist literature in the Third Reich
https://lithub.com/hans-fallada-the-anti-nazi-writer-who-reluctantly-served-the-reich/
Albert Camus, Existential philosopher and author
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1958/05/albert-camus-a-good-man/640286/
Cinematic Discourse
A Visual History of LA Jewry
A Visual History of LA Jewry
Independent
Cinematic Representation of Existential Pages of Human Experience in the 20th century
Ida, Drama, 2014, Director Pawel Pawlikowski, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeaXwufbOlc
Son of Saul, Drama, 2015, Director Laszlo Nemes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_ktMOyfD8k
Wolyn (Hatred), Drama, 2016, Director Wojcech Smarzowski
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iY-zOOjTO7U&t=246s
Pianist, Drama, 2002, Director Roman Polanski
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Pianist+film+
Ashes and Diamonds, Drama, 1958, Director Andrzej Waida
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuqhCAZSo3Y
The Zone of Interest, Drama, 2024, Director Jonathan Glazer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-vfg3KkV54
Golda, 2023, Biographical Drama
Director Guy Nativ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJETvSNa178
A Visual History of LA Jewry
A Visual History of LA Jewry
A Visual History of LA Jewry
Enjoy a Tour of Historic Hollywood Temple Beth El
In 1851, the new Jewish settlers organized in Los Angeles a congregation Beth El, but they did not have neither a cantor or Rabbi and assembled for religious services only on New Year and the day of Atonement (I.J. Benjamin, Three Years in America, 1859 - 1862, trans. Charles Reznikoff (Philadelphia, 1956), II, 101.
Hollywood Temple Beth El, the first synagogue of Hollywood, was founded just as the burgeoning film industry was setting roots in Los Angeles in 1922.
In 1952, the members of Hollywood Temple Beth El built the magnificent edifice at the corner of N Crescent Heights and Fountain, in the heart of what would become the City of West Hollywood.It was designed by noted architect, Harry Hiller, and it has since been on the tour route of the Art Deco Society of Los Angeles for its unique design. It seems to have been influenced by artist depictions of the ancient Temple of Solomon in JerusalemThe structure also houses three sets of stained glass windows depicting the twelve tribes. The large windows in the Main Sanctuary were crafted by Francis J. Dunham in 1967. The most recent set, on the doors to the sanctuary lobby, were designed by Joe Young, architect of the Holocaust Memorial in Pan-Pacific Park.The magnificent structure now serves as the headquarters of the Iranian American Jewish Federation.
This historic building has served as a social and communal home for people in the West Hollywood and Hollywood Hills environs for over a century.
For a stunning 360 degree visual of our Main Sanctuary, go to:https://synagogues-360.anumuseum.org.il/gallery/hollywood-temple-beth-el/
Support Our Institute and Our Sponsors
Support Our Institute and Our Sponsors
Support Our Institute and Our Sponsors
We want to thank our sponsors. For more information, follow the links
Justin Jampol and A-Mark Foundation for a grant that will enable us to pursue our archivies and research project
Rabbi Dr Norbert Weinberg blog at
and recorded discussions:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxjc3h0xSwvPyfOCfgEFAcPhqz1frLijK&si=bQvT40RpBV9UB_HN
Dr. Vladimir Melamed
https://independent.academia.edu/VMelamed
https://huri.harvard.edu/people/vladimir-melamed
Dr. Vladimir Melamed
Online archive: Holocaust Museum LA
Dr. Vladimir Melamed
Online Archive: New Center for Psychoanalysis, Los Angeles
Hollywood Temple Beth El
follow us for events on
https://www.facebook.com/htbel
and on YouTube for recordings and livestream of our services and activities
https://www.youtube.com/@templehtbel5978/streams
Geopolitical Observer
Support Our Institute and Our Sponsors
Support Our Institute and Our Sponsors
Image from Photo by DAVID ILIFF. License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"
Russo-Ukrainian War.
If Ukraine have reliable allies
European Union and NATO: if there will the new leaderships
Institute for the Study of War
https://www.understandingwar.org/
Israel-Hamas War
Israeli and Geopolitical Perspective
American Politics, or American Political Business
Bloomberg Politics
https://www.bloomberg.com/politics
The Economist
Discussions and Discourses
Support Our Institute and Our Sponsors
History of Jews in Los Angeles, 19th --20st century century
Themes for the future pennels and discussions:
Anticipatory Anxiety: Literary and Cinematic Models
Does anti-semitism stands for anti-Jewishness: social and political dimensions
Collaboration in the Holocaust:
Everlasting existential discourse
DISCOURSE AND PERSPECTIVES
https://www.facebook.com/reel/1149584349412544
History of Jews in Los Angeles, 19th --20st century century
History of Jews in Los Angeles, 19th --20st century century
This is the History to be written yet
Preliminary tenets and conclusions:
Limited historiography on the Subject
Vague categorization: Cultural or Political History?
History of the Institutions, Societies or Religious organizations?
Integration, disintegration and unification on the notion of American patriotism and support for Israel
Holocaust and Genocide Studies: Research and Discourse of what remains beyond and forgotten
Holocaust and Genocide Studies: Research and Discourse of what remains beyond and forgotten
THEMES OF RESEARCH AND EDUCATION
Architecture of the Final Solution
Collaboration with Nazi-German administration and the role of Local administrations
Judenraete (Jewish Councils) and Jewish order police in the ghettos: phenomenon of survival
To survive or to resist?
Oral Histories of the Holocaust
The Genocides: Memories and Politics