In the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, the emotional landscape of post-war Europe was profoundly shaped by the intertwined notions of retribution and physical revenge, particularly for Holocaust survivors. While much scholarly attention has focused on extra-legal purges in post-war Europe, the experiences of individual Polish Jews have largely been overlooked.
The Hour of Revenge addresses this critical gap, exploring the particular journey of Polish Jews as they navigated the complexities of their post-conflict realities. Katarzyna Person examines how these individuals not only confronted their traumatic pasts but also actively contributed to the reconstruction of their communities.
Crossing the traditional historiographical divide between “West” and “East,” Person illustrates how Polish Jews moved between these zones before the Iron Curtain descended, how they reconciled memories of the war and their former lives, and how they built emotional communities in the face of loss. The book contributes to a more integrative, multi-ethnic history of post-war Poland and to the global history of societal reconstruction in the wake of conflict. In an era of mass migration, The Hour of Revenge sheds light on connections to pre-war homelands as expressions of integration and exclusion.