Bernard Mark began writing his diary in Yiddish toward the end of 1965, half a year before his death. In it, he wrote about the Polish realities of the 1960s seen from the perspective of the Jewish milieu rallied round the Socio-Cultural Association of Jews in Poland [Towarzystwo Spoleczno-Kulturalne Zydów w Polsce]. He paid particular attention to shifts in the attitude of the authorities toward the Jewish minority and Israel, the rising nationalism and manifestations of anti-Semitism. His records contain his own thoughts and reminiscences, profiles of his acquaintances, comments on books read, opinions on current political developments and notes about his meetings. The diary provides valuable insight in the moods of the leaders of the Jewish community in Poland shortly before the developments of March 1968.
The article presents a profile of Bernard Mark (1908-1966), a Holocaust historian and the director of the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw. Mark's biography is based on various materials, both published and unpublished, from his pre-war involvement in the Communist Party of Poland, through the war years spent in the Soviet Union, to his various activities in post-war Poland: a researcher and socio-cultural activist, including his publications on the Holocaust.
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