Polish-Jewish Relations Before and After the Holocaust

1. Polish-Jewish Relations Before and After the Holocaust M. Benjamin Thorne, Jan. 14, 2009

2. Contemporary Poland 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 anti-Semitic, with many somewhere in the middle.

3. The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth�Paradise for Jews 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.

5. Partitioning of Poland 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.

7. Reunification in 1918 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.

8. J�zef Pilsudski (1926-1935) Born in what is today Lithuania, Pilsudski 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, Pilsudski

9. Flowering of Jewish Culture During the interwar years Polish Jews experienced a tremendous cultural renaissance. By 1938 there were: 226 Yiddish or Hebrew-language 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.

10. Reverse assimilation 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

11. Tensions Mount: From the death of Pilsudski to 1939 After Pilsudski�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.

12. Jewish Support for Communism: Fact and Fiction 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 Zydokomuna, 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.