At the same time, approximately 110,000 Poles had been forcibly evicted from the area. "I know this Jew!" Common Polish names and why they're so hard to pronounce. 3. Some state schools, as in the town of Otwock, forbade Jewish children to enroll. As with the earlier Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of April 1943, the Biaystok uprising had no chances for military success, but it was the second-largest ghetto uprising, after the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. [citation needed], In this time of mysticism and overly formal Rabbinism came the teachings of Israel ben Eliezer, known as the Baal Shem Tov, or BeShT, (16981760), which had a profound effect on the Jews of Eastern Europe and Poland in particular. Poland's holocaust: ethnic strife Internet Archive, Poland's holocaust: ethnic strife, collaboration with occupying forces and genocide in the Second Republic, 19181947. Many other events in Poland were later found to have been exaggerated, especially by contemporary newspapers such as The New York Times, although serious abuses against the Jews, including pogroms, continued elsewhere, especially in Ukraine. [167][170], While most eastern Poles consolidated themselves around the anti-Soviet sentiments,[171] a portion of the Jewish population, along with the ethnic Belarusian and Ukrainian activists had welcomed invading Soviet forces as their protectors. Poland helped by organizing passports and facilitating illegal immigration, and supplied the Haganah with weapons. People with physical characteristics such as dark curly hair and brown eyes were particularly vulnerable. [16][17], In 1939, at the start of World War II, Poland was partitioned between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union (see MolotovRibbentrop Pact). The Bund Council in August 1937, Warsaw, Poland. The synagogue was the first communal property in the country to be returned to the Jewish community under the 1997 law allowing for restitution of Jewish communal property. [145] Ultimately this proved impossible and illusory, as it lacked both general Jewish and international support. As volunteers, we are dedicated to the preservation and sharing of surviving Jewish records. Active institutions include the Jewish Historical Institute, the E.R. "[266][271][275] As stated by Dariusz Stola, director of the POLIN Museum, "the question of restitution is in many ways connected to the question of Polish-Jewish relations, their history and remembrance, but particularly to the attitude of the Poles to the Holocaust. Many Jewish leaders who survived the liquidation continued underground work outside the ghetto. The Soviet ruble of little value was immediately equalized to the much higher Polish zloty and by the end of 1939, zloty was abolished. "The largest right Zionist paramilitary organisation. [33] Travelling along trade routes leading east to Kyiv and Bukhara, Jewish merchants, known as Radhanites, crossed Silesia. The pogroms prompted a great wave of Jewish emigration to the United States. Family archives of the Jewish Genealogy at the JHI The current regulations applicable in Poland, commencing with the 1951 Act, allow for dual citizenship. [221] The extortionists were condemned by the Polish Underground State. ", "Holocaust Survivors: Encyclopedia - "Polish-Jewish Relations", "Gunnar S. Paulsson Secret City: The Hidden Jews of Warsaw 19401945", History of the Holocaust An Introduction, "Jewish History in Poland during the years 19391945", "The Polish Underground State and Home Army". [244], Following the Soviet annexation of over half of Poland at the onset of World War II, all Polish nationals including Jews were declared by Moscow to have become Soviet nationals regardless of birth. Following the German-Polish non-aggression pact of 1934, the antisemitic tropes of Nazi propaganda had become more common in Polish politics, where they were echoed by the National Democratic movement. [269][271][276], Following the fall of the Soviet Union, a law was passed that allowed the Catholic Church to reclaim its properties, which it did with great success. [191] For example, Jews were forbidden to walk on the sidewalks,[192] use public transport, or enter places of leisure, sports arenas, theaters, museums and libraries. It was constructed out of bronze and granite that the Nazis used for a monument honoring German victory over Poland and it was designed by Nathan Rapoport. There are also several Jewish publications although most of them are in Polish. Their living conditions in the Pale began to dramatically worsen. In 1349 pogroms took place in many towns in Silesia. Its plan was to hold the Ghetto by every means in order to prevent us from invading it. Another factor for the Jews to emigrate to Poland was the Magdeburg rights (or Magdeburg Law), a charter given to Jews, among others, that specifically outlined the rights and privileges that Jews had in Poland. The marchers honor Holocaust Remembrance Day as well as Israel Independence Day. [149], By the time of the German invasion in 1939, antisemitism was escalating, and hostility towards Jews was a mainstay of the right-wing political forces post-Pisudski regime and also the Catholic Church. Painters became known as well for their depictions of Jewish life. [296] Some 15,000 Polish Jews were deprived of their citizenship in the 1968 Polish political crisis. [38], The first mention of Jewish settlers in Pock dates from 1237, in Kalisz from 1287 and a ydowska (Jewish) street in Krakw in 1304. You can apply for a Presidental citizenship grant at your local government office in Poland, or at an embassy or consulate. See for example, the following works, which discuss Jewish life and culture, as well as Jewish-Christian relations during that period: M. Rosman, "In 1937, the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs viewed the, Elusive Alliance: The German Occupation of Poland in World War I page 176 Jesse Kauffman 2015, A Deadly Legacy: German Jews and the Great War Important yeshivot existed in Krakw, Pozna, and other cities. The Polish general Stefan Czarniecki defeated the Swedes in 1660. "[179], The issue of Jewish collaboration with the Soviet occupation remains controversial. About 50,000 Jews from the city and the surrounding region were confined in a small area of Biaystok. We work with clients from all over the world. Although Jewish schools were created in the few towns containing a relatively large Jewish population, many Jewish children were enrolled in Polish state schools. Between October 1939 and July 1942 a system of ghettos was imposed for the confinement of Jews. At Auschwitz the Owicim State Museum currently houses exhibitions on Nazi crimes with a special section (Block Number 27) specifically focused on Jewish victims and martyrs. Tauber Institute for the Study of European Jewry, "Poland made many appeals on this matter in the. [61] Four years later, in 1772, the military Partitions of Poland had begun between Russia, Prussia and Austria. The famous Komisja Edukacji Narodowej ("Commission of National Education"), the first ministry of education in the world, was established in 1773 and founded numerous new schools and remodeled the old ones. When Poland regained independence in the aftermath of World War I, it was still the center of the European Jewish world, with one of the world's largest Jewish communities of over 3 million. [279], The Bund took part in the post-war elections of 1947 on a common ticket with the (non-communist) Polish Socialist Party (PPS) and gained its first and only parliamentary seat in its Polish history, plus several seats in municipal councils. During the occupation of Poland, the Germans used various laws to separate ethnic Poles from Jewish ones. Basically, any child born to at least one Polish parent obtains citizenship at birth, regardless of where they are born. Some 300 Jews were found hiding in the ruins in the Polish part of the city (see: Wladyslaw Szpilman). One of them, a diplomat and merchant from the Moorish town of Tortosa in Spanish Al-Andalus, known by his Arabic name, Ibrahim ibn Yaqub, was the first chronicler to mention the Polish state ruled by Prince Mieszko I. [274], In general, restitution was easier for larger organizations or well connected individuals,[275] and the process was also abused by criminal gangs. In any apartment block or area where Jews were found to be harboured, everybody in the house would be immediately shot by the Germans. Since the fall of communist Europe in 1989, most countries in the former Soviet bloc have taken steps to provide restitution and compensation to their pre-war Jewish citizens. [297] On 17 June 2009 the future Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw launched a bilingual Polish-English website called "The Virtual Shtetl",[298] providing information about Jewish life in Poland. [181] The tensions between ethnic Poles and Jews as a result of this period has, according to some historians, taken a toll on relations between Poles and Jews throughout the war, creating until this day, an impasse to Polish-Jewish rapprochement. Any Pole found giving any help to a Jewish Pole was subject to the death penalty. Two years later Casimir issued another document announcing that he could not deprive the Jews of his benevolence on the basis of "the principle of tolerance which in conformity with God's laws obliged him to protect them". Warsaw was razed to the ground by the Germans and more than 150,000 Poles were sent to labor or concentration camps. "The Polish government was committed to the Zionist option in its own Jewish policy and maintained good relations with Jabotinsky's Revisionist Zionist, rather than with the Majority Zionists. While the German policy towards Jews was ruthless and criminal, their policy towards Christian Poles who helped Jews was very much the same. [9][10][11] In the 16h and 17th centuries, Poland welcomed Jewish immigrants from Italy, as well as Sephardi Jews and Romaniote Jews migrating there from the Ottoman Empire. They were spared from the deportations until September 1942 in return for their cooperation, but afterwards shared their fate with families and relatives. [29] In 19461947 Poland was the only Eastern Bloc country to allow free Jewish aliyah to Israel,[28] without visas or exit permits. [284] After 1956, during the process of destalinisation in the People's Republic under Wadysaw Gomuka, some Jewish officials from Urzd Bezpieczestwa including Roman Romkowski, Jacek Raski, and Anatol Fejgin, were prosecuted and sentenced to prison terms for "power abuses" including the torture of Polish anti-fascists including Witold Pilecki among others. [253], The anti-Jewish violence in Poland refers to a series of violent incidents in Poland that immediately followed the end of World War II in Europe. [216][bettersourceneeded]. The mass deportation of Jews from ghettos to these camps, such as happened at the Warsaw Ghetto, soon followed, and more than 1.7 million Jews were killed at the Aktion Reinhard camps by October 1943 alone. In the 2011 Polish census, 7,353 Polish citizens declared their nationality as "Jewish," a big increase from just 1,055 during the previous 2002 census. Wealthy Jews had Polish noblemen at their table, and served meals on silver plates. [188], In 1939 several hundred synagogues were blown up or burned by the Germans, who sometimes forced the Jews to do it themselves. Recent scholarship has primarily focused on three topics: post-war anti-Semitism; emigration and the creation of the State of Israel, and the restitution of property.[291]. In Warsaw, soldiers of Blue Army assaulted Jews in the streets, but were punished by military authorities. Controversial Reports on the Situation of Jews in Poland in the Aftermath of World War I: The Conflict between the US Ambassador in Warsaw Hugh Gibson and American Jewish Leaders. [226] In this way Germans applied the principle of collective responsibility whose purpose was to encourage neighbors to inform on each other in order to avoid punishment. Micha Waszyski (The Dybbuk), Aleksander Ford (Children Must Laugh). ", "The Anti-Zionist Campaign in Poland of 19671968. They were banned from the brewing industry. High-ranking members of the Jewish community estimate there are now 30,000 Jews among Poland's 38 million citizens, up from 10,000 in 2007and say there could be many more still unaware of. These include Midrasz, Dos Jidische Wort (which is bilingual), as well as a youth journal Jidele and "Sztendlach" for young children. In extreme cases, the Jews informed on other Jews to alleviate hunger with the awarded prize. Average food rations in 1941 for Jews in Warsaw were limited to 253 kcal, and 669 kcal for Poles, as opposed to 2,613 kcal for Germans. According to Irgun activists, the Polish state supplied the organisation with 25,000 rifles, additional material and weapons, and by summer 1939 Irgun's Warsaw warehouses held 5,000 rifles and 1,000 machine guns. Poland's production capacity rose to 73 GWh in 2022, Poland now has 6% of the world's total production capacity, compared to 14% of all European countries combined. Pressure for government action reached the point where U.S. President Woodrow Wilson sent an official commission to investigate the matter. [167] Most economic activity became subject to central planning and the NKVD restrictions. The slogan "our Jews beat the Soviet Arabs" (Nasi ydzi pobili sowieckich Arabw) became popular in Poland. [172][173][174] The general feeling among the Polish Jews was a sense of temporary relief in having escaped the Nazi occupation in the first weeks of war. By the time World War II began, Poland had the largest concentration of Jews in Europe although many Polish Jews had a separate culture and ethnic identity from Catholic Poles. The Ugoda was an agreement between the Polish prime minister Wadysaw Grabski and Zionist leaders of Et Liwnot, including Leon Reich. A European Union (EU) passport allows you to work, live, retire and study in any country in the European Union without limitations. A national movement to prevent the Jews from kosher slaughter of animals, with animal rights as the stated motivation, was also organized. The Judaica Foundation in Krakw has sponsored a wide range of cultural and educational programs on Jewish themes for a predominantly Polish audience. [155] During the September Campaign some 20,000 Jewish civilians and 32,216 Jewish soldiers were killed,[156] while 61,000 were taken prisoner by the Germans;[157] the majority did not survive. By descent by birth where at least one of the parents is a polish citizen. Most prominent among them, Adam Michnik (founder of Gazeta Wyborcza) was one of the founders of the Workers' Defence Committee (KOR). Many people from Western Poland registered for repatriation back to the German zone, including wealthier Jews, as well as some political and social activists from the interwar period. Exceptions are recorded, however, where Jewish youth sought secular instruction in the European universities. In Warsaw, important centers of Judaic scholarship, such the Main Judaic Library and the Institute of Judaic Studies were located, along with numerous Talmudic Schools (Jeszybots), religious centers and synagogues, many of which were of high architectural quality. It takes place from Auschwitz to Birkenau and is attended by many people from Israel, Poland and other countries. Post-war labor certificates contained markings distinguishing Jews from non-Jews. AP Online, "Some Jewish exiles to have Polish citizenship restored this week", 3 October 1998, POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, actively risking death in order to save Jewish lives, History of Jews in Poland before the 18th century, History of Poland during the Piast dynasty, History of Poland during the Jagiellonian dynasty, Jewish Polish history during the 18th century, History of the Jews in 19th-century Poland, History of the Jews in Russia and Soviet Union, Learn how and when to remove this template message, German Committee for Freeing of Russian Jews, former Polish provinces annexed by Russia, History of the Jews in 20th-century Poland, Territories of Poland annexed by the Soviet Union, The Mass Extermination of Jews in German Occupied Poland, International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg, the last nationwide census was conducted in 1931, Territorial changes of Poland immediately after World War II, Anti-Jewish violence in Poland, 19441946, Soviet-backed communist takeover of Poland, territories of Poland annexed by the Soviet Union, Politburo of the Polish United Workers' Party, Taube Foundation for Jewish Life & Culture, Union of Jewish Religious Communities in Poland, U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad, American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, History of the Jews in Poland before the 18th century, History of the Jews in 18th-century Poland, The Canadian Foundation of Polish-Jewish Heritage, "The Truth About Poland's Role in the Holocaus", The Path of the Righteous: Gentile Rescuers of Jews During the Holocaust. [268], Many of the properties that were previously owned or by Jews were taken over by others during the war. [citation needed] The bulk of Jewish workers were organized in the Jewish trade unions under the influence of the Jewish socialists who split in 1923 to join the Communist Party of Poland and the Second International. Ruled by the elected kings of the House of Vasa since 1587, the embattled Commonwealth was invaded by the Swedish Empire in 1655 in what became known as the Deluge. They made up about 50%, and in some cases even 70% of the population of smaller towns, especially in Eastern Poland. [citation needed], The main strain of antisemitism in Poland during this time was motivated by Catholic religious beliefs and centuries-old myths such as the blood libel. [187], Poland was where the German program of extermination of Jews, the "Final Solution", was implemented, since this was where most of Europe's Jews (excluding the Soviet Union's) lived. [299] It is one of the world's largest Jewish museums. The Polish Institute for National Remembrance identified twenty-two other towns that had pogroms similar to Jedwabne. [85][175] The Polish poet and former communist Aleksander Wat has stated that Jews were more inclined to cooperate with the Soviets. Among the first Jews to arrive in Poland in 1097 or 1098 were those banished from Prague. Poland's government has announced that Jews who were stripped of their Polish citizenship 40 years by the then Communist regime are to be reinstated as citizens. [64] Eight years later, triggered by the Confederation of Bar against Russian influence and the pro-Russian king, the outlying provinces of Poland were overrun from all sides by different military forces and divided for the first time by the three neighboring empires, Russia, Austria, and Prussia. The following eight or nine decades of material prosperity and relative security experienced by Polish Jews wrote Professor Gershon Hundert witnessed the appearance of "a virtual galaxy of sparkling intellectual figures." [44] Hysteria caused by the Black Death led to additional 14th-century outbreaks of violence against the Jews in Kalisz, Krakw and Bochnia. However, they were also restricted from leasing property, teaching in Yiddish, and from entering Russia. [185], Poland's Jewish community suffered the most in the Holocaust. [citation needed] Stalinist Poland was basically governed by the Soviet NKVD which was against the renewal of Jewish religious and cultural life. [248] Jews who escaped to eastern Poland from areas occupied by Germany in 1939 were numbering at around 198,000. [73], An even bloodier wave of pogroms broke out from 1903 to 1906, at least some of them believed to have been organized by the Tsarist Russian secret police, the Okhrana. Among the incidents, during the battle for Pisk a commander of Polish infantry regiment accused a group of Jewish men of plotting against the Poles and ordered the execution of thirty-five Jewish men and youth. Through 1698, the Polish kings generally remained supportive of the Jews. Execution for help rendered to Jews, even the most basic kinds, was automatic. Only 30% of the money raised by the Rabbinate served Jewish causes, the rest went to the Crown for protection. The plan, known as the League of East European States, soon proved unpopular with both German officials and Bodenheimer's colleagues, and was dead by the following year. Following Operation Barbarossa, many Jews in what was then Eastern Poland fell victim to Nazi death squads called Einsatzgruppen, which massacred Jews, especially in 1941. Nevertheless, while the Jews of Poland enjoyed tranquility for the greater part of Casimir's reign, toward its close they were subjected to persecution on account of the Black Death. 9.XII 1931 r. Mieszkania i gospodarstwa domowe ludno". If you have Polish (including Polish-Jewish) ancestry, you probably already are a Polish citizen and qualify for a Polish Passport which is the same as an EU passport. When we invaded the Ghetto for the first time wrote SS commander Jrgen Stroop the Jews and the Polish bandits succeeded in repelling the participating units, including tanks and armored cars, by a well-prepared concentration of fire. [236][237][238][bettersourceneeded]. Food rations for the Poles were small (669 kcal per day in 1941) compared to other occupied nations throughout Europe and black market prices of necessary goods were high, factors which made it difficult to hide people and almost impossible to hide entire families, especially in the cities. Some are very negative, based on the view of Christian Poles as passive witnesses who failed to act and aid the Jews as they were being persecuted or liquidated by the Nazis. [34] The first permanent Jewish community is mentioned in 1085 by a Jewish scholar Jehuda ha-Kohen in the city of Przemyl. In 1923 the Jewish students constituted 62.9% of all students of stomatology, 34% of medical sciences, 29.2% of philosophy, 24.9% of chemistry and 22.1% of law (26% by 1929) at all Polish universities. [18][19] While the Holocaust occurred largely in German-occupied Poland, it was orchestrated by the Nazis. [64] The Commonwealth lost 30% of its land during the annexations of 1772, and even more of its peoples. Thus between 1827 and 1857 over 30,000 children were placed in the so-called Cantonist schools, where they were pressured to convert. [115] Uniformed members of Betar marched and performed at Polish public ceremonies alongside Polish scouts and military, with their weapons training provided by Polish institutions and Polish military officers; Menachem Begin, one of its leaders, called for its members to defend Poland in case of war, and the organisation raised both Polish and Zionist flags. Lubartow during the Holocaust in occupied Poland. But all these reforms were too late: a Russian army soon invaded Poland, and soon after a Prussian one followed. In 1348, the first blood libel accusation against Jews in Poland was recorded, and in 1367 the first pogrom took place in Pozna. Timothy L. Grady page 82 2017. [204] The reasons for these massacres are still debated, but they included antisemitism, resentment over alleged cooperation with the Soviet invaders in the Polish-Soviet War and during the 1939 invasion of the Kresy regions, greed for the possessions of the Jews, and of course coercion by the Nazis to participate in such massacres. "[276], Facing violence and a difficult and expensive legal process,[268][271] many returnees eventually decided to leave the country rather than attempt reclamation. Before the war, the Yeshiva Chachmei in Lublin was Europe's largest. If you have Polish grandparents you can apply. Eleven independent political Jewish parties, of which eight were legal, existed until their dissolution during 194950. Zbigniew Olesnicki then invited John to conduct a similar campaign in Krakw and several other cities, to lesser effect. Their departure was hastened by the destruction of Jewish institutions, post-war anti-Jewish violence, and the hostility of the Communist Party to both religion and private enterprise, but also because in 19461947 Poland was the only Eastern Bloc country to allow free Jewish aliyah to Israel,[28] without visas or exit permits. Yet another Jewish official, Jzef wiato, after escaping to the West in 1953, exposed through Radio Free Europe the interrogation methods used the UB which led to its restructuring in 1954. [275][277] According to Stephen Denburg, "unlike the restitution of Church property, the idea of returning property to former Jewish owners has been met with a decided lack of enthusiasm from both the general Polish population as well as the government". . There also were several Jewish sports clubs, with some of them, such as Hasmonea Lwow and Jutrzenka Krakw, winning promotion to the Polish First Football League. [170][176] Other historians have indicated that the level of Jewish collaboration could well have been less than suggested. Shachna's son Israel became rabbi of Lublin on the death of his father, and Shachna's pupil Moses Isserles (known as the ReMA) (15201572) achieved an international reputation among the Jews as the co-author of the Shulkhan Arukh, (the "Code of Jewish Law"). In 1332, King Casimir III the Great (13031370) amplified and expanded Bolesaw's old charter with the Wilicki Statute. Most children were enrolled in Jewish religious schools, which used to limit their ability to speak Polish. They could own land in the territories annexed from Poland. [citation needed], The decade from the Khmelnytsky Uprising until after the Deluge (16481658) left a deep and lasting impression not only on the social life of the Polish-Lithuanian Jews, but on their spiritual life as well. Some future Israeli leaders studied at University of Warsaw, including Menachem Begin and Yitzhak Shamir. According to Jewish survivors, ethnic Poles did not participate in the pogrom and instead sheltered Jewish families.[74]. The Jewish Ghetto Police were ordered to escort the ghetto inhabitants to the Umschlagplatz train station. [78] Prominent Jews were among the members of KTSSN, the nucleus of the interim government of re-emerging sovereign Poland including Herman Feldstein, Henryk Eile, Porucznik Samuel Herschthal, Dr. Zygmunt Leser, Henryk Orlean, Wiktor Chajes and others. [140] The Polish government condemned wanton violence against the Jewish minority, fearing international repercussions, but shared the view that the Jewish minority hindered Poland's development; in January 1937 Foreign Minister Jzef Beck declared that Poland could house 500,000 Jews, and hoped that over the next 30 years 80,000-100,000 Jews a year would leave Poland.