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Revision as of 00:24, 17 June 2005 by Ttyre (talk | contribs) (→The Holocaust: German-occupied Poland: as discussed)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)History of the Jews in Poland reaches back over one thousand years. By the mid-twentieth century, prior to World War II, there were over three million Polish Jews.
Early period: 966-1385
Early history
The first Jews arrived in the territory of modern Poland in 10th century. Travelling along the trade routes leading eastwards to Kiev and Bukhara, the Jewish merchants also crossed the areas of Silesia. One of them, a diplomat and merchant from theMoorish town of Tortosa in Al-Andalus, known under his Arabic name Ibrahim ibn Jakub was the first chronicler to mention the Polish state under the rule of prince Mieszko I. The first actual mention of Jews in Polish chronicles occurs in the eleventh century. It appears that Jews were then living in Gniezno, at that time the religious capital of the Polish kingdom. Some of them were wealthy, owning Christian serfs in keeping with the Feudal system of the times. The first permanent Jewish community is mentioned in 1085 by a Jewish scholar Jehuda ha Kohen in the city of Przemyśl.
The first extensive Jewish emigration from Western Europe to Poland occurred at the time of the First Crusade (1098). Under Boleslaw III Krzywousty (1102-1139), the Jews, encouraged by the tolerant régime of this ruler, settled throughout Polish and Lithuanian territory as far as Kiev. At the same time Poland saw immigration of Khazars, a Turkic tribe that had converted to Judaism. Boleslaw on his part recognized the utility of the Jews it the development of the commercial interests of his country. The Prince of Cracow, Mieczyslaw III (1173-1202), in his endeavor to establish law and order in his domains, prohibited all violence against the Jews, particularly attacks upon them by unruly students. Boys guilty of such attacks, or their parents, were made to pay fines as heavy as those imposed for sacrilegious acts. The Jews formed the back-bone of the Polish economy and the coins minted by Mieszko III even bear Hebraic markings. Early in the thirteenth century Jews owned land in Polish Silesia, Greater Poland and Cuyavia, including the village of Mały Tyniec. There were also established Jewish communities in Wrocław, Świdnica, Głogów, Lwówek, Płock, Kalisz, Szczecin, Gniezno, Gdańsk and Gniezno. It is clear that the Jewish communities must have been well-organized by then. Also, the earliest known artifact of Jewish settlement on Polish soil is a tombstone of certain David ben Sar Shalom found in Wrocław and dated 25 av 4963, that is August 4, 1203.
From the various sources it is evident that at this time the Jews enjoyed undisturbed peace and prosperity in the many principalities into which the country was then divided. In the interests of commerce the reigning princes extended protection and special privileges to the Jewish settlers. With the descent of the Tatars on Polish territory (1241) the Jews in common with the other inhabitants suffered severely. Cracow was pillaged and burned, other towns were devastated, and hundreds of Jews were carried into captivity. As the tide of invasion receded the Jews returned to their old homes and occupations. They formed the middle class in a country where the general population consisted of landlords and peasants, and they were instrumental in promoting the commercial interests of the land. Money-lending and the farming of the different government revenues, such as those from the salt-mines, the customs, etc., were their most important pursuits. The native population had not yet become permeated with the religious intolerance of western Europe, and lived at peace with the Jews.
The earliest known privilege for a Jewish community was issued by the Duke of Greater Poland Boleslaus the Pious in 1264. The so-called Statute of Calisia granted all Jews the freedom of worship, trade and travel. Also, all Jews under the suzerainity of the duke were protected by the Voivod and killing a Jew was penalized with death and the confiscation of all the property of the murderer's family.
Early persecutions: 1266-1279
This patriarchal order of things was gradually altered by the Roman Catholic Church on the one hand, and by the neighboring German states on the other. The emissaries of the Roman pontiffs came to Poland in pursuance of a fixed policy; and in their endeavors to strengthen the influence of the Catholic Church they spread teachings imbued with hatred toward the followers of Judaism. At the same time Boleslaw V Wstydliwy (1228-1279), encouraged the influx of German colonists. He granted to them the Magdeburg Rights, and by establishing them in the towns introduced there an element which brought with it deep-seated prejudices against the Jews.
There were, however, among the reigning princes determined protectors of the Jewish inhabitants, who considered the presence of the latter most desirable in so far as the economic development of the country was concerned. Prominent among such rulers was Boleslaw Pobozny of Kalisz, King of Great Poland. With the consent of the class representatives and higher officials, in 1264 he issued a charter which clearly defined the position of his Jewish subjects. The charter dealt in detail with all sides of Jewish life, particularly the relations of the Jews to their Christian neighbors. The guiding principle in all its provisions was justice, while national, racial, and religious motives were entirely excluded. In order to safeguard their persons and property, the Jews were in some instances granted even greater privileges than the Christians, who thus came to recognize that the Jews were to be regarded as a people with a civilization of their own and entitled to the protection of the laws.
But while the temporal authorities endeavored to regulate the relations of the Jews to the country at large in accordance with its economic needs, the clergy, inspired not by patriotism, but by the attempts of the Roman Catholic Church to establish its universal supremacy, used its influence toward separating the Jews from the body politic, aiming to exclude them, as people dangerous to the Church, from Christian society, and to place them in the position of a despised "sect". In 1266 an ecumenical council was held at Wroclaw under the chairmanship of the papal nuncio Guido. The council introduced into the ecclesiastical statutes of Poland a number of paragraphs directed against the Jews.
The Jews were ordered to dispose as quickly as possible of real estate owned by them in the Christian quarters; they were not to appear on the streets during Church processions; they were allowed to have only a single synagogue in any one town; and they were required to wear a special cap to distinguish them from the Christians. The latter were forbidden, under penalty of excommunication, to invite Jews to feasts or other entertainments, and were forbidden also to buy meat or other provisions from Jews, for fear of being poisoned. The council furthermore confirmed the regulations under which Jews were not allowed to keep Christian servants, to lease taxes or customs duties, or to hold any public office. At the Council of Ofen held in 1279 the wearing of a red badge was prescribed for the Jews, and the foregoing provisions were reaffirmed.
Reunited Poland: 1319-1385
Though the Catholic clergy continued to sow the seed of religious hatred which in time bore a plentiful harvest, the temporal rulers were not inclined to accept the edicts of the Church, and the Jews of Poland were for a long time allowed their rights. Ladislaus Lokietek, who ascended the Polish throne in 1319, endeavored to establish a uniform legal code throughout the land. With the general laws he assured the Jews safety and freedom and placed them on equality with the Christians. They dressed like the Christians, wearing garments similar to those of the nobility, and, like the latter, also wore gold chains and carried swords. Ladislaus likewise framed laws for the lending of money to Christians. In 1334 Boleslaw issued a charter of still greater significance. It was much amplified by Casimir III the Great (1303-1370), who was especially friendly to the Jews, and whose reign is justly regarded as an era of great prosperity for Polish Jewry. His charter was more favorable to the Jews than was Boleslaw's, insofar as it safeguarded some of their civil rights in addition to their commercial privileges. This farsighted ruler sought to employ the town and rural populations as checks upon the growing power of the aristocracy. He regarded the Jews not simply as an association of money-lenders, but as a part of the nation, into which they were to be incorporated for the formation of a homogeneous body politic. For his attempts to uplift the masses, including the Jews, Casimir was surnamed by his contemporaries "King of the serfs and Jews."
Nevertheless, while for the greater part of Casimir III the Great|Casimir’s]] reign the Jews of Poland enjoyed tranquility, toward its close they were subjected to persecution on account of the Black Death. Massacres occurred at Kalisz, Cracow, Glogow, and other Polish cities along the German frontier, and it is estimated that 10,000 Jews were killed. Compared with the pitiless destruction of their coreligionists in Western Europe, however, the Polish Jews did not fare badly; and the Jewish masses of Germany fled to the more hospitable lands of Poland, where the interests of the laity still remained more powerful than those of the Church.
But under Casimir’s successor, Louis I of Hungary (1370-1384), the complaint became general that "justice had disappeared from the land". An attempt was made to deprive the Jews of the protection of the laws. Guided mainly by religious motives, Louis persecuted them, and threatened to expel those who refused to accept Christianity. His short reign did not suffice, however, to undo the beneficent work of his predecessor; and it was not until the long reign of the Lithuanian grand duke Wladislaus II (1386-1434), that the influence of the Church in civil and national affairs increased, and the civic condition of the Jews gradually became less favorable. Nevertheless, at the beginning of reign the Jews still enjoyed the full protection of the laws.
The Jagiellon era: 1385-1572
Persecutions of 1385-1492
As a result of the marriage of Wladislaus II to Jadwiga, daughter of Louis I of Hungary, Lithuania was temporarily united with the kingdom of Poland. Under his rule the first extensive persecutions of the Jews in Poland were commenced. It was said that the Jews of Poznan had induced a poor Christian woman to steal from the Dominican order "three hosts", which they "desecrated", and that when the hosts began to bleed, the Jews had thrown them into a ditch, where upon various "miracles" occurred. When informed of this supposed "desecration", the Bishop of Poznan ordered the Jews to answer the charges. The woman accused the rabbi of Poznan of stealing the hosts, and thirteen elders of the Jewish community fell victim to the superstitious rage of the people. After long-continued torture on the rack they were all burned slowly at the stake. In addition, a permanent fine was imposed on the Jews of Poznan, which they were required to pay annually to the Dominican church. This fine was rigorously collected until the eighteenth century. The persecution of the Jews was due not only to religious motives, but also to economic reasons, for they had gained control of certain branches of commerce, and the burghers, jealous of their success, desired to rid themselves in one way or another of their objectionable competitors.
The same motives were responsible for the riot of Cracow, instigated by the fanatical priest Budek in 1407. The first outbreak was suppressed by the city magistrates; but it was renewed a few hours later. A vast amount of property was destroyed; many Jews were killed; and their children were baptized. In order to save their lives a number of Jews accepted Christianity. The reform movement of the Hussites intensified religious fanaticism; and the resulting reactionary measures spread to Poland. The influential Polish archbishop Nicholas Tronba, after his return from the Council of Kalisz (1420), over which he had presided, induced the Polish clergy to confirm all the anti-Jewish legislation adopted at the councils of Wroclaw and Ofen, and which until then had been rarely carried out. In addition to their previous disabilities, the Jews were now compelled to pay a tax for the benefit of the churches in the precincts in which they were residing, but "in which only Christians should reside."
In 1423 King Wladislaus II issued an edict forbidding the Jews to lend money on notes. In his reign, as in the reign of his successor, Vladislaus III, the ancient privileges of the Jews were almost forgotten. The Jews vainly appealed to Wladislaus II for the confirmation of their old charters. The clergy successfully opposed the renewal of these privileges on the ground that they were contrary to the canonical regulations. To achieve this, the rumor was even spread that the charter claimed to have been granted to the Jews by Casimir III the Great was a forgery, inasmuch as a Catholic ruler would never have granted full civil rights to "unbelievers."
The machinations of the clergy were checked somewhat by Casimir IV the Jagiellonian (1447-1492). He readily renewed the charter granted to the Jews by Casimir the Great, the original of which had been destroyed in the fire that devastated Poznan in 1447. To a Jewish deputation from the communities of Poznan, Kalisz, Sieradz, Lenczyca, Brest, and Wladislavov which applied to him for the renewal of the charter, he said in his new grant: "We desire that the Jews, whom we protect especially for the sake of our own interests and those of the royal treasury, shall feel contented during our prosperous reign." In confirming all previous rights and privileges of the Jews: the freedom of residence and trade; judicial and communal autonomy; the inviolability of person and property; and protection against arbitrary accusation and attacks; the charter of Casimir IV was a determined protest against the canonical laws, which had been recently renewed for Poland by the Council of Kalisz, and for the entire Catholic world by the Diet of Basel. The charter, moreover, permitted more interaction between Jews and Christians, and freed the former from the jurisdiction of the clerical courts. Strong opposition was created by the King's liberal attitude toward the Jews, and was voiced by the leaders of the clerical party.
The repeated appeals of the clergy, and the defeat of the Polish troops by the Teutonic Knights, which the clergy openly ascribed to the "wrath of God" at Casimir's neglect of the interests of the Church, and his friendly attitude toward the Jews, finally induced the King to accede to the demands which had been made. In 1454 the Statute of Nieszawa was issued, which included the abolition of the ancient privileges of the Jews "as contrary to divine right and the law of the land." The triumph of the clerical forces was soon felt by the Jewish inhabitants. The populace was encouraged to attack them in many Polish cities; the Jews of Cracow were again the greatest sufferers. In the spring of 1464 the Jewish quarters of the city were devastated by a mob composed of monks, students, peasants, and the minor nobles, who were then organizing a new crusade against the Turks. More than thirty Jews were killed, and many houses were destroyed. Similar disorders occurred in Poznan and elsewhere, notwithstanding the fact that Casimir had fined the Cracow magistrates for having failed to take stringent measures for the suppression of the previous riots.
Influx of Jews fleeing persecution: 1492-1548
The policy of the government toward the Jews of Poland was not more tolerant under Casimir's sons and successors, John I Olbracht (1492-1501) and Alexander the Jagiellonian (1501-1506). John I Olbracht frequently found himself obliged to judge local disputes between Jewish and Christian merchants. Thus in 1493 he adjusted the conflicting claims of the Jewish merchants and the burghers of Lwow concerning the right to trade freely within the city. On the whole, however, he was not friendly to the Jews. The same may be said of Alexander the Jagiellonian, who had expelled the Jews from Lithuania in 1495. To some extent he was undoubtedly influenced in this measure by the expulsion of the Jews from Spain (1492) (See the Alhambra decree), which was responsible also for the increased persecution of the Jews in Austria, Bohemia, and Germany, and thus stimulated the Jewish emigration to Poland. For various reasons Alexander permitted the return of the Jews in 1503, and during the period immediately preceding the Reformation the number of Jewish exiles grew rapidly on account of the anti-Jewish agitation in Germany. Indeed, Poland became the recognized haven of refuge for exiles from western Europe; and the resulting accession to the ranks of the Polish Jewry made it the cultural and spiritual center of the Jewish people. This, as has been suggested by the Jewish historian Dubnow, was rendered possible by the following conditions:
- The Jewish population of Poland was at that time greater than that of any other European country; the Jews enjoyed an extensive communal autonomy based on special privileges; they were not confined in their economic life to purely subordinate occupations, as was true of their western coreligionists; they were not engaged solely in petty trade and money-lending, but carried on also an important export trade, leased government revenues and large estates, and followed the handicrafts and, to a certain extent, agriculture; in the matter of residence they were not restricted to ghettos, like their German brethren. All these conditions contributed toward the evolution in Poland of an independent Jewish civilization. Thanks to its social and judicial autonomy, Polish Jewish life was enabled to develop freely along the lines of national and religious tradition. The rabbi became not only the spiritual guide, but also a member of the communal administration Kahal, a civil judge, and the authoritative expounder of the Law. Rabbinism was not a dead letter here, but a guiding religio-judicial system; for the rabbis adjudged civil as well as certain criminal cases on the basis of Talmudic legislation.
The Jews of Poland found themselves obliged to make increased efforts to strengthen their social and economic position, and to win the favor of the king and of the nobility. The conflicts of the different parties, of the merchants, the clergy, the lesser and the higher nobility, enabled the Jews to hold their own. The opposition of the Christian merchants and of the clergy was counterbalanced by the support of the Szlachta, who derived certain economic benefits from the activities of the Jews. By the constitution of 1504, sanctioned by Alexander the Jagiellonian, the Szlachta Diets were given a voice in all important national matters. On some occasions the Jewish merchants, when pressed by the lesser nobles, were afforded protection by the king, since they were an important source of royal revenue.
Sigismund and Sigusmund II
The most prosperous period in the life of the Polish Jews began with the reign of Sigismund I (1506-1548). In 1507 the king informed the authorities of Lwow] that until further notice its Jewish citizens, in view of losses sustained by them, were to be left undisturbed in the possession of all their ancient privileges (Russko-Yevreiski Arkhiv, iii.79). His generous treatment of his physician, Jacob Isaac, whom he made a member of the nobility in 1507, testifies to his liberal views.
But while Sigismund himself was prompted by feelings of justice, his courtiers endeavored to turn to their personal advantage the conflicting interests of the different classes. Sigismund’s second wife, Queen Bona, sold government positions for money; and her favorite, the voivod of Cracow, Peter Kmita, accepted bribes from both sides, promising to further the interests of each at the Diets and with the king. In 1530 the Jewish question was the subject of heated discussions at the Diets. There were some delegates who insisted on the just treatment of the Jews. On the other hand, some went so far as to demand the expulsion of the Jews from the country, while still others wished to curtail their commercial rights. The Diet of Piotrkow (1538) elaborated a series of repressive measures against the Jews, who were prohibited from engaging in the collection of taxes and from leasing estates or government revenues, "it being against God's law that these people should hold honored positions among the Christians." The commercial pursuits of the Jews in the cities were placed under the control of the hostile magistrates, while in the villages Jews were forbidden to trade at all. The Diet also revived the medieval ecclesiastical law compelling the Jews to wear a distinctive badge.
Sigismund II Augustus (1548-1572) followed in the main the tolerant policy of his father. He confirmed the ancient privileges of the Polish Jews, and considerably widened and strengthened the autonomy of their communities. By a decree of August 13th, 1551, the Jews of Great Poland were again granted permission to elect a chief rabbi, who was to act as judge in all matters concerning their religious life. Jews refusing to acknowledge his authority were to be subject to a fine or to excommunication; and those refusing to yield to the latter might be executed after a report of the circumstances had been made to the authorities. The property of the recalcitrants was to be confiscated and turned into the crown treasury. The chief rabbi was exempted from the authority of the voivod and other officials, while the latter were obliged to assist him in enforcing the law among the Jews.
The favorable attitude of the King and of the enlightened nobility could not prevent the growing animosity against the Jews in certain parts of the kingdom. The Reformation movement stimulated an anti-Jewish crusade by the Catholic clergy, who preached vehemently against all "heretics": Lutherans, Calvinists, and Jews. In 1550 the papal nuncio Alois Lipomano, who had been prominent as a persecutor of the Neo-Christians in Portugal, was delegated to Cracow to strengthen the Catholic spirit among the Polish nobility. He warned the King of the evils resulting from his tolerant attitude toward the various non-believers in the country. Seeing that the Polish nobles, among whom the Reformation had already taken strong root, paid but scant courtesy to his preachings, he initiated a blood libel in the town of Sochaczew. Sigismund pointed out that papal bulls had repeatedly asserted that all such accusations were without any foundation whatsoever; and he decreed that henceforth any Jew accused of having committed a murder for ritual purposes, or of having stolen a host, should be brought before his own court during the sessions of the Diet. Sigismund II Augustus also granted autonomy to the Jews in the matter of communal administration and laid the foundation for the power of the Kahal.
In 1659 Lithuania was united with Poland. The death of Sigismund Augustus (1572) and the termination of the Jagellon dynasty necessitated the election of his successor by the elective body of the Szlachta. The neighboring states were deeply interested in the matter, each hoping to insure the choice of its own candidate. The pope was eager to assure the election of a Catholic, lest the influences of the Reformation should become predominant in Poland. Catherine de Medici was laboring energetically for the election of her son Henry of Anjou. But in spite of all the intrigues at the various courts, the deciding factor in the election was the above-mentioned Solomon Ashkenazi, then in charge of the foreign affairs of Turkey. Henry of Anjou was elected, which was of deep concern to the liberal Poles and the Jews. Fortunately this participator in the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre secretly fled to France after a reign of a few months, in order to succeed his deceased brother Charles IX on the French throne.
The Polish Commonwealth: 1572-1795
Jewish learning and culture during the early Polish Commonweath
Yeshivot were established, under the direction of the rabbis, in the more prominent communities. Such schools were officially known as gymnasiums, and their rabbi-principals as rectors. Important yeshivot existed in Cracow, Poznan, and other cities. Jewish printing establishments came into existence in the first quarter of the sixteenth century. In 1530 a Hebrew Pentateuch (Torah) was printed in Cracow; and at the end of the century the Jewish printing-houses of that city and Lublin issued a large number of Jewish books, mainly of a religious character. The growth of Talmudic scholarship in Poland was coincident with the greater prosperity of the Polish Jews; and because of their communal autonomy educational development was wholly one-sided and along Talmudic lines. Exceptions are recorded, however, where Jewish youth sought secular instruction in the European universities. The learned rabbis became not merely expounders of the Law, but also spiritual advisers, teachers, judges, and legislators; and their authority compelled the communal leaders to make themselves familiar with the abstruse questions of Jewish law. Polish Jewry found its views of life shaped by the spirit of Talmudic and rabbinical literature, whose influence was felt in the home, in school, and in the synagogue.
In the first half of the sixteenth century the seeds of Talmudic learning had been transplanted to Poland from Bohemia, particularly from the school of Jacob Pollak, the creator of Pilpul ("sharp reasoning"). Shalom Shachna (c. 1500-1558), a pupil of Pollak, is counted among the pioneers of Talmudic learning in Poland. He lived and died in Lublin, where he was the head of the yeshivah which produced the rabbinical celebrities of the following century. Shachna's son Israel became rabbi of Lublin on the death of his father, and Shachna's pupil Moses Isserles (known as the ReMA) (1520-1572) achieved an international reputation among the Jews as the co-authgor of the Shulkhan Arukh, (the "Code of Jewish Law"). His contemporary and correspondent Solomon Luria (1510-1573) of Lublin also enjoyed a wide reputation among his coreligionists; and the authority of both was recognized by the Jews throughout Europe. Among the famous pupils of Isserles should be mentioned David Gans and Mordecai Jaffe, the latter of whom studied also under Luria. Another distinguished rabbinical scholar of that period was Eliezer b. Elijah Ashkenazi (1512-1585) of Cracow. His Ma'ase ha-Shem (Venice, 1583) is permeated with the spirit of the moral philosophy of the Sephardic school, but is extremely mystical. At the end of the work he attempts to forecast the coming of the Jewish Messiah in 1595, basing his calculations on the Book of Daniel. Such Messianic dreams found a receptive soil in the unsettled religious conditions of the time. The new sect of Socinians or Unitarians, which denied the Trinity and which, therefore, stood near to Judaism, had among its leaders Simon Budny, the translator of the Bible into Polish, and the priest Martin Czechowic. Heated religious disputations were common, and Jewish scholars participated in them.
The hostility of their Christian neighbors had an effect on the inner life of the Polish Jews; and the scholar Delmedigo, who visited Poland and Lithuania in 1620, was struck by their indifferent and at times hostile attitude toward secular learning. But, while the intellectual field of the Jews was narrowed equally with their social life, there was displayed in both an unceasing activity inspired by Talmudic precepts. The Talmud served them as an encyclopedia of all knowledge and for questions of everyday life, including abstract law, legal decisions, both civil and criminal, religious legislation, theology, etc. It was diligently studied; but the methods of study depended on the social position of the student. The rabbis of higher rank, those who took an active part in the Kahal administrations and who participated in the Council of Four Lands, paid most attention to the practical application of the Talmudic law. Chief among them was Mordecai Jaffe (see Jew. Encyc. vii. 58), who at the end of the sixteenth century frequently presided at the meetings of the council. His successor as rabbinical elder and president of the council was Joshua ben Alexander ha-Kohen Falk, rabbi of Lublin, and later director of the yeshivah at Lwow. Together with these should be mentioned: Meïr ben Gedaliah Lublin (d. 1616), authority in rabbinical matters; Samuel Edels (d. 1631); and Yoel Sirkis (d. 1641). The Kabbalah had become entrenched under the protection of Rabbinism; and such scholars as Mordecai Jaffe and Yoel Sirkis devoted themselves to its study. The mystic speculations of the kabalists prepared the ground for Sabbatianism, and the Jewish masses were rendered even more receptive by the great disasters that over-took the Jews of Poland during the middle of the seventeenth century such as the Chmielnicki Uprising against Poland and Russia during 1648–1654 when Bohdan Khmelnytsky's hordes massacred tens of thousands of Jews in the areas of Ukraine, Poland, and Russia that he controlled. It is recorded that Khmelnytsky told the people that the Poles had sold them as slaves "into the hands of the accursed Jews". With this as their battle-cry, the Cossacks killed a large number of Jews during the years 1648–1649. The precise number of dead may never be known, but the decrease of the Jewish population during that period is estimated at 100,000 to 200,000, which also includes deaths from diseases and Tatar imprisonment.
1576-1645
Stephen Bathory (1576-1586) was now elected king of Poland; and he proved both a tolerant ruler and a friend of the Jews. On February 10th, 1577, he sent orders to the magistrate of Poznan directing him to prevent class conflicts, and to maintain order in the city. His orders were, however, of no avail. Three months after his manifesto a riot occurred in Poznan. Political and economic events in the course of the sixteenth century forced the Jews to establish a more compact communal organization, and this separated them from the rest of the urban population; indeed, although with few exceptions they did not live in separate ghettos, they were nevertheless sufficiently isolated from their Christian neighbors to be regarded as strangers. They resided in the towns and cities, but had little to do with municipal administration, their own affairs being managed by the rabbis, the elders, and the dayyanim or religious judges. These conditions contributed to the strengthening of the Kahal organizations. Conflicts and disputes, however, became of frequent occurrence, and led to the convocation of periodical rabbinical congresses, which were the nucleus of the central institution known in Poland, from the middle of the sixteenth to the middle of the eighteenth century, as the Council of Four Lands.
The Catholic reaction which with the aid of the Jesuits and the Council of Trent spread throughout Europe finally reached Poland. The Jesuits found a powerful protector in Bathory’s successor, Sigismund III Vasa (1587-1632). Under his rule the "golden freedom" of the Polish knighthood gradually vanished; government by the liberum veto undermined the authority of the Diet; and the approach of anarchy was thus hastened. However, the dying spirit of the republic was still strong enough to check somewhat the destructive power of Jesuitism, which under an absolute monarchy would have led to drastic anti-Jewish measures similar to those that had been taken in Spain. Thus while the Catholic clergy was the mainstay of the anti-Jewish forces, the king remained at least in semblance the defender of the Jews. False accusations of ritual murder against the Jews recurred with growing frequency, and assumed an "ominous inquisitional character." The papal bulls and the ancient charters of privilege proved generally of little avail as protection. Uneasy conditions persisted during the reign of Wladislaus IV Vasa (1632-1648).
Cossacks' Uprising
The kingdom of Poland proper, which had hitherto suffered but little either from the Chmielnicki Uprising or from the invasion of the Russians, now became the scene of terrible disturbances (1655-1658). Charles X of Sweden, at the head of his victorious army, overran Poland; and soon the whole country, including the cities of Cracow and Warsaw, was in his hands. The Jews of Great and Little Poland found themselves between two fires: those of them who were spared by the Swedes were attacked by the Poles, who accused them of aiding the enemy. The Polish general Stefan Czarniecki, in his flight from the Swedes, devastated the whole country through which he passed and treated the Jews without mercy. The Polish partisan detachments treated the non-Polish inhabitants with equal severity. Moreover, the horrors of the war were aggravated by pestilence, and the Jews of the districts of Kalisz, Cracow, Poznan, Piotrkow, and Lublin perished en masse by the sword of the enemy and the plague. Certain Jewish writers of the day were convinced that the home and protection which the Jews had for a long time enjoyed in Poland were lost to them forever.
Some of these apprehensions proved to be unfounded. As soon as the disturbances had ceased, the Jews began to return and to rebuild their destroyed homes; and while it is true that the Jewish population of Poland had decreased and become impoverished, it still was more numerous than that of the Jewish colonies in Western Europe. Poland remained as the spiritual center of Judaism; and the remarkable vitality of the Jews manifested itself in the fact that in a comparatively short time they managed to recuperate from their terrible trials.
King Jan Kazimierz Vasa (1648-1668) endeavored to compensate the impoverished people for their sufferings and losses, as is evidenced by a decree granting the Jews of Cracow the rights of free trade (1661); and similar privileges, together with temporary exemption from taxes, were granted to many other Jewish communities, which had suffered most from the Russo-Swedish invasion. John Casimir's successor, King Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki (1669-1673), also granted some privileges to the Jews. This was partly due to the efforts of Moses Markowitz, the representative of the Jewish communities of Poland. The heroic King John III Sobieski (1674-1696) was in general very favorably inclined toward the Jews; but the senate and the nobility deprecated such friendliness toward "infidels."
Accession of the Saxon dynasty
With the accession to the throne of the Saxon dynasty the Jews completely lost the support of the government. While it is true that Augustus II the Strong (1697-1733), and August III Wettin (1733-1763) officially confirmed at their coronations the Jewish charters, such formal declarations were insufficient, owing to the disorders prevailing in the kingdom, to guard the already limited rights of the Jews against the hostile elements. The government was anxious only to collect from the Kahals the taxes, which were constantly being made heavier in spite of the fact that the Jews had not yet recovered from the ruinous events of the Cossacks' uprising and the Swedish invasion. The Szlachta and the other classes of the urban population were extremely hostile to the Jews. In the larger cities, like Poznan and Cracow, quarrels between the Christians and the Jewish inhabitants were of frequent occurrence; and they assumed a very violent aspect. Based originally on economic grounds, they were carried over into the religious arena; and it was evident that the seeds which the Jesuits had planted had finally borne fruit. Ecclesiastical councils displayed great hatred toward the Jews. Attacks on the latter by students, the so-called Schüler-Gelauf, became every-day occurrences in the large cities, the police regarding such scholastic riots with indifference. Indeed, lawlessness, violence, and disorder reigned supreme at that time in Poland, marking the beginning of the downfall of the kingdom. In order to protect themselves against such occurrences, the Jewish communities in many cities made annual contributions to the local Catholic schools.
Rise of mysticism
The decade from the Cossacks' uprising until after the Swedish war (1648-1658) left a deep and lasting impression not only on the social life of the Polish-Lithuanian Jews, but on their spiritual life as well. The intellectual output of the Jews of Poland was reduced. The Talmudic learning which up to that period had been the common possession of the majority of the people became accessible to a limited number of students only, while the masses remained in ignorance and superstition. The intellectual activity even of the rabbis fell to a lower level; for while it is true that there were still many prominent rabbis in Poland who were men of great Talmudic learning and secular knowledge, they did not leave behind them any such great works as did their predecessors-Solomon Luria, Isserles, Mordecai Jaffe, and Meïr of Lublin. In the very few works that were produced there was noticeable an utter lack of originality. Some rabbis busied themselves with quibbles concerning religious laws; others wrote commentaries on different parts of the Talmud in which hair-splitting arguments were raised and discussed; and at times these arguments dealt with matters which were of no practical moment.
Many miracle-workers made their appearance among the Jews of Poland, prominent among whom was Joel ben Isaac Heilprin, known also as Ba'al Shem I., a believer in and practitioner of demonology. These men added to the mental and moral confusion of the Jewish masses. "There is no other country," says a writer of the seventeenth century, "in which the Jews occupy themselves so much with mystic fantasies, devilism, talismans, and the invocation of spirits, as in Poland." Even famous rabbis of that time devoted themselves to kabbalistic practices. Special notoriety as a kabbalist was gained by Naphtali ben Isaac ha-Kohen, whose belief in the power of a certain amulet led to the destruction of almost the entire Jewish quarter of Frankfort. The popular superstitions that had so completely enveloped Polish Jewry were the direct cause of the false "Messianic" movements that had begun to agitate the Jewish world; in Poland, Sabbatianism was succeeded by Frankism. The era of enlightenment which dawned for the Jews of Germany with the coming of Moses Mendelssohn in the second half of the eighteenth century was coincident with rise of Hasidic Judaism of Polish Jewry.
Spread of Hasidism
The teachings of Israel ben Eliezer, known as the Baal Shem Tov, or BeShT, (1698-1760) had a profound effect on the Jews of Eastern Europe and Poland in particular. His disciples taught and encouraged the new fervent brand of Orthodox Judaism based on Kabbalah known as Hasidism. One of those great disciples and teachers was Rabbi Elimelech of Lizhensk (1717-1786). Many then became Rebbes with followings, as with the Ger (Hasidic dynasty) which was begun by Rabbi Yitzchak Meir Alter (1798-1866).
First partition
Disorder and anarchy reigned supreme in Poland during the second half of the eighteenth century, from the accession to the throne of its last king, Stanislaus II Augustus Poniatowski (1764-1795). This state of affairs was due to the haughty demeanor of the nobility toward the lower classes. The necessity for reform was recognized by the king and by many of the Polish people; but Poland was already in the grasp of Russia, and little could be done in this direction. Jewish affairs were sadly neglected, the government seeking merely the extortion of larger taxes; thus the Diet which met at Warsaw in 1764 for the discussion of measures of reform considered the Jews only to the extent of changing the tax system. About this time, and as a direct consequence of the disorganization of Poland, the disastrous incursions of the brigand bands known as the Haidamacks took place. The movement originated in Podolia and in that part of the Ukraine which still belonged to Poland.
These and other internal disorders combined to hasten the end of Poland as a kingdom. In 1772 the outlying provinces were divided among the three neighboring nations, Russia, Austria, and Prussia. Russia secured a considerable part of the territory now known as White Russia; Austria obtained Galicia and a part of Podolia; while Prussia received Pomerania and the lands lying along the lower Vistula. Jews were most numerous in the territories that fell to the lot of Austria and Russia.
The permanent council established at the instance of the Russian government (1777-1788) served as the highest administrative tribunal, and occupied itself with the elaboration of a plan that would make practicable the reorganization of Poland on a more rational basis. The progressive elements in Polish society recognized the urgency of popular education as the very first step toward reform. In 1773 the Society of Jesus in Poland was abolished by Pope Clement XIV, who thus freed Polish youth from the demoralizing influences of Jesuitism. The famous Komisja Edukacji Narodowej ("Commission of National Education"), established in 1775, founded numerous new schools and remodeled the old ones. One of the members of the commission, Andrew Zamoiski, along with others, suggested that the Jews be subject to even harsher restrictions. On the other hand, some nobels and intellectuals proposed a national system of government, of the civil and political equality of the Jews. This was the only example in modern Europe before the French Revolution of tolerance and broad-mindedness in dealing with the Jewish question. But all these proposed reforms were too late. Through the intrigues and bribery of Catherine II of Russia the Confederation of Targowica was formed, to which belonged the adherents of the old order of things. A Russian army invaded Poland, and soon after a Prussian one followed.
The second and third partitions
A second partition of Poland was made July 17, 1793, Russia taking a large part of White Russi, half of Volhynia, all of Podolia, and the part of the Ukraine which had previously been retained by Poland, and Germany taking Great Poland (Poznan).
A general rising of the Poles took place in 1794. Tadeusz Kosciuszko was made dictator, and succeeded in driving the Russians out of Warsaw. Dissensions, however, arose among the Poles, and the Russians and Prussians again entered Poland. Kosciuszko was decisively defeated at Maciejowice Oct. 10, 1794; Alexander Suvorov entered Warsaw Nov. 8, and Polish resistance came to an end. The Jews took an active part in this last struggle of Poland for independence. With the permission of Kosciuszko, a certain Berek Joselewicz formed a regiment of light cavalry consisting entirely of Jews. This regiment accomplished many deeds of valor on the field of battle and distinguished itself especially at the siege of Warsaw, nearly all its members perishing in the defense of Praga, the fortified suburb of the capital.
The third and final partition of Poland took place in 1795. Russia acquired the whole of Lithuania and Courland; Austria, the remainder of Galicia, and Podolia, including Cracow; Prussia, the rest of Poland, including Warsaw, the capital; and with that Poland ceased to exist as an independent country. The great bulk of the Jewish population was transferred to Russia, and thus became subjects of that empire.
Jews of Poland within the Russian Empire (1795-1918)
- See related articles: Pale of Settlement and History of the Jews in Russia and Soviet Union
Interwar period 1918-1939
At the time World War II erupted, Poland had the largest concentration of Jews in Europe. According to 1931 National Census there were 3,130,581 Polish Jews measured by the declaration of their religion. Additionally, 85% of Polish Jews listed Yiddish or Hebrew as their native language. Estimating the population increase and the emigration from Poland between 1931 and 1939, it is accepted that 3,474,000 lived in Poland as of September 1, 1939 (approximately 10% of the total population). Jews were primarily centered in large and smaller cities: 77% lived in cities and 23% in the villages.
During the school year of 1937-1938 there were 226 elementary schools and 12 high schools as well as 14 vocational schools with either Yiddish or Hebrew as the instructional language. At this same time 130 periodicals were published in Yiddish or Hebrew, among them were 11 scholarly publications and 94 general interest or literary publications. During the course of 1937, there appeared in Poland a total of 443 non-periodical publications (books and brochures in Yiddish and Hebrew in a total print run of 675,000 volumes. There were 15 theatres and theatrical groups performing in Yiddish. Concurrently Polish intelligentsia of Jewish origin took an active part in Polish community live. Many of the scholars, writers, performers, artists, musicians, theatrical performers, journalists, doctors, lawyers, etc. helped enliven the intellectual movement and the development of scholarship and art in the reborn Polish nation.
Jewish political parties, both the Socialist Bund, as well as groupings of the Zionist right and left wing and religious conservative movements, were represented in the Sejm (the Polish Parliament) and quite frequently also in the regional councils. At the start of World War II Warsaw had 20 Jewish council member while in Lodz there were 17.
WWII and the destruction of Polish Jewry (1939-1945)
- Main article: The Holocaust
The Polish September campaign
During the Polish September Campaign of 1939, some 120,000 Jewish Polish citizens took part in battles with the Germans as member of the Polish Armed Forces. It is estimated that as many as 32,216 Jewish soldiers and officers died and 61,000 were taken prisoner by the Germans, the majority did not survive. The soldiers and non-commissioned officer who were released ultimately found themselves in the ghettos and labor camps and suffered the same fate as other Jewish civilians.
Soviet-Occupied Poland
In partitioned Poland, according to Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, (according to 1931 census) 61.2% of Polish Jews found themselves under German occupation while 38.8% were in Soviet-occupied territory. Based on population migration from West to East during and after the Polish September Campaign the percentage of Jews in the Soviet-occupied areas was probably higher than that of 1931 census. Among Polish officers killed by the NKVD in 1941in the Katyn Massacre there were 500-600 Jews. Between 1939-1941 between 100,000-300,000 Polish Jews were deported from Soviet-occupied Polish territory into the Soviet Union. Some of them, especially Polish Communists (e.g. Jakub Berman) moved voluntarily, however, most of them were forcibly deported to Gulags. Small numbers of Polish Jews (about 6,000) were able to leave the Soviet Union in 1942 with the Wladyslaw Anders army, among them the future Prime Minister of Israel Menachem Begin. During the Polish army's II Corps' stay in the British Mandate of Palestine, 67% (2,972) of the Jewish soldiers deserted, many to join the Irgun.
The Holocaust: German-occupied Poland
The Polish Jewish community suffered the most in the massacres ofthe Holocaust. About 3 million Jews (all but about 300,000-500,000 of the Jewish population) died of starvation in ghettos and labor camps or were killed at the Nazi extermination camps of Auschwitz, Treblinka, Majdanek, Belzec, Sobibór, Chelmno. Many Jews in what was then eastern Poland also fell victim to Nazi death squads called Einsatzgruppen which massacred Jews, especially in 1941.
Some of these massacres were carried out with help from, or even active participation by, Poles. For example, the Massacre in Jedwabne, in which between 300 (Institute of National Remembrance's Final Findings ) and 1,600 (Jan T. Gross ) Jews were tortured and beaten to death by part of Jedwabne's citizens. The full extent of Polish participation in the massacres of the Polish Jewish community remains a controversial subject, but the Polish Institute for National Remembrance identified 22 other towns that had pogroms similar to Jedwabne. . The reasons for these massacres are still debated, but they included anti-Semitism, resentment over alleged cooperation with the Soviet invaders, and greed for the possessions of the Jews of the towns.
The Germans also established a number of ghettos in which Jews were confined, and eventually killed. The Warsaw Ghetto was the largest, with 380,000 people and Lódz, the second largest, holding about 160,000. Other Polish cities with large Jewish ghettos included Bialystok, Czestochowa, Kielce, Kraków, Lublin, Lwów, and Radom. The Warsaw Ghetto was established by the German Governor-General Hans Frank on October 16, 1940. At this time, the population of the ghetto was estimated to be about 380,000 people, about 30% of the population of Warsaw. However, the size of the Ghetto was about 2.4% of the size of Warsaw. The Germans then closed off the Warsaw Ghetto from the outside world on November 16th of that year, building a wall around it. During the next year and a half, Jews from smaller cities and villages were brought into the Warsaw Ghetto, while diseases (especially typhoid) and starvation (rations for Jews were officially limited to just 333 kcal per day (average rations 1940-1941), as opposed to 1,800 for Poles and 2,400 for Germans in Warsaw) kept the inhabitants at about the same number.
On July 22, 1942, the mass expulsion of the Warsaw Ghetto inhabitants began; in the next 52 days (till September 12, 1942) about 300,000 people were transported by train to the Treblinka extermination camp. The deportations were carried out by 50 German SS-men, 200 Latvian, 200 Ukrainian Police, and 2,500 Jewish Ghetto Police. Employees of the Judenrat, including the Ghetto Police, along with their families and relatives, were given immunity from deportations in return for their cooperation. Additionally, in August of 1942, Jewish Ghetto policemen, under the threat of deportation themselves, were ordered to personally "deliver" five ghetto inhabitants to the Umschlagplatz train station.
On January 18 1943, some Ghetto inhabitants, including members of ZOB, resisted, often with arms, German attempts for additional deportations to Treblinka. The final destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto came four months later during and after the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.
Poland was the only occupied country during World War II where the Nazis formally imposed the death penalty for anybody found sheltering and helping Jews. Despite these draconian measures by the Nazi Germans, Poland has the highest amount of Righteous Among The Nations awards at the Yad Vashem Museum.
The Polish Government in Exile was also the first (in November 1942) to reveal the existence of Nazi-run concentration camps and the systematic extermination of the Jews by the Nazis, through its courier Jan Karski. The Polish government in exile was also the only government to set up an organization Zegota specifically aimed at helping the Jews in Poland .
Communist rule: 1945-1989
Post-war
Between 40,000 and 100,000 Polish Jews survived the Holocaust in Poland by hiding or by joining the Polish or Russian partisan units. Another 50,000-170,000 were repatriated from the Soviet Union and 20,000-40,000 from Germany and other countries. At its post-war peak, there were 180,000-240,000 Jews in Poland settled mostly in Warsaw, Lodz, Krakow, and Wroclaw.
Soon after the end of the Second World War, Jews began to flee Poland. Prompted by renewed anti-Jewish violence, especially the Kielce pogrom of 1946; the refusal of the Communist regime to return pre-war Jewish property; and a desire to leave communities destroyed by the Holocaust and build a new life in the British Mandate of Palestine, 100,000-120,000 Jews left Poland between 1945-1948. Their departure was largely organized by the Zionist activists in Poland such as Adolf Berman and Yitzhak Zuckerman under the umbrella of a semi-clandestine organization Berihah ("Flight"), (see also Aliya Beth). Berihah was also responsible for the organized emigration of Jews from Romania, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia totaling 250,000 (including Poland) Holocaust survivors. A second wave of Jewish emigration (50,000) took place during the liberalization of the Communist regime between (1957-1959).
For those Polish Jews who remained, the rebuilding of Jewish life in Poland was carried out between October 1944 and 1950 by the Central Committee of Polish Jews (Centralny Komitet Żydow Polskich, CKŻP) headed by Bund activist S. Herszenhorn. CKŻP was providing legal, educational, social care, cultural, and propaganda services. A country-wide Jewish Religious Community, led by David Kahane who served as chief rabbi of the Polish Armed Forces, was functioning between 1945 and 1948 until it was absorbed by the CKŻP. Eleven independent political Jewish parties, of which eight were legal, existed until their dissolution during 1949-1950.
A large percentage of Polish Jews participated in the establishment of the Communist regime in Poland between 1944-1956 holding, among others, prominent posts in the Politburo of the Polish United Worker's Party (e.g. Jakub Berman, Hilary Minc - responsible for establishing a Communist-style economy), and the security apparatus Urzad Bezpieczenstwa (UB). After 1956, during the process of de-Stalinisation in Poland under Wladyslaw Gomulka's regime, some Urzad Bezpieczenstwa officials including Roman Romkowski (b. Natan Grunsapau-Kikiel), Jacek Różański (b. Jozef Goldberg), Anatol Fejgin were prosecuted for "power abuses" including the torture of Polish anti-Communists and sentenced to long prison terms. A Urzad Bezpieczenstwa official, Józef Światło, (b. Izak Fleichfarb), after escaping in 1953 to the West, exposed through Radio Free Europe the methods of the UB which led to its dissolution in 1954.
Some Jewish cultural institutions were established including the Yiddish State Theater founded in 1950 and directed by Ida Kaminska , the Jewish Historical Institute an academic institution specializing in research of history and culture of the Jews in Poland, and the Yiddish newspaper Folks-shtime ("People's Voice").
From 1967-1989
In 1967, following the Six-Day War, Poland broke-off diplomatic relations with Israel. In March of 1968 student-led demonstrations in Warsaw sparked the state-sponsored "anti-Zionist" campaign resulting in removal of Jews from the Polish United Worker's Party and public services jobs including teaching positions in schools and universities. Due to the economic, political and police pressure, 25,000 Jews were forced to emigrate during 1968-1970.
During the late 1970s some Jewish activists were engaged in the anti-Communist opposition groups. Most prominent among them, Adam Michnik was one of the founders of the Committee for the Defense of Workers (KOR). By the time of the fall of Communism in Poland in 1989, only 5,000-10,000 Jews remained.
1989-present
With the fall of Communism in Poland, Jewish cultural, social, and religious life has been undergoing a revival. Many historical issues, especially related to World War II and the 1944-1989 period, suppressed by Communist censorship has been reevaluated and publicly discussed (.e.g. the Massacre in Jedwabne, the Koniuchy Massacre, the Auschwitz cross, and Polish-Jewish wartime relations see, ).
Jewish religious life has been revived with the help of the Ronald Lauder Foundation, the Polish Jewish community employs two rabbis, operated a small network of Jewish schools and summer camps, and sustains several Jewish periodicals and book series events. In 1993 the Union of Jewish Religious Communities in Poland was establish with the aim of organizing the religious and cultural life of the members of the communities in Poland.
Academic Jewish studies programs were established at Warsaw University and the Jagiellonian University in Krakow. Krakow became home to the Judaica Foundation , which has sponsored a wide range of cultural and educational programs on Jewish themes for a predominantly Polish audience.
Government relations between Poland and Israel are steadily improving, resulting in the mutual visits of presidents and the ministers of foreign affairs. The Polish government will finance the construction of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw.
In September 2000, dignitaries from Poland, Israel, the United States, and other countries (including Prince Hassan of Jordan) gathered in the city of Oswiecim (the new Auschwitz camp) to commemorate the opening of the refurbished Chevra Lomdei Mishnayot synagogue and the Auschwitz Jewish Center. The synagogue, the sole synagogue in Oswiecim to survive World War II and an adjacent Jewish cultural and educational center, provide visitors a place to pray and to learn about the active pre-World War II Jewish community that existed in Oswiecim. 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.
In April 2001, during the 13th March of the Living from Auschwitz to Birkenau to honor victims of the Holocaust, several hundred citizens joined 2,000 marchers from Israel and other countries. Government officials participating in the march included Members of Parliament, the province's governor, and Oswiecim's mayor and city council chairman. Schoolchildren, boy scouts, the Polish-Israeli Friendship Society , and the Polish Union of Jewish Students (PUSZ) also participated in the march. In May 2001, several hundred students from around the world marched through the town in The March of Remembrance and Hope.
In April 2002, during the 14th March of the Living from Auschwitz to Birkenau to honor victims of the Holocaust, several hundred citizens joined 1,500 marchers from Israel and other countries.
In 2000, Poland's Jewish population was estimated to have risen to as many as 10,000 or 12,000. With Poland joining the European Union, a number of Israeli Jews are emigrating to Poland, although it is not clear how many intend to remain in Poland or are using Poland as a stepping-stone to the more prosperous nations of Western Europe.
Related articles
- List of Polish Jews
- Polish Jewish Culture
- Anti-Semitism and World War II
- The Holocaust
- Polish Assistance to the Jews during World War II:
- Related Countries and Cities
- Post-War Relations
References
- Marek Jan Chodakiewicz, After the Holocaust, East European Monographs, 2003, ISBN 0880335114.
- Marek Jan Chodakiewicz, Between Nazis and Soviets: Occupation Politics in Poland, 1939-1947, Lexington Books, 2004, ISBN 0739104845.
- Gershon David Hundert, Jews in Poland-Lithuania in the Eighteenth Century: A Genealogy of Modernity, University of California Press, 2004, ISBN 0520238443.
- Ivo Cyprian Pogonowski, Jews in Poland. A Dcumentary History, Hippocrene Books, Inc., 1998, ISBN 0781806046.
External links
- The Association of "Children of the Holocaust" in Poland
- Diapozytyw. Contemporary Jewish Life in Poland
- Foundation for Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland
- Jewish Historical Institute
- Jewish Community in Poland
- http://www.cyberroad.com/poland/jews.html Jews in Poland]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)