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Poland before the September 1939 German invasion had one of the largest and most vibrant Jewish communities in the world. The diaspora only included larger Jewish populations in America and the Soviet Union. Poland was an especially important center of Jewish cultural and religious life, not only because of the size of the Jewish community but because large numbers of Polish Jews, unlike German Jews, were not assimilated into wider Polish society. Poland had a long history of openess to Jews in a still Catholic Europe seething with anti-semitism. Toland from the XIth century onwards had accepted Jews fleeing persecultion in from Austria, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, and Turkey. In many countries the Jews were persecuted, restructed to ghettos, and often robbed, brutalized, and killed. Several countries including England, Spain, and Portugal expelled them entirely. The Holu Office of the Inquisition was tasked with ensuring that converted Jews ("conversos") were not secretly practing their faith. The Jews in Poland were permitted freedom of religious worship, the right to live in their own communities by King Casimir the Great in the 14th century a dispensation that was reaffirmed by later kings of Poland.
There is no record that we know of about Jews as far east in Europe as modern Poland during classical times. This was of course far beyond the reach of the Roman Empire.
Poland had a long history of openess to Jews in a still Catholic Europe seething with anti-semitism.
It is unclear when the first Jews arrived in Poland. It appears that some Jews had reached Poland (10th century). The earliest Jews appear to have been merchants rather thn settlers. The first known account comes from Spanish scholars. Spain at the time was the most culturlly advanced, not unrelated to the relatively tolerant atmosphere. Ibrahim ibn Jakub was a Jewish merchant and diplomat from Tortosa,Spain. He writes about a journey east which includes a description of Krakow. It is at this time that a Polish state was beginning to form. Ibrahim's account mentions the first Duke of Poland--Mieszko I (965). Ibrahim was surely not the first Jew to visit Poland, but he was the first to write about it. He does not describe any ill-feeling toward Jews. Presumably other Jews at this time were traveling and tradeing in Piast Poland. Surely some hd begun gto settle in Poland at this time. They would have primarily been involved with commerce and crafts. With the onset of the Crusades in Europe, the Christian West became increasingly hostile toward the Jews in their midst. Country after country banished Jews. Many of these Jews sought refuge in the east, especially Poland.
Poland from the 11th century onwards accepted Jews fleeing persecultion in from Austria, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, and Turkey. In many countries the Jews were persecuted, restricted to ghettos, and often robbed, brutalized, and killed. Several countries including England, Spain, and Portugal expelled them entirely. The Holy Office of the Inquisition was tasked with ensuring that converted Jews ("conversos") were not secretly practing their faith. The Jews in Poland were permitted freedom of religious worship, the right to live in their own communities by King Casimir the Great in the 14th century a dispensation that was reaffirmed by later kings of Poland.
Poland because of its openess and tolerance attracted attracted Jewish immigrants during the medieval era and as Europe moved into the modrn era had the largest Jewish population in Europe. Thus Poland became an important center for Jewish leaning and cultyre. Poland became the major center for Ashkenazi Jewery (central and eastern European Jews). There were also Sephardi Jewery (southern European Jews), especially after the expulsion of Jews from Spain and Portugal (1492-96). This and earlier Jewish immigration from soutern Russia and the Near East resulted in a wide range of religious and cultural diversity.
The Jewish community in Poland flourished. Poland's Talmudic religious academies were famed throughout Europe. Orthodox hasidism first appeared in the 18th century in the area of Podolia and spread to much of southeastern Poland. The hasidic sect produce generations of illustrious families who remained apart from Polish society to practice their religion. Chassidim, a movement for religious renewal, appeared. Another
movement sprung from was Podolia (in the modern Ukraine) and was led by Baal-szem-tov (1700- ). There were also progressive movements influenced by the Enlightenment. The most important was the Maskilim who promoted assimilation. All of this occurred within the back drop of the Polish state and its evebtual disappeance in the Polish Partitions (1772-95). Most of Poland becane part of the Russian Empire with smaller parts going to Prussia and Austria. Russia before the Polish Partitions had only a small Jewish population. And as the Tsarist Empire expanded, Jews were either expelled or masacred. The Polish Partitions broufht large numbers of Jews under Russian control. The answer as to how to deal with the new Jewish subjects was the Pale of Settlement. created by Tsarina Catherine the Great (1791). The original Pale was gradually expanded.
Jewish communities throughout Europe in the 19th century moved toward assimilation. Gradually they achievd citizenship and civic rights. The situation for Polish Jews differed because the country was split between Russia, Prussia, and Austria and thus faced varying policies and legal stuctures. Many Jews welcomed the opportunities afforded. Other clung to their religious traditions. Jews played an important role in the economic development of Poland. Jewish entrepreneurs, bankers, industrialists, and merchants were important in helping to develop an industrial economy. Several Jewish families played especially prominant roles: the Kronenbergs, Natansons, Epsteins, Toeplitzes, Wawelbergs, Rotwands, Fajanses, Reichmans. Jews were prominant in developing modern banking, industry, and commerce. Jews were heavily involved in the sugar refining, textile, paper, and mechanical industries. They were also involved with transportation, railways and river traffic on the Vistula. The Wawelbergs and Rotwands founded one of the first polytechnic colleges in Poland. Jewish literature flourished in Poland during the 19th and early 20th century. Some of the leading writers were Isaac Loeb Peretz, Sholem Asch, Yitzyk Mander and the subsequent Noble Prize winner, Isaac Bashevis Singer.
Jews were actively involved in the various movements to regain national independence following the Polish Partitions. A colonel in the Polish Army, Berek Joselewicz, formed a Jewish cavalry regiment took part in the Kosciuszko Insurrection resisting the Third Partition (1794). Colonel Joselewicz was finaled killed during the battle of Kock (1809). Jews were involved in the November Insurrection against the Russians (1830-31) following the Napoleonic Wars. Jews were also involved in the January Insurrection (1863) and the 1905 Revolution.
Poland was a major battlefield of World War I. Poles were split as whether to support the Allies or Central Powers. Many Polish Jews enlisted in the warring armies. Poland was occupied by the Germans and Austrians which did not enforce many Tsatrist proscriptions.
Poland before the September 1939 German invasion had one of the largest and most vibrant Jewish communities in the world. The diaspora only included larger Jewish populations in America and Russia. Poland was an especially important center of Jewish cultural and religious life, not only because of the size of the Jewish community but because large numbers of Polish Jews, unlike German Jews, Many Polish Jews were not assimilated into wider Polish society. Polish Jews were concentrated in urban areas, including cities and towns. Many city Jews were assimilated in the sence that they cuilturally similar to other Poles, although they did not mix with Christian extensively with Christian Poles, in part because they were not widely sccepted. Few Jews lived in the countryside, but there were many Jews living in rural villages--the stetl. Here we find many Jews that were not at all assimilazted with Chritian Polish society. As a result, many Polish cities had a strong Jewish influence. Thr capital Warsaw had a population that was 40 percent Jewish.
The status of Poland's Jews improved after World War I and the end of Tsarist rule. Poland achieved its independence after World War I. The status of Jews was a major issue in the new Polish Republic. Marshal Pilsudski rejected anti-Semitism. There were improvements after the 1926 coup. The military government granted legal status to Jewish communal organizations, the kehilot (1927). The communal groups became the channel by which Jewish institutions and social services were funnded. Marshal Pilsudski died (1935). Without his moderating influence, Polish politics and economics became increasingly ethnic-nationalist.
A network of Polish cooperative stores, foir example, was establish in Western Galicia so that ethnic rural Poles would not have to deal sith Jewish shopkeepers. The Jews were not the only target of rising Polish nationalism. Another important minority in eastern Poland were the Ukranians. The rise of Fascism in Europe with its ultra-nationalist message did not leave P{oland unaffected. The intensified nationalist stridency led toward the the marginalization of Jews. There were political leaders who struggled against this trend, but they were a minority. Government-sponsored anti-Semitism began to take on a more virulent character in the late 1930s. Polish anti-Semitism received significant religious legitimacy from the Roman Catholic Church. This came from the Polish Catholic hierarchy and not just individual priests. Cardinal August Hlond, the newly appointed primate of Poland, issued the POLISH Church's prescriptions against Jews in a very widely disseminated pastoral letter (!936).
Until the NAZI invasion in September 1939, Jews were an important part of the life of Poland and other eastern European countries. Some Jews assisimalted into main-stream Polish society. Others Jews lived apart in the rural steltls. The chidren and adults had their own destinctive clothing and haircut styles. That culture has been wondefully documented in Children of a Vanished World, a stunning record of moments, frozen in amber, of children in the European ghettos of the 1930s, before their culture and ultimately their lives were so ruthlessly destroyed. The book includes photographs, music, and poetry, in English and Yiddish. The book's author, Roman Vishniak, took the photos, some with his camera hidden, between 1935 and 1938 in Poland and Russia, Romania and Hungary. Most Polish Jews, especially in the shtetls, spoke Yiddish (Jüdisch).
Isaac Leib Peretz, Sholem Aleichem, Sholem Asch and Isaac Bashevis Singer all wrote their books in Yiddish, however, they are printed in Hebrew script.
No country suffered during World War II more than Poland. Of all the terrible situations during World War II, Poland was the worst place to be and the Polish people suffered terribly. Poland was part of an alliance with Britain and France that confronted the NAZIs in World War II. Both Poland and France were defeated and occupied. Unlike the French, Poland continued to resist and was a valiant and valued ally throughout the War. World War II began with the German invasion of Poland (1939). The Soviets of course also invaded Poland in 1939, but Britain and France wisely only declared war on Germany. About 100,000 Jewish soldiers found themselves in the ranks of the Polish Army at the start of World War II in September of 1939. Many were killed and wounded on the battlefield. For the duration of the war, many Jews were in the Polish Armed Forces in the West, in the Polish People's Army formed in the Soviet Union, as well as in civilian resistance movements and guerrilla detachments. Many lost their lives or were wounded; very many received the highest combat distinctions.
Poland had the largest Jewish popularion in Europe with the exception of the Soviet Union. It was in Poland that mass murder of the Jews began and was perfected. The death camps were located in Poland not Germany. And in Poland the Germans found many willing to help them and few Poles intersted in protecting the Jews. Einsatzgruppen began killing Polish Jews with the German invasion (September 1939). Most Polish Jews were forced into Ghettos. These ghettos were liuidated by the SS in 1942 following the Wannsee Conference: Lublin (March 1942); ghettos of Eastern and Western Poland (Spring 1942); and the Warsaw Ghetto (July-September 1942).
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