Andrew Zalewski is a cardiologist who, despite a busy professional life, published two books on Galicia. This has been a rewarding experience in which he discovered amazing details about his family and the people of Galicia.

The latest work, Galician Portraits: In Search of Jewish Roots, is more than a record of one family. The story is anchored in Austrian Galicia, but it also covers centuries of Jewish history in the region, before and after Galicia existed. Large cities and small towns are the tale’s backdrop. In them, people from a variety of ethnic groups lived alongside a large community of Israelites.

See information about his books at: http://thelzopress.com/

“Jewish Galicia (1772-1918): Lives at the Crossroads” (Mon-111), 7:30-8:45 A.M.

Consistent with one of the conference themes, ”The Wandering Jew,” this talk brings to life the Jewish community of Galicia. Personal discoveries are intertwined with a broader historical context.

Coming from the outside, the imperial edicts are both stifling and inspiring—the laws about Jewish marriages, surnames, schools, military service, and land ownership bring dizzying pace of changes, but also controversies.

Coming from the inside, there is a wave of the Jewish Enlightenment—biting satires by local Jewish cultural rebels are met with condemnations and counterattack.

As never before, Galician Jews face the dilemma of so many linguistic and lifestyle choices. The community comes across as vibrant and diverse: professionals, pious traditionalists and reformers, dwellers of shetls and cities are heard in this narrative.

Based on the expanded research to my recently published book Galician Portraits: In Search of Jewish Roots, the talk is illustrated by many pictures, historical documents, and old maps of Galicia.

Topics: Ashkenazic research, Jewish history and culture, Jewish surname adoption and naming patterns