The Jews of Interwar
Poland, Romania and
Hungary
Scott Masters
Crestwood College
Who are the Jews of Poland?
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The new, post-WWI Pol. was about 10% Jewish,
w/ a total population of @3.5 million…the largest
minorities in Poland overall were Ukrainians,
Jews, and Germans – their rates of emancipation
varied acc. to pre-WWI national affiliation…in
former Russian areas, there was virtually no
emanc. for Jews, where former A-H areas were
fully emancipated
in most of E. Eur., Jewish pops. were @ a 5-10%
nat’l minority – in W. Eur. it was more like 1% - in
Ger for ex. Jews made up a tiny urban %, and
about 1/3 of them were in Berlin – this led to
many stereotypes that were rooted in noncontact
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for the most pt. the Jewish
community in Pol. was
spread out and diffuse,
unlike the Ukr. and Ger.
minorities who were
concentrated to the
E. and W.
Professions: 80% of Jews
were in Industry and
Commerce, esp. textiles and
shoes
But most were
luftmenschen/peddlers– the
majority of the Pol. Jewish
community was not rich –
Russian markets had been
cut off after WWI, hurting the
eco. overall  this led to a
rise in anti-Semitic feeling
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Pol.- Jewish political parties
were very sig. – they weren’t
just about voting but were also
about schools, youth mvmts…
In the 1880’s, the Zionist
movement amounted to @
35% of the total Jewish
community – their views were
opposite to the pro-emanc.
Jews, who favoured
assimilation…many of them
opted for socialist parties like
the Bund
The Zionists wanted Jews to
go to Israel and thus leave the
culture and communities they
had been in for generations
THE PARTIES
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Most Jewish parties accepted the
idea of Aaliyah and the idea of
settlement (except the Mizrachi Many Orthodox Jews did not
accept the idea of moving all Jews
to Israel; it was not a part of the
613 commandments, or Mitzuot)
but after that there was not much
consensus – many saw the
Zionists as crazy since the
Diaspora had been in place for
500-1000 yrs…only 1-2 % of E.
Euro. Jews would leave during the
1880-1924 pd, and most went to
America…so Jewish family and
pol. life was confused and
polarized, a situation that still
existed in 1939
All of these political parties
continued to exist in Poland after
WWII started  created many
divisions w/in the community
• After WWI, Hungary
disintegrated and lost 1/3
of its population, while
territory was ceded to:
1. Czechoslovakia
2. Romania (Transylvania
then – in w. Romania, on
the Hungarian border),
northern (northwestern)
Trans. was re-attached to
Hung. in 1944 – so Jews
there shared the fate of
Hungarian Jews in 1944…
3. Yugoslavia
 so if you were born in 1910
Transylvania…in 1918 it was
Romania, in 1940 it was
Hungary,
in 1944/45 it was Romania…
• Bukovina bordered Poland and Ukraine –
was also part of the A-H Empire but under
Austrian rule, so it was Ger-spkg (it was the
eastern-most prov of the A-H Emp) – it was
attached to Romania after 1918 and after
1944 was a part of the republic of Soviet
Union called Ukraine)
• Bessarabia had been pt of czarist Russia – it
was taken from Russia at the end of WWI and
given to Romania (now it is Moldova)
• In 1940 (late June) Bukovina and Bessarabia
were demanded in a Soviet ultimatum - had
been guaranteed by a secret agreement b/n
the USSR and Germany - so the 2 went to
the USSR on June 29, 1940
• June 1941 – Op.
Barbarossa…
• Romanian army invaded
the USSR along side Ger to
take back Bukovina and
Bessarabia
– in 1944 the 2 regions were
liberated by the USSR
again… Bukovina is now pt
of the Ukraine and
Bessarabia is Moldova
• The point is that it’s tough
to track what happened to
the Jews of these regions
during the Holocaust b/c of
all the territorial changes…
• When Czechosolvakia was
partitioned, Hungary took the
regions of Carpathia and Ruthenia
– Hungary was looking to get back
lost territory – in 1941 Hung had
invaded Yugoslavia w/ Ger.
• 1918-1938/9 there were roughly
500 000 Jews in Hungary, based on
its terr. at that time, while Rom. had
@ 750 000
• in Hungary there was greater
assimilation, so the # may have
been larger, and when the
Nuremberg Laws were applied after
1938 and 1941, many converts were
classified as Jews – so the #s are
uncertain
• 1939 did not represent the
start of the war here – it
was 1941 when both Hung.
and Rom. joined Ger in the
war
• In Rom, there were multiple Jewries
– the Old Kingdom of Rom., Hung.,
Buk. (Yiddish), Russian…
– Jews from each area didn’t seem
themselves as a part of a bigger group
– they had diff mentalities, languages,
songs…it was not one Jewish
community
– Each community dealt w/ pains of
modernization, a pseudo-dem., a
mostly agri. state where the Jews were
largely cosmopolitan/urban/intellectual
– Jewish civil rights were to have been
respected acc. to the Great Power
demands after WWI – there was a
Minorities Clause in the T. of Versailles
– Rom. had been happy to get all these
new territories after the war – but Jews
and other minorities were not given the
same rights as other Romanians – the
Rom. gov’t was suspicious and
insisted on monitoring these new
Romanians
– And Rom. Jews were
further divided into
Ashekenazi and Sephardic
Jews (from Bulgaria,
Yugoslavia, Greece… – had
come during Ottoman rule);
each group had its own
chief rabbi and neither of
the two groups recognized
the authority of the
Hungarian Jews
– Hung. had achieved full
emancipation in 1867 –
they were much more
assimilated – Hung. Jews
had split at that time into
Orthodox and Neolog
– Jews in Bessarabia were
traditional, Yiddish, Hasidic
– not Russianized even
though they had been in
Russia…
– Politically, there was a Union of Rom. Jews
– wanted Jews to assim. into the Rom.
nation (thus anti-Zionist) – they urged
Jews to vote for the party that would best
serve Jews at that moment (= pol.
bargaining)
– A formal Jewish party was formed in 1928 won seat(s) in parl.
– And there was a rise in anti-Semitism in
Romania b/n the wars; many feared the
rapid inclusion of Jews in Romanian
society
– After WWI, Romanian nationalists claimed
Jews were working to accumulate as much
wealth as they could – they came to be
seen as an invading nation
• Iron Guard – major anti-Semitic
group in Romania
• Led by relatively young people –
many were veterans of WWI
• Saw the poverty of Romanian
small towns/cities and resented
Jewish presence in these small
towns
• Copied the Nazis - In the 30s,
they started attacking Jews at
universities and other places
• Claimed that Romania was
corrupt (true) and that Jews were
contributing to it (not
necessarily)
• Held summer camps for young
people in Budapest - taught
about corruption and the Jewish
plot…
• King Karol was the playboy
king of Romania (the royal
house was of German origin) His mistress was Jewish =
fascist propaganda…
• Rom. Jews hoped the king
would not tolerate these
attacks – but the fascists got
support and votes and an antiSemitic parliament got the
king expelled – the Iron Guard
assumed dictatorial powers,
and then the dictator
Antonescu eliminated them
and kept power after 1941
• 280,000 to 380,000 Jews from
Rumania were eliminated,
mostly in the regions of
Bukovina and Bessarabia
Hungary
• Rejected Zionist and separatist
movements - No specific Jewish
political life
• Strong economic life - Many
Jews close to leadership of
Admiral Horthy
• mentality of Hungarian Jewish
leaders (mostly lawyers, very
loyal to Hungarians)
– nothing can happen to the Jews
because of the strong legal
profession/structures
– they put their complete trust in
these elites
• Hungarian fascists = Arrow
Cross
• Horthy didn’t like this movement
• Jewish leaders thought Horthy
would shut them down
• The Fascists took power in 1932; the
Jewish leadership told them that if they
were eliminated, the economy would
come crashing down…the fascists
backed off – Hung. Jews thought they
could bargain…
• Then the borders changed…
Transylvania was re-attached to
Hungary from Romania – Transylvanian
Jews now under Hung. rule… Hungarian
anti -Jewish laws were implemented in
1938, 1939, and 1940