MIEJSCE SPOŁECZNOŚCI ŻYDOWSKIEJ W STRUKTURZE BIAŁEGOSTOKU JAKO ODRADZAJĄCEGO SIĘ MIASTA WIELOKULTUROWEGO

This article deals with the construction of the Jewish community's position in the contemporary structure of Białystok as a reviving multicultural city. In the past Białystok was a type of a multicultural city, at least in the customary understanding of this term. During World War II, in effect of the unimaginable genocide of Białystok's Jewish community, the city has been almost completely deprived of its diverse population. In the postwar period wider possibilities of reconstructing Białystok's culturally diverse past generally have not been created. It was not until the political transition that conditions for reviving the socio-cultural diversity of Białystok's inhabitants were developed. The process of reestablishing the presence of the Jewish community in the city's structure became visible and socially important. The position of the Jewish community in Białystok's structure will be presented in four dimensions: the spatial, the institutional, the social, and in the dimension of consciousness. Eventually, in reference to the process of constructing the Jewish community's position in the structure of Białystok, formation of Białystok as a multicultural city will be discussed.