Anti-Jewish Violence in Poland, 1914–1920

'Hagen deeply understands what most historians writing on the topic before him had neglected or overseen: the persistence of magical beliefs among the Polish peasantry and how they both mirrored and contributed to the violent decade after 1914. His book demonstrates how testimonies on violence can reveal the unconscious of a community. This is the dimension we needed to understand the uncounted brutal deeds against Jews in the Polish lands during wars and revolutions.' Tim Buchen, University of Edinburgh

'William W. Hagen has constructed a magisterial account of the ethno-national violence sweeping across the Polish lands during six tumultuous years of war and revolution. Rooted in understandings of participants’ lived experience and cultural anxieties, Anti-Jewish Violence in Poland. 1914–1920 uses rich micro-level documentation to evoke the disparate worlds that Jews and Christians inhabited. Hagen’s narrative is sure to become the definitive representation of these horrific events.' Keely Stauter-Halsted, Hejna Family Chair in the History of Poland, University of Illinois, Chicago

'William W. Hagen’s interpretation of culturally and socially structured anti-Jewish violence on ‘Polish’ lands during and after the First World War represents a unique contribution to the historiography of modern Polish–Jewish relations by going beyond standard explanations of rational actors pursuing ‘interests’ based on ideological antisemitism.' Robert Blobaum, West Virginia University

'Along with religious and nationalist ideological anti-Semitism, Hagen explores peasants' mythical conceptions of Jews and peasant views of 'moral economy' in elucidating why many pogromists justified their violence. Hagen also documents instances of Gentile individuals of high moral fiber - from peasants and priests to aristocrats - who attempted to thwart pogroms and aided Jews. Rich in detail and subtle in analysis, this work deserves wide readership. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above.' R. K. Byczkiewicz, Choice