Földvári Books

A Profound Overview of the Jewish groups in Prewar Poland

[Hafftka, Aleksander]

Zydowskie ugrupowania i stronnictwa polityczne w Polsce. (I-sze pólrocze 1926). Ministertwo Spraw Wewnetrznych. Tylko do uzytku urzedowego. [Jewish Political Groups and Parties in Poland. (First term of 1926.) Ministry of the Interior. Only for official use.]

Warszawa: Drukarnia Policyjna, [1926]. First edition. Original, vintage, printed poster. 60 × 125 cm. Folded. Some tears at the folding, no effect on legibility. Slightly chipped. Overall in fine condition.

A comprehensive and profound overview of the diversity of Jewish groups in Poland in the mid-1920s.

The extensive and somewhat complex table, which was published by the Ministry of Internal Affair only for official use, lists, aligns and details, thus gives valuable and reliable information about the various Jewish groups existed in mid-1920s Poland. The publication was used by the police and the state administration for a better orientation in the political, cultural and social diversity of Polish Jewry, and to understand and know more about their history, affiliation toward Communism or Zionism, their relation to foreign movements, or youth organizations.

This semi-annually updated table or guide was presumably created by Aleksander Hafftka (1892–1964) who was – Jewish himself – the head of the Jewish Division in the National Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Poland for ten years until his dismissal during the nationalist swing of the Polish government in 1937. He was in charge of the surveillance of the political developments in the Jewish community and legal projects that affected Jews and maintaining contracts with the Jewish social and political elites. (Stach, 2006) Hafftka is also the author of an important essay on the Jewish political parties in Poland “Zydowskie stronnictwa polityczne w Polsce Odrodzonej”, which was published in “Zydzi w Polsce Odrodzonej” (Jewish Revival in Poland; Warsaw, 1932–1933.) and his works were partly based upon the stereotypical book of his predecessor at the Ministry, Kazimierz Krippendorf’s “Zydowskie ugrupowania wywrotowe w Polsce” (under pseudonym: Rudolf Korsch, in Warsaw, 1925).

Extremely scarce and informative document about the prewar Polish Jewry. We could trace only one copy of the May 1, 1927 edition in the National Library of Poland. In his essay, Adam Pankella analyzes a variant for the first term of 1925. (Pankella, 1993)

Pankella, A.: Zydowskie ugrupowania i stronnictwa polityczne w Polsce. (I pólrocze 1925). In: Biuletyn Zydowskiego Instytutu Historycznego w Polsce. 1993, no. 1–2. (165–166). pp. 111–115. Stach, S.: Zyd Polski Odrodzonej. Studium przypadku Aleksandra Hafftki, urzednika ministerialnego i zydowskiego dzialacza spolecznego w IIRP. In: Kwartalnik Historii Zydów. 2006, no. 2 (258). pp. 381–405.

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Price: €4,000.00