This volume of Polin is centred around a core of articles devoted to the shtetl. Many of these articles were first delivered as papers at a conference organized by the Institute of Jewish Studies at University College London on 19–21 June 2001, entitled ‘The Shtetl: Myth and Reality’. An introduction to this section follows. As in previous volumes of Polin, in the ‘New Views’ section substantial space is given to new research into a variety of topics in Polish Jewish studies. These include an analysis by Brian Horowitz of the views of the Russian Jewish writer Lev Levanda on the Polish uprising of 1863, two accounts of the G ęsi ówka concentration camp set up in the ruins of the Warsaw ghetto, and a description of the Yiddish correspondence with his American relations of Wolf Lewkowicz, who lived in Konskowoła and Łódź in the inter-war period. In addition, the volume contains an annotated translation of the letter written by Władysław Gomułka to Stalin in December 1948. We also reprint the substance of a controversy in the pages of the Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza on the character of the anti-Jewish disturbances in Przytyk in March 1936.

Polin is sponsored by the Institute of Polish–Jewish Studies, which is an associated institute of the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies, and by the American Association for Polish–Jewish Studies, which is linked with the Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies, Brandeis University. As with earlier issues, this volume could not have appeared without the untiring assistance of many individuals. In particular, we should like to express our gratitude to Dr Jonathan Webber, Treasurer of the Institute for Polish–Jewish Studies, to Professor Jehuda Reinharz, President of Brandeis University, and to Mrs Irene Pipes, President of the American Association for Polish–Jewish Studies. These three institutions all made substantial contributions to the cost of producing the volume. The volume also benefited from grants from the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture and the Lucius N. Littauer Foundation. As was the case with earlier volumes, this one could not have been published without the constant assistance and supervision of Connie Webber, managing editor of the Littman Library, Janet Moth, publishing co-ordinator, and the tireless copy-editing of Laurien Berkeley, Claire Rosenson, and Phyllis Mitzman.