NO ONE did more to stop the ‘slipping away’ of that ‘unforgettable Kraków … which is no more’ than Rafael Scharf, a member of the editorial board of this yearbook, who died on 19 September 2003. His activity, both as a writer and as a public figure, was dedicated to the preservation of the memory of the multifaceted world of Polish Jewry whose annihilation was so nearly achieved by the Nazis, and to reflect on why the history of the ‘world's two saddest nations’, to use Antoni Słonimski's phrase, diverged so drastically and led to so much misunderstanding, bitterness, and hatred. Few people were better qualified to expound on these complex and perplexing themes.

Scharf was born into a relatively comfortable but still observant Jewish family in Kraków and attended the Hebrew high school there, which he described movingly in a number of his essays. In this way he obtained both a thorough general education and an abiding love of Polish literature, as well as a deep grounding in Jewish history, the Hebrew language, and modern Hebrew literature.