FAMILY DISCOURSE, MIGRATION, AND NATION BUILDING IN POLAND AND ISRAEL IN THE LATE 1950S

On November 4, 1956, Wiktor L., the head of procurement in a Warsaw firm, together with his wife Irena and daughter Ala, applied to the Polish authorities for permission to emigrate to Israel. In the application, Wiktor L. explained that he had a brother in Israel, Abram, who had been living there since 1946. He was Abram’s only relative: their parents and other siblings had perished during the German occupation. A trip to Israel, as Wiktor L. states in his application, was “his only dream.” He was, he emphasized, “counting on government resolutions on the question of family reunification.” He hoped, as it