The Golden Tradition: Jewish Life and Thought in Eastern Europe

Born in New York City, Lucy S. Dawidowicz (born Schildkret) was a professor of history and Holocaust studies at Yeshiva University. From a secular Jewish background, she learned Yiddish and worked as a researcher at YIVO’s offices in Vilna in 1938 and 1939, when the political situation necessitated her return to the United States. Dawidowicz wrote many important books about American Jewry, the history of East European Jewry, and the Holocaust. Her anthology of Jewish writings, The Golden Tradition: Jewish Life in European Europe (1967), helped make the heritage of East European Jewry accessible to American Jews. Her work on the Holocaust, in particular The War Against the Jews (1975), emphasized the decisive role of Hitler’s antisemitism.