Alina Cała (born 19 May 1953 in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

) is a Polish writer, historian and sociologist. A former board member of the

Jewish Historical Institute The Jewish Historical Institute ( pl, Żydowski Instytut Historyczny or ''ŻIH''; yi, ייִדישער היסטאָרישער אינסטיטוט), also known as the Emanuel Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute, is a public cultural and research ...

, she specialises in 19th and 20th century Polish-Jewish history,

antisemitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

and Jewish assimilation in Central and

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, whic ...

Life

After 1976 Alina Cała collaborated with the

Workers' Defence Committee The Workers' Defense Committee ( pl, Komitet Obrony Robotników , KOR) was a Polish civil society group that was established to give aid to prisoners and their families after the June 1976 protests and ensuing government crackdown. KOR was an exam ...

and Committee for Social Self-defence KOR. In the 1980s she also co-founded the

folk high school Folk high schools (also ''Adult Education Center'', Danish: ''Folkehøjskole;'' Dutch: ''Volkshogeschool;'' Finnish: ''kansanopisto'' and ''työväenopisto'' or ''kansalaisopisto;'' German: ''Volkshochschule'' and (a few) ''Heimvolkshochschule;' ...

in Zbrosza Duża, perhaps the first institution for adult education to be independent from the Communist authorities since the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. After 1989 she has been a feminist and pro-choice activist. She collaborates with the

Greens 2004 The Greens ( pl, Partia Zieloni, PZ) is a political party in Poland. It was formed in 2003 under the name "Greens 2004" and formally registered itself in February 2004. It supports principles of green politics, and it is positioned on the ce ...

party. As a historian, Alina Cała focuses mostly on Polish-Jewish relations in the last two centuries. Among her most important works is the ''Assimilation of Jews in the Kingdom of Poland (1864-1897)'' (published in 1989). Her most cited work is ''The Image of the Jew in Polish Folk Culture'' (1st edition 1987), also published since in English. In recent years she published a variety of historical books on modern Polish-Jewish history, notably the ideological views of the last generation of Jewish-Polish youth before the war, and the Polish-Jewish history between 1944 and 1968. In a 2009 interview with the Polish newspaper ''

Rzeczpospolita () is the official name of Poland and a traditional name for some of its predecessor states. It is a compound of "thing, matter" and "common", a calque of Latin ''rés pública'' ( "thing" + "public, common"), i.e. ''republic'', in Engli ...

'', Cała said that Poles shared responsibility for the deaths of the 3 million Jews murdered in Poland during the Nazi Holocaust. In a 2016 interview with ''

Wprost ''Wprost'' (, meaning "Directly") is a Polish-language weekly news magazine published in Poznań, Poland.

'', Cała said Poles bore responsibility for the fate of Jews who escaped into the forests, some of whom were hunted by Poles, according to publications by Jan Grabowski. Her views have been criticized by historians

Andrzej Paczkowski Prof. Andrzej Paczkowski (born 1 October 1938 in Krasnystaw) is a Polish historian. Professor of Collegium Civitas, director of Modern History Studies in the Political Institute of Polish Academy of Sciences, member of Collegium of Institute ...

Piotr Gontarczyk Piotr Gontarczyk (born 29 April 1970 in Żyrardów, Poland) is a poles, Polish historian with a doctor (title), doctorate in history and political science. He is employed by the Polish Institute of National Remembrance. He specializes in the W ...

, and Jerzy Woźniak.Franciszek Tyszka
Controversial article by employee of Jewish Historical Institute Dr. Alina Cała commented on by historian Prof. Andrzej Paczkowski
'' Super Express'' daily, 27.05.2009. IPN
Przegląd Mediów – 27 maja 2009

Instytut Pamięci Narodowej The Institute of National Remembrance – Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation ( pl, Instytut Pamięci Narodowej – Komisja Ścigania Zbrodni przeciwko Narodowi Polskiemu, abbreviated IPN) is a Polish state resea ...

(wersja tekstowa), 2009.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cala, Alina 1953 births Living people Members of the Committee for Social Self-Defense KOR Members of the Workers' Defence Committee Writers from Warsaw Polish feminists 20th-century Polish historians The Greens (Poland) politicians Politicians from Warsaw 21st-century Polish historians