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Lwów(Lemberg,L’viv):Childhood
19
Ehrenpreisnoted,thiskindofethnicandreligiousmixturewasamelting-
potforuniversalideasandvalues.10InGaliciaJewsbenefitedfromliving
inamultinationalenvironmentinwhich,“nationalpluralismwasthenorm
andnationalminoritymovementsflourished.”11
GalicianJewsgainedtheiremancipationthreeyearsbeforeThonwas
born,in1867.Therefore,hewasbornintoasocialapoliticalatmosphere
inwhichJewsenjoyedextensivecivilandpoliticalrightssimilartothe
politicalandcivilstatusofJewsinWesternEurope.12Itseemsthatthe
emancipationoftheJewscamehandinhandwithGaliciagainingits
autonomywithintheAustro-HungarianEmpire,andithappenedinthesame
yearwhentheconstitutionwaspassed-1867.ThePoles,asthemajorgroup
ofGalicianlandowners,constitutedtherulinggroup,andPolishbecamenot
onlytheofficiallanguageoftheregion,butalsoofthedominantculture.13
Therefore,LwówbecameanimportantculturalcenterofthePoles.14Since
then,agrowingPolonizationprocesscouldbeidentifiedamongtheJews
ofGaliciaingeneral,andtheJewsofLwówinparticular,15andalsoan
intensificationoftheJewishassimilationintothePolishsociety.Processes
ofassimilationwerevarious,startingfromlingualandculturalacculturation
toatotalintegrationintothePolishsociety,endinginasmallnumbersof
conversionstoCatholicism.16
Inthesecondhalfofthenineteenthcenturytillthebeginningofthe
twentiethcenturyJewswereabout28percentoftheentirepopulation.The
thirty-onethousandJewsin1880grewtoaroundthirty-sixthousandJews
by1890.17AttheendoftheeighteenthcenturytheEnlightenmentand
Haskalah(JewishEnlightenment)begantoinfluencethetraditionalJewish
10Ehrenpreis,Beynmizrah,8.
11JoshuaShanes,DiasporaNationalismandJewishIdentityinHabsburgGalicia,
(Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress,2012),4.
12Ibid.,3.
13JózefBuszko,“TheconsequencesofGalicianAutonomyafter1867,”Polin,12
(1999):86.
14NathanMichaelGelber,“Lvov,”Encyclopediashelgaluyot,vol.4(Jerusalem:
EncyclopediaoftheJewishDiaspora,1956),304.
15JerzyHolzer,“Enlightenment,AssimilationandModernIdentity:TheJewishElite
inGalicia,”Polin,12(1999):82-83.
16Gelber,“Lvov,”304.
17Ibid.FordetailedillustrationoftheJewishcommunityinLvovseepages:303-342.
Seealso:RachelManekin,“Lviv,”YIVOEncyclopediaofJewsinEasternEurope,ed.
GershonD.Hundert,vol.I,(NewHaven:YaleUniversityPress,2008),1106-1110.