Shtetl and Jewish Village
Crossover Cultures and Autonomous Consciousness
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
Jews and non-Jews in shtetlekh and Jewish villages were both familiar and alien to one another in their relations. Boundaries were regularly crossed, but such activity was encumbered by outside pressure to view the Jews as “the other”. This pressure is one reason why great value was attached to autonomy, solidarity, and Jewish self-consciousness. The shtetl and the Jewish village did not differ fundamentally, which is relevant for comparisons of Jewish lifeworlds in Eastern and Western Europe.
(Osteuropa 8-10/2008, pp. 147–164)