Oliver Pollak

Oliver Polla

Oliver B. Pollak, a professor emeritus of history at the University of Nebraska Omaha, and a lawyer, is a correspondent now based in Richmond, California.

His books, available on Amazon, include:

*A State of Readers: Nebraska’s Carnegie Libraries
* A Year at the Sorbonne: A Proustian Life
*Conflict in Vietnam: An Historical Perspective
*Empires in Collision
*Jewish Life in Omaha and Lincoln: A Photographic History
*Nebraska Courthouses: Contention, Compromise and Community
*Rhodesia/ Zimbabwe
*Theses and Dissertations on Southern Africa
*To Educate and Serve: The Centennial History of Creighton University School of Law, 1904-2004
*University of Nebraska at Omaha  (With Les Valentine)
*Welcome to Omaha

He also contributed to
*Journal of Burma Studies Vol 3: Rise of a Mainland Trading State
*Western States Jewish History, Vol XXXIII, Number 2

A Jewish- Christian family reunion along the Ruhr

By Oliver B. Pollak MESCHEDE, Germany — The celebration of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Eslohe Football (soccer) club was pretext for the Goldschmidt and Bachmann family reunion in Germany. Two Goldschmidt brothers were charter organizers. Eight cousins and 13 of their spouses, children, significant others, and friends took the better part of two days to celebrate, schmooze and […]

A Jewish- Christian family reunion along the Ruhr Read More »

International, Jewish History, Oliver Pollak

Cologne’s amazing Jewish culture

By Oliver B. Pollak COLOGNE, Germany — In 1933 Cologne counted 20,000 Jews. In 1989 it had 1,358 Jews. Today the city of over a million, with the influx of Jews from the Former Soviet Union, has about 4,600 Jews.The Holocaust produced catastrophic trauma. Post-war Germany maintains a leading position in rescuing people from persecution in their homelands, many from majority Moslem

Cologne’s amazing Jewish culture Read More »

International, Jewish History, Oliver Pollak, Travel and Food

How we became bibliophiles

© Oliver B. Pollak RICHMOND, California — The Jewish Book Council coined the phrase “The ProsenPeople” in 2011, an apt emblem worthy of exploration. The gift of literacy starts young. Parents read to children, then children read on their own. The sense of accomplishment evolved; crawling, toddling, walking, the alphabet, words, sentences, paragraphs, stories, chapters,

How we became bibliophiles Read More »

Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Oliver Pollak

How a Jewish story may link to others

© Oliver B. Pollak RICHMOND, California — Some observations suggest sharing. They may be intimate, personal, or idiosyncratic. The task is to make them meaningful for a wider reading audience. My mission is to identify stories by Jews and of interest to Jews. Three recent San Diego Jewish World stories appear to have threads. I

How a Jewish story may link to others Read More »

Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Oliver Pollak, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, Travel and Food

Jews and the culinary revolution

Andrew Friedman, Chefs, Drugs and Rock & Roll, How Food Lover, Free Spirits, Misfits and Wanderers Created a New American Profession, Ecco, $27.99, 464 pages © Oliver B. Pollak RICHMOND, California — Andrew Friedman gave a reading at San Francisco’s Omnivore Bookstore.  After the talk I asked the author if the book has some Jewish content.

Jews and the culinary revolution Read More »

Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Oliver Pollak, Travel and Food