Grants Awarded for Dissertations on Jewish Studies Topics, 2007-08

Adva Seltser, Bar-Ilan University
Jewish Youth in Interwar Poland

Adva Seltser’s research focuses on the experiences of Jewish youth in interwar Poland. These years witnessed the emergence of a generation gap between young members of Jewish families, who were subject to processes of Polonization through the educational system and who were intensely engaged in politics and ideological debate, and their parents, who grew up in very different social and political circumstances. Among Seltser’s major concerns will be to show how young people’s lives were shaped both by relationships among family members and by the turbulent cultural, economic, and political circumstances in the larger Polish society. Such factors as anti-Semitism, the rise of European fascism, and the onset of the Great Depression were particular sources of confusion and despair.

Key sources for Seltser’s research will be a collection of autobiographies of Jewish youth that were written for YIVO contests in 1932, 1934, and 1939. Most of these documents were written by young people from the "lower" social strata, and so constitute a very important source for learning about the experiences of families that for the most part did not leave any written testimonies. Newspapers from the period, guidebooks for parents, and pamphlets from schools and youth groups will supplement these autobiographical sources by providing a broader context for understanding them.

Seltser has a bachelor’s degree in Philosophy and History from Tel Aviv University and a master’s degree in Jewish History from Bar-Ilan University, where she is currently a doctoral student.