Stranger in Our Midst

the long version

A vibrant Jewish community flourished in Poland from late in the tenth century until it was virtually annihilated in World War II. In this remarkable anthology, the first of its kind, Harold B. Segel offers translations of poems and prose works - mainly fiction - by non-Jewish Polish writers. Taken together, the selections represent the complex perceptions about Jews in the Polish community in the period 1530-1990. As Segel explains in his thorough and enlightening introduction, Polish literary responses to the huge community of Jewish "strangers" in their midst illuminate both the important Jewish dimension of Polish history and a major current in the history of Polish literature.