PDF POW... The Fight Continues After the Battle by U.S. Secretary of Defense's Advisory Committee in History

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“As historian; ideologist; literary critic; and journalist; Dubnov put forward the idea that the Jewish people were more than just coreligionists; but infact constituted a people whose common bond was a shared culture. His work influenced nearly every historian of the Jewish people who came after him; eventhough the vital intellectual world of East Europeans Jewry; in which Dubnov was such an important figure; was destroyed by German Nazism and SovietCommunism.” -Kelly Boyd; Encyclopedia of Historians and Historical Writing; Volume 1; 1999 The author of the present essay; S. M. Dubnow; occupies a well-nigh dominating position in Russian-Jewish literature as an historian and an acute critic.His investigations into the history of the Polish-Russian Jews; especially his achievements in the history of Chassidism; have been of fundamentalimportance in these departments. What raises Mr. Dubnow far above the status of the professional historian; and awakens the reader's lively interest inhim; is not so much the matter of his books; as the manner of presentation. It is rare to meet with an historian in whom scientific objectivity andthoroughness are so harmoniously combined with an ardent temperament and plastic ability. Mr. Dubnow's scientific activity; first and last; is a strikingrefutation of the widespread opinion that identifies attractiveness of form in the work of a scholar with superficiality of content. Even his strictlyscientific investigations; besides offering the scholar a wealth of new suggestions; form instructive and entertaining reading matter for the educatedlayman. In his critical essays; Mr. Dubnow shows himself to be possessed of keen psychologic insight. By virtue of this quality of delicate perception; heaims to assign to every historical fact its proper place in the line of development; and so establish the bond between it and the general history ofmankind. This psychologic ability contributes vastly to the interest aroused by Mr. Dubnow's historical works outside of the limited circle of scholars. The author attempts; for the first time; a psychologic characterization of Jewish history. He endeavors to demonstrate the inner connection between events;and develop the ideas that underlie them; or; to use his own expression; lay bare the soul of Jewish history; which clothes itself with external events aswith a bodily envelope. Jewish history has never before been considered from this philosophic point of view; certainly not in German literature. Thepresent work; therefore; cannot fail to prove stimulating. As for the poet's other requirement; attractiveness; it is fully met by the work heretranslated. The qualities of Mr. Dubnow's style; as described above; are present to a marked degree. The enthusiasm flaming up in every line; coupled withhis plastic; figurative style; and his scintillating conceits; which lend vivacity to his presentation; is bound to charm the reader. Yet; in spite of theracy style; even the layman will have no difficulty in discovering that it is not a clever journalist; an artificer of well-turned phrases; who is speakingto him; but a scholar by profession; whose foremost concern is with historical truth; and whose every statement rests upon accurate; scientific knowledge;not a bookworm with pale; academic blood trickling through his veins; but a man who; with unsoured mien; with fresh; buoyant delight; offers the world theresults laboriously reached in his study; after all evidences of toil and moil have been carefully removed; who derives inspiration from the noble and thesublime in whatever guise it may appear; and who knows how to communicate his inspiration to others.