Editors’ Introduction

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter I
2. Table of Contents V
3. Editors’ Introduction IX
4. Section I: Contextualizing Jewish Life in the Midst of the “Old Continent”
5. The Quest for the “Authentic” Central Europe 1
6. Jewish Demography in the European Union – Virtuous and Vicious Paths 17
7. Renewal or Regression? Jewish Self-Assertion and Re-Orientation in Twenty-first Century Central Europe 57
8. Section II: Breaks, Changes, and Continuities in Austria and Hungary
9. “Russians,” “Sephardi”, and “Israelis”: The Changing Structure of Austrian Jewry 73
10. Jewish Religious-Cultural Traditions and Identity Patterns in Post-Communist Hungary 103
11. The “Missing” and “Missed” Jews in Hungary 115
12. Memories and Hopes: The Zionist Youth Movements and the Communist Regimes in Central Europe, 1944–1950 145
13. Section III: Jewish Past and Present in the Czech Republic
14. Jews and Jewishness in Cinema and Literature: The Case of the Czech Republic 165
15. Ethno-religious Othering as a Reason Behind the Central European* Jewish Distancing from Israel 185
16. Jews and Muslims in the Czech Republic – Demography, Communal Institutions, Mutual Relations 207
17. Jewish-Roma Relations in the former Czechoslovakia: An Alliance Against Racism 235
18. Section IV: An Ongoing Struggle with Judeophobia
19. Holocaust Denial as a Symptom of Unresolved European History 253
20. The Antisemitic Paradox in Europe: Empirical Evidences and Jewish Perceptions. A Comparative Study Between the West and East 269
21. Appendix: Memories, Reflections, and Prospects
22. What is Jewish about Contemporary Central European Jewish Culture? 283
23. Preserving Jewish Cemeteries as an Actual Challenge in Contemporary Poland 291
24. Holocaust Memorialization in Poland: A Case Study of Polin Museum 301
25. Thirty Years After. The Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow of the Czech Jewish Community 311
26. About the Authors 323
27. Index of persons 329