M. Benjamin Thorne, Jan. 14, 2009
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Today, Poland’s Jewish population numbers
only 3,200 out of 38, 116,000.
Most Poles know little about the history of
Polish Jews, or even ever met a Jewish person.
Attitudes towards Jews in Poland run the
gamut from extremely positive to overtly antiSemitic, with many somewhere in the middle.
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While Polish-Jewish relations came to
experience an escalation in tension during the
interwar years and the Communist regime,
there was a time when Jews enjoyed
considerable prestige and freedom: that of the
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (1569-1795).
During this period Poland was known as the
“Paradise of the Jews” and Jewish culture
experienced remarkable growth. By 1764, the
Jewish population of the Commonwealth was
around 750,000 out of a total world population
of 1.2 million.
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By the late eighteenth century a series of wars
as well as the interference of the nobility
severely weakened Poland-Lithuania.
Three rival countries (Austria, Prussia, and
Russia) carved up Poland during a series of
partitions, finally wiping Poland-Lithuania off
the map in 1795.
Poland-Lithuania’s Jewish population was also
divided, the majority living in the part of the
Russian partition called the Pale of Settlement.
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During WWI Polish Jews took an active role in
the struggle to create a united Polish state ,
despite a number of pogroms resulting in the
deaths of ca. 300 Jews.
By 1939, the Jewish population of Poland was
around 3, 474,000 or 10% of the total
population.
Warsaw’s Jewish population numbered
375,000, roughly a third of the entire populace.
Józef Piłsudski (1926-1935)
Born in what is today
Lithuania, Piłsudski was
committed during World
War I to reuniting the
lands of partitioned
Poland.
Recognizing the threat
faced by a multiethnic
state during the age of
nationalism, Piłsudski
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During the interwar years Polish Jews
experienced a tremendous cultural renaissance.
By 1938 there were: 226 Yiddish or Hebrewlanguage elementary schools;
fifiteen Yiddish-language theatres;
116 Jewish newspapers in a variety of
languages;
and six major Jewish political parties (with
several other smaller factions) representing a
variety of viewpoints.
On the eve of the Holocaust, Poland’s Jewish
population figured at 3,474,000.
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Contrary to Jewish populations in Western
Europe, during the interwar period Polish
Jewry became increasingly less assimilated to
Polish society, as represented by census
statistics:
Eg: in 1921, 74.2% claimed Yiddish or Hebrew
as their mother tongue; by 1931 this had
increased to 87%.
This can partially be explained by the steady
stream of Jewish immigrants from the Soviet
Union
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After Piłsudski’s death, overt expressions of
anti-Semitism increased in frequency:
Jewish students suffered abuses in schools;
Anti-Jewish riots during the years 1935-1937
left 79 dead and over 500 wounded;
In 1937 Catholic trade unions representing
doctors and lawyers excluded Jews from their
membership;
That same year, a numerus clausus law limited
the number of Jewish students allowed to
attend university.
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During the interwar years, some
Jewish intellectuals saw Communism
as the only political movement that
could effectively combat anti-Semitism
and establish a society equal to all.
After the war, Jews like the poet Julian
Tuwim helped in the effort to create
such a society.
Such involvement, however, should be
differentiated from the myth of
Żydokomuna, which asserts that the
establishment of communism in Poland
was part of a Jewish conspiracy to
dominate Polish society. This myth has
hindered Polish-Jewish dialogue in the
postwar era.
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Jews returning back to their
former homes after the Holocaust
often encountered resentment—
and sometimes violence from their
neighbors, who in many instances
had occupied the houses.
The most infamous incident was
the Kielce Pogrom (July 4, 1946).
Of the town’s 200 Holocaust
survivors, 42 were killed.
Such events prompted many Jews
to leave Poland for the US or
Israel.
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Dialogue between Poles and Jews regarding the
Holocaust remains difficult in part due to the
differing memories of the Nazi occupation.
To many Poles, the war years were a period of
extreme violence in which six million Polish
citizens (half of them Jews) died.
To those unaware of Hitler’s plans to exterminate
all Jews, then, the Holocaust does not stand out as
a unique aspect of the war.
Still others believe that the Nazis intended to
exterminate all Poles as well, challenging the
notion of the Holocaust as unique phenomenon
(this idea in particular is prominent among some
Polish émigré communities in the United States).
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Perhaps nowhere is this more apparent than at
Auschwitz itself.
In addition to being a killing center for Jews,
Auschwitz housed many kinds of prisoners,
including Poles suspected of being
Communists or members of the resistance.
Roughly 150,000 Poles were deported to
Auschwitz, including the famous author
Tadeusz Borowski.
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To emphasize the Polish dimension of the camp, an
order of Carmelite nuns established a convent near
Auschwitz in 1984, and erected a large cross in front
of Barack 11, which housed political prisoners.
The convent is forced to leave the site in 1993, but the
cross remains.
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The most recent controversy is the theft of the
“Arbeit Macht Frei” sign above the main gate into
Auschwitz, which occurred on December 18, 2009.
The theft provoked anger and condemnation from
Jews, Poles, and general world opinion.
The sign—like Auschwitz itself—remains a symbol
with very different meanings for Poles and Jews.
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Thank you for your attention, and enjoy your
trip!
If you any further questions about the history
of Polish Jewry, please don’t hesitate to ask:
mbthorne@indiana.edu