The epic poem Pan Tadeusz (1834), composed by Adam Mickiewicz (1798–1855) in his Parisian exile, marks the birth of Poland’s national literature. At the same time, the work itself became the foundation for a new interpretation of the history of Polish-Jewish relations. In the place of hostile separation and discrimination, it offers the idea of a Polish-Jewish common cause and a common mission, understood in a messianic sense, to promo…