Grob Marii Czarniewicz-Eisenbach-Grave of Maria Czarniewicz-Eisenbach

Artur Eisenbach (born 7 April 1906 in

Nowy Sącz Nowy Sącz (; hu, Újszandec; yi, Tzanz, צאַנז; sk, Nový Sonč; german: Neu-Sandez) is a city in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship of southern Poland. It is the district capital of Nowy Sącz County as a separate administrative unit. It has ...

, died 30 October 1992 in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

) was a

Polish-Jewish The history of the Jews in Poland dates back at least 1,000 years. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Ashkenazi Jewish community in the world. Poland was a principal center of Jewish culture, because of the lon ...

historian; an expert on the

history of Jews in Poland The history of the Jews in Poland dates back at least 1,000 years. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Ashkenazi Jewish community in the world. Poland was a principal center of Jewish culture, because of the lon ...

, member of

Polish Academy of Sciences The Polish Academy of Sciences ( pl, Polska Akademia Nauk, PAN) is a Polish state-sponsored institution of higher learning. Headquartered in Warsaw, it is responsible for spearheading the development of science across the country by a society of ...

and the head 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 ...

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 ...

between 1966 and 1968.Antony Polonsky
The YIVO encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe, Volume 1, pg. 463
'' YIVO Institute for Jewish Research'', 2010.

Life

Eisenbach studied history briefly at the Jewish Educational Seminary in Vilna and then at the Warsaw University under Marceli Handelsman. Afterwards, he worked at the Society for Jewish Health Care in Poland (Towarzystwo Ochrony Zdrowia Ludności Żydowskiej w Polsce, TOZ). He married the sister of a fellow historian, and later ghetto chronicler,

Emanuel Ringelblum Emanuel Ringelblum (November 21, 1900 – March 10 (most likely), 1944) was a Polish historian, politician and social worker, known for his ''Notes from the Warsaw Ghetto'', ''Notes on the Refugees in Zbąszyn'' chronicling the deportation of Jew ...

. After the Nazi invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939 Artur, along with his wife and child, escaped to his wife's hometown in the east, the small town of

Buczacz Buchach ( uk, Бучач; pl, Buczacz; yi, בעטשאָטש, Betshotsh or (Bitshotsh); he, בוצ'אץ' ''Buch'ach''; german: Butschatsch; tr, Bucaş) is a city located on the Strypa River (a tributary of the Dniester) in Chortkiv Raion of Te ...

(now Buchach,

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

). However, as a consequence of the Nazi-Soviet pact known as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Treaty, on 17 September the Soviet Union also invaded Poland and Buczacz fell within the

Soviet occupation zone The Soviet Occupation Zone ( or german: Ostzone, label=none, "East Zone"; , ''Sovetskaya okkupatsionnaya zona Germanii'', "Soviet Occupation Zone of Germany") was an area of Germany in Central Europe that was occupied by the Soviet Union as a c ...

. Along with 1,200,000 other Poles, Artur Eisenbach was deported deep within the Soviet Union. His wife and daughter stayed behind. In July 1941, after the Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union, Buczacz was taken over by the Germans. Eisenbach's wife and daughter subsequently were murdered by the Nazis. Eisenbach returned to Poland from the Soviet Union in 1946 and settled in Warsaw. In the same year he became the chief archivist of the Jewish Historical Institute (JHI) in Warsaw. He was a member of the PPR Polska Partia Robotnicza, the communist party in Poland from 1942 to 1948, and after 1948 member of the reconstituted PZPR (Polska Zjednoczona Partia Robotnicza). In 1966, Eisenbach became the director of the JHI and joined the

. In 1968, he was persecuted by the communist authorities of the

People's Republic of Poland The Polish People's Republic ( pl, Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa, PRL) was a country in Central Europe that existed from 1947 to 1989 as the predecessor of the modern Republic of Poland. With a population of approximately 37.9 million nea ...

during the anti-Zionist events in the aftermath of Israel's Six Day War

1968 Polish political crisis The Polish 1968 political crisis, also known in Poland as March 1968, Students' March, or March events ( pl, Marzec 1968; studencki Marzec; wydarzenia marcowe), was a series of major student, intellectual and other protests against the ruling Poli ...

("the March events") and forced to resign as director JHI. Unlike many other Poles of Jewish background who left Poland after these events, Artur Eisenbach chose to remain in the country and continued his studies. Subsequently, he also wrote a series of monographs on Polish Jewish history. He was a historical consultant on film

Austeria ''Austeria'' (aka ''The Inn'') is a Polish feature film directed by Jerzy Kawalerowicz, produced by ''Zespół Filmowy "Kadr"'' and released in 1983. ''Austeria'' takes place during the opening days of World War I, in the Austro-Hungarian prov ...

by Kawalerowicz in 1982. Eisenbach emigrated to

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

towards the end of his life, in 1987, where he worked at the

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Dr. Chaim Weiz ...

and

Yad Vashem Yad Vashem ( he, יָד וַשֵׁם; literally, "a memorial and a name") is Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; honoring Jews who fought against th ...

. Facing terminal illness, he committed suicide in 1992.

References

1. Kto jest kim w Polsce 1984. Wyd. 1. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Interpress, 1984, s. 155. .
In author: "Artur Eisenbach"
Google Books. Retrieved June 9, 2013. {{DEFAULTSORT:Eisenbach, Artur 1906 births 1992 deaths 20th-century Polish historians Polish male non-fiction writers Jewish historians 20th-century Polish Jews People from Nowy Sącz 1992 suicides Suicides in Israel Polish deportees to Soviet Union Polish emigrants to Israel