PAYMENTS : Payment method
accepted : Paypal .
SHIPPMENT : SHIPP worldwide
via registered airmail is $ 39 ( The volume is extremely heavy - Over 2 KG ) . Book will be sent inside a protective packaging . Handling around 5 days after payment.
Warsaw, the capital of Poland, once had a Jewish population equivalent to the number of Jews living in all of France. It was the only city that rivaled New York’s Jewish population. Early History Jews settled in Warsaw during the 14th century, after the reign of King Kasimierz. Even at this early stage, non-Jewish townsman felt hostility toward the Jews. In 1483, Jewish inhabitants were expelled from Warsaw. From 1527-1768, Jews were officially banned from the city; consequently, Jewish settlers lived in jurydykas (privately owned settlements) on the outskirts of the city. Some Jews were allowed to enter the city for short periods of time. After 1572, Jews were allowed to enter Warsaw during conventions of the National Sejm (parliament). Jewish representatives in the Council of Lands were also permitted to visit Warsaw. According to a census in 1765, 2,519 Jews lived in Warsaw. This number increased after Jews were officially allowed to live in the city in 1768. By 1792, the Jewish population nearly tripled to 6,750. A Jewish bourgeoisie began to form in Poland, consisting mainly of businessman, taverners, and artisans. Jewish entrepreneurs also emerged, acting as moneylenders and army suppliers. Jews were not allowed to have an authorized Jewish community until the Prussian conquest; however, those living in the city still ran prayer meetings, charitable associations and appointed Jewish leaders to take care of tax collection and other judicial services. Following the first partition of Poland in 1772, a rise in organized street fights against the Jews took place. Three years later, there was a partial expulsion of Jews from Warsaw. Many Jews in Warsaw participated in the Polish uprising against the Russians during the partition period and were killed when Russian troops massacred the Jewish civilian population. In 1796, Warsaw became part of Prussia and Jews were subject to Juden Reglements, which only allowed Jews living in Warsaw prior to 1796 to remain in the city. By 1804, 11,630 Jews lived in Warsaw. Jews were subject to attacks by the Polish population in 1805. In the late 18th century, Hasidism spread to Warsaw. On the other hand, the Haskalah, Jewish enlightenment, was not as strong. The followers of the Enlightenment Movement (maskilim), led by Isaac Flatau, formed their own synagogue, called the German Synagogue, in 1802. In 1809, a Jewish quarter was established in the city. Only Jewish bankers, merchants, manufacturers, army suppliers, and doctors were allowed to live there, if they agreed to wear European style clothing and send their children to general schools. In 1826, a government-sponsored Rabbinical assembly opened; it closed in 1863 during the Polish uprisings. The population of Warsaw continued to grow in the19th and 20th century. In 1816, Jews numbered 15, 600 and, by 1910, the population reached 337,000 (38% of the total population of Warsaw). This rise was due to mass migration in the 1860's and another set of migrations after the 1881 pogroms in Russia, after which 150,000 Jews moved to Warsaw. Many Jews came from Lithuania, Belorussia and the Ukraine. In the early 1800's, life in the "Jewish Quarter" was restricted, but improved in the 1860's. Jews participated in the Polish uprisings against the Russians in the 1860's. Also during this period, Jews continued to play an important role in banking. Jewish bankers also had monopolies in the sale of salt and alcoholic beverages. Jews consisted of more than half of all those involved in commerce in the city and were also involved in the crafts. Religious, Social and Political Life During the late 1800's, Hasidism further spread throughout Warsaw. Nearly two-thirds of Warsaw’s 300 approved synagogues were Hasidic. On the other hand, the rise of the Mitnaggdim also grew with the arrival of the Litvaks. Warsaw’s Jewish leadership, until the end of the 1860's, was mainly Orthodox. Four rabbis served all of Warsaw and they removed from office all the Mitnaggdim, whom did not find favor in the eyes of the Hasidic Jews. Jewish education in this period was run by Orthodox groups in the form of the heder, small classes often located in the house of the rabbi. By the mid-19th century, nearly 90% of all Jewish children attended heder. In 1896, 433 authorized hederim existed in Warsaw, as well as a number of unauthorized ones. In this period, assimilationist philosophy became popular among the youth. Many Jews converted to Christianity and Warsaw had the highest conversion rate in Eastern Europe. From the late 18th century, the Jewish community in Praga was centered around Szeroka and Petersburska streets (now Jagiellonska and Klopotowska). A round, masonry synagogue was built in the neighborhood by architect Józef Lessel in 1836. It was one of only six circular buildings in all of Europe, and the most important meeting place for Jews in Praga before World War II.. The synagogue was used as a delousing center during the Nazi occupation. After the war, the building housed offices of the Central Jewish Committee in Poland. In 1961, the building was demolished over Jewish protest, though it was still in good condition. Since 1991, the site has been used for a public high school. The largest and most beautiful synagogue in Warsaw was the Great Synagogue in Tlomackie Square. This was the only place offering a Reform service, and it was used by the wealthy and middle class, as well as the intelligentsia. Unlike the Nozyk Synagogue where Yiddish was spoken, Polish was used in the Great Synagogue. The synagogue, designed by Leandro Marconi (who came from a family of architects, one of whom had designed the Pawiak prison later used in the Warsaw Ghetto), held 2,400 people and had a large hall, meeting rooms, an archive, a library, and a school. It was completed in 1878. The Main Judaic library was erected next to the Great Synagogue in 1936. Construction was funded by donations of the Jewish population, and State and municipal subsidies. Its designer was the architect Edward Eber. Most of Warsaw's synagogues were small, often private, prayer houses located in the courtyards or backyards of tenements. One such synagogue was discovered in one of the oldest houses in Praga-Warsaw. Built in 1811 at what is now 50/52 Targowa Street, the building was turned into a warehouse after World War II. Inside fragments of wall paintings depicting the Western Wall, Rachel's Tomb, and signs of the Zodiac remain. A Hebrew inscription says the paintings were financed by donations in 1934. Zionist groups flourished in Warsaw in the late 1800's. Chapters of Hovevei Zion and the Society Menuha ve Nahalah opened. Hovevei Zion opened its own modern heder in Warsaw in 1885. The Bund, Jewish socialists, also promoted their ideologies. The Bund was popular among Jewish workers and helped promote Yiddish culture. The Bund was ardently opposed to Zionism and the revival of Hebrew. Jewish Press Yiddish and Polish weeklies emerged in the 1820's and the Hebrew Press began later in the 1880's. Warsaw became the center of Hebrew publishing in Poland and many famous writers either lived or worked in the city, including: Isaac Bashevis Singer, Shalom Asch, I.L. Peretz, David Frischman and Nachum Sokolow. World War I and the Inter-War Period During World War I, thousands of refugees came to Warsaw. By 1917, there were 343,000 Jews living in Warsaw, about 41% of the total population. In this period, the Jewish population increased, while the percentage of Jews living in Warsaw, compared to non-Jews, decreased to about 30%. Many Jews — about 34% in 1931 — were unemployed. The main political struggle in Warsaw and in Poland took place between the Zionists parties and the Orthodox -Hasidic groups, which had joined together and formed the Agudat Israel. By 1936, though, the Bund had received the majority of votes to serve on the communal leadership and represent the Jewish community in the Warsaw municipality. The Polish government annulled the election results, however, and appointed a different community (kahal) board, which was used until the beginning of the German occupation. In the inter-war period, a Jewish school system existed, but most Jews attended state schools. During this period, many Hebrew writers immigrated to Israel; nevertheless, the Yiddish and Polish Jewish press still thrived. By the start of World War II, more than 1,000 Jewish workers were involved in Hebrew printing works in Warsaw. The Holocaust Warsaw’s pre-war Jewish population in 1939 was 393,950 Jews, approximately one-third of the city total. From October 1939 to January 1940, Germans enacted anti-Jewish measures, including forced labor, the wearing of a Jewish star and a prohibition against riding on public transportation. In April 1940, construction of the ghetto walls began. On Yom Kippur, October 12, 1940, the Nazis announced the building of Jewish residential quarters. Roughly 30% of the city’s population was to be confined to an area that comprised just 2.4% of city lands. Jews from Warsaw and those deported from other places throughout Western Europe were ordered to move into the ghetto, while 113,000 Christians were moved out of the area. The ghetto was divided into two sections, a small ghetto at the south end and a larger one at the north end. German and Polish police guarded its outside entrance and a Jewish militia was formed to police the inside. The population of the ghetto reached more than half a million people. Unemployment was a major problem in the ghetto. Illegal workshops were created to manufacture goods to be sold illegally on the outside and raw goods were smuggled in. Children became couriers and smugglers. Hospitals, public soup kitchens, orphanages, refugee centers and recreation facilities were formed, as well as a school system. Some schools were illegal and operated under the guise of a soup kitchen. Still, many Jews died from mass epidemics (such as typhoid) and hunger. The streets were filled with corpses. Jews in the ghetto still had to pay for burial, and if they couldn't afford it, the bodies were left unburied. Clandestine prayer groups and yeshivot were also started. Some religious Jews believed that their suffering was preordained and would bring about the Messiah. There were also many religious Jews involved in heroic acts. One famous leader was Janusz Korczak, the director of the Jewish orphanage, who chose to accompany the children he cared for when they were deported. Deportations This first mass deportation of 300,000 Jews to Treblinka began in the summer of 1942. The number of deportees averaged about 5,000-7,000 people daily, and reached a high of 13,000. At first, ghetto factory workers, Jewish police, Judenrat members, hospital workers and their families were spared, but they were also periodically subject to deportation. Only 35,000 were allowed to remain in the ghetto at one time. Adam Czerniakow, the head of the Warsaw Judenrat committed suicide on July 23, 1942, to protest the killing of Jewish children. A second wave of deportations to Treblinka began on January 18, 1943, during which many factory workers and hospital personnel were taken. Unexpected Jewish armed resistance, however, forced the Nazis to retreat from the ghetto after four days of deportations. The Ghetto Uprising Following the armed resistance in January 1943, all social institutions and the Judenrat ceased to function and even walking on the streets became illegal. Mordechai Anielewicz, at the age of 24, became the leader of the Jewish Fighting Organization (ZOB). He recruited more than 750 fighters, but amassed only 9 rifles, 59 pistols and a couple of grenades. A developed network of bunkers and fortifications were formed. The Jewish fighters also received support from the Polish Underground. On April 19, 1943, the Warsaw Ghetto uprising began when German troops penetrated the ghetto to begin a third round of mass deportations. The ZOB faced a formidable force of 2,000 armed German soldiers, yet the Germans were unable to defeat the Jews in open street combat. After several days, the Germans switched tactics and began burning down houses. The ZOB headquarters on 18 Mila Street fell on May 8, 1943; at this time Mordechai Anielewicz died in battle. On May 16, 1943, the ghetto was liquidated and the Germans blew up the Great Synagogue on Tomlacke Street in victory. Sixty thousand Jews died in the ghetto uprising. Not all Jews were found by the Nazis by May 16 and intermittent fighting lasted until June 1943. About 50 ghetto fighters were saved by the Polish "People’s Guard" and formed their own partisan group, named after Anielewicz. The Warsaw Ghetto uprising empowered Jews throughout Poland and resulted in armed resistance in other ghettos. After the ghetto was liquidated, Jewish leaders continued to work underground on the "Aryan" side by hiding Jews and issuing forged documents. Many Jews became active in the Polish underground of Greater Warsaw. Post-War Warsaw In September 1944, Warsaw’s eastern suburb, Praga, was liberated and, in January 1945, the main parts of the city on the left bank were liberated by the Soviets. About 6,000 Jews participated in the battle for the liberation of Warsaw. Two thousand Jewish survivors were found in underground hideouts, when the city was liberated. When the city stadium was built, the bones of approximately 100,000 people were found in a mass grave and reburied in the city cemetery. The message reads: "Here was the wall of the Ghetto By the end of 1945, 5,000 Jews settled in Warsaw. The population doubled when Jews who survived the war in Russia returned to Warsaw. The city became the seat of the Central Committee of Polish Jews and a number of Jewish cultural institutions were opened in 1949. Over the next two decades, waves of immigration were stimulated by anti-Semitism and communist persecution. The first large group left for Israel in 1946-47 following the Kielce pogrom. Others left in 1957-58 and 1967-68. By 1968, most Jewish institutions ceased to function. Present-Day Warsaw Currently, most of Poland’s Jewish population lives in Warsaw. The Union of Religious Congregations has its main office in Warsaw. There is both a Jewish primary school and a kindergarten. Warsaw also houses the offices of the Main Judaic Library and Museum of Jewish Martyrology. It is the home also of the E.R. Kaminska Jewish Theater, the only regularly functioning Yiddish theater in the world. Most of its actors today are not Jewish. While parts of Europe have seen an upsurge of anti-Semitism, this has not occurred in Poland. While Jews living in Warsaw feel their situation today is good, few are in prominent positions. One of the major issues for the community remains the restitution of property taken from Jews during the war. ***** The history of the Jews in Poland dates back over 1,000 years. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Jewish community in the world. Poland was the centre of Jewish culture, thanks to a long period of statutory religious tolerance and social autonomy. This ended with the Partitions of Poland which began in 1772, in particular, with the discrimination and persecution of Jews in the Russian Empire. During World War II there was a nearly complete genocidal destruction of the Polish Jewish community by Nazi Germany and its collaborators, during the 1939–1945 German occupation of Poland and the ensuing Holocaust. Since the fall of communism in Poland, there has been a Jewish revival, characterized by the annual Jewish Culture Festival, new study programmes at Polish high schools and universities, the work of synagogues such as the Nożyk and the Museum of the History of Polish Jews.
From the founding of the Kingdom of Poland in 1025 through to the early years of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealthcreated in 1569, Poland was the most tolerant country in Europe.[4] Known as paradisus judaeorum (Latin for "Paradiseof the Jews"), it became a shelter for persecuted and expelled European Jewish communities and the home to the world's largest Jewish community of the time. According to some sources, about three-quarters of the world's Jews lived in Poland by the middle of the 16th century.[5][6][7] With the weakening of the Commonwealth and growing religious strife (due to the Protestant Reformation and Catholic Counter-Reformation), Poland's traditional tolerance[8] began to wane from the 17th century onward.[9] After the Partitions of Poland in 1795 and the destruction of Poland as a sovereign state, Polish Jews were subject to the laws of the partitioning powers, the increasingly antisemitic Russian Empire,[10]as well as Austria-Hungary and Kingdom of Prussia (later a part of the German Empire). Still, as Poland regained independence in the aftermath of World War I, it was the center of the European Jewish world with one of the world's largest Jewish communities of over 3 million. Antisemitism was a growing problem throughout Europe in those years, from both the political establishment and the general population.[11]
At the start of World War II, Poland was partitioned between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union (see Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact). One-fifth of the Polish population perished during World War II, half of them were 3,000,000 Polish Jews murdered in The Holocaust, constituting 90% of Polish Jewry.[12][13] Although the Holocaust occurred largely in German-occupied Poland, there was little collaboration with the Nazis by its citizens. Collaboration by individual Poles has been described as smaller than in other occupied countries.[14][15] Statistics of the Israeli War Crimes Commission indicate that less than 0.1% of Poles collaborated with the Nazis.[16] Examples of Polish attitudes to German atrocities varied widely, from actively risking death in order to save Jewish lives,[17] and passive refusal to inform on them; to indifference, blackmail,[18] and in extreme cases, participation in pogroms such as the Jedwabne pogrom. Grouped by nationality, Poles represent the largest number of people who rescued Jews during the Holocaust.[19][20]
Part of a series of articles on the
History of Jews and
Judaism in Poland
History of the Jews in Poland
20th century
The Holocaust in occupied Poland
Jewish ghettos in German-occupied Poland
Nazi camps
Jewish resistance under Nazi rule
Ghetto uprisings
Rescue of Jews by
Poles during the Holocaust
Polish Righteous Among the Nations
1989–present
Timeline of Jewish-Polish history
List of Polish Jews
vte
Part of a series on
Jews and Judaism
EtymologyWho is a Jew?
Jewish peoplehoodJewish identity
Religion[show]
Texts[show]
Communities[show]
Population[show]
Denominations[show]
Culture[show]
Languages[show]
History[show]
Politics[show]
Category: Jews and Judaism
Portal: Judaism
vte
In the postwar period, many of the approximately 200,000 Jewish survivors registered at Central Committee of Polish Jews or CKŻP (of whom 136,000 arrived from the Soviet Union)[20][21][22] left the People's Republic of Poland for the nascent State of Israel and North or South America. Their departure was hastened by the destruction of Jewish institutions, post-war violence and the hostility of the Communist Party to both religion and private enterprise, but also because in 1946–1947 Poland was the only Eastern Bloc country to allow free Jewish aliyah to Israel,[23] without visas or exit permits.[24][25] Britain demanded Poland to halt the exodus, but their pressure was largely unsuccessful.[26] Most of the remaining Jews left Poland in late 1968 as the result of the Soviet-sponsored[27] "anti-Zionist" campaign. After the fall of the Communist regime in 1989, the situation of Polish Jews became normalized and those who were Polish citizens before World War II were allowed to renew Polish citizenship. Religious institutions were revived, largely through the activities of Jewish foundations from the United States. The contemporary Polish Jewish community is estimated to have between 10,000 and 20,000 members,[28][29]. The number of people with Jewish heritage of any sort may be several times larger.[30]
Contents [hide]
1 Early history to Golden Age: 966–1572
1.1 Early history: 966–1385
1.2 The early Jagiellon era: 1385–1505
1.3 Center of the Jewish world: 1505–72
2 The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth: 1572–1795
2.1 The Cossack uprising and the Deluge
3 The development of Judaism in Poland and the Commonwealth
3.1 Jewish learning
3.2 The rise of Hasidism
4 The Partitions of Poland
5 Jews of Poland within the Russian Empire (1795–1918)
5.1 Pale of Settlement
5.2 Pogroms within the Russian Empire
5.3 Haskalah and Halakha
5.4 Politics in Polish territory
6 Interwar period 1918–1939
6.1 Fight for independence and Polish Jews
6.2 Jewish and Polish culture
6.3 Growing antisemitism
7 World War II and the destruction of Polish Jewry (1939–45)
7.1 The Polish September campaign
7.2 Territories annexed by the USSR (1939–41)
7.3 The Holocaust: German-occupied Poland
7.4 Ghettos and death camps
7.4.1 Warsaw Ghetto and its uprising
7.4.2 Białystok Ghetto and uprising
8 Communist rule: 1945–1989
8.1 Postwar period
8.2 Aliyah Bet
8.3 1967–1989
9 Since 1989
10 Numbers of Jews in Poland since 1920
11 See also
12 Notes
13 References
14 Further reading
14.1 Maps
14.2 History of Polish Jews
14.3 World War II and the Holocaust
Early history to Golden Age: 966–1572[edit]
The Reception of the Jews in Poland. Painting by Jan Matejko, 1889
Adalbert of Prague freeing Slavic Christian slaves from Jewish merchants—relief of Gniezno Cathedral Doors
Main article: Jews in the Middle Ages
Further information: History of Jews in Poland before the 18th century
Early history: 966–1385[edit]
Main article: History of Poland (966-1385)
The first Jews arrived in the territory of modern Poland in the 10th century. By travelling along the trade routes leading eastwards to Kiev and Bukhara, Jewish merchants, known as Radhanites, crossed the areas of Silesia. One of them, a diplomat and merchant from the Moorish town of Tortosa in Spanish Al-Andalus, known under his Arabic name of Ibrahim ibn Jakub, was the first chronicler to mention the Polish state under the rule of prince Mieszko I. In the summer of 965 or 966 Jacob made a trade and diplomatic journey from his native Toledo in Muslim Spain to the Holy Roman Empire and Slavonic countries.[31] The first actual mention of Jews in Polish chronicles occurs in the 11th century. It appears that Jews were then living in Gniezno, at that time the capital of the Polish kingdom of the Piast dynasty. Among the first Jews to arrive in Poland (in 1097 or 1098) were those banished from Prague.[31] The first permanent Jewish community is mentioned in 1085 by a Jewish scholar Jehuda ha-Kohen in the city of Przemyśl.[32]
Early medieval Polish coins with Hebrew inscriptions
The first extensive Jewish emigration from Western Europe to Poland occurred at the time of the First Crusade in 1098. Under Bolesław III (1102–1139), the Jews, encouraged by the tolerant regime of this ruler, settled throughout Poland, including over the border in Lithuanianterritory as far as Kiev.[33] Bolesław III recognized the utility of Jews in the development of the commercial interests of his country. Jews came to form the backbone of the Polish economy. Mieszko III employed Jews in his mint as engravers and technical supervisors, and the coins minted during that period even bear Hebraic markings.[31] Jews worked on commission for the mints of other contemporary Polish princes, including Casimir the Just, Bolesław I the Tall and Władysław III Spindleshanks.[31] Jews enjoyed undisturbed peace and prosperity in the many principalities into which the country was then divided; they formed the middle class in a country where the general population consisted of landlords (developing into szlachta, the unique Polish nobility) and peasants, and they were instrumental in promoting the commercial interests of the land.
Another factor for the Jews to emigrate to Poland were the Magdeburg rights, or Magdeburg Law, a charter given to the Jews, among others, that specifically outlined the rights and privileges that Jews had coming into Poland. For example, they could define their neighborhoods and economic competitors and set up monopolies. This made it very attractive for Jewish communities to pick up and move to Poland.[34]
Gesta principum Polonorum states that Princess Judith of Bohemia, wife of Polish Prince Władysław I Herman ransomed many Christians with her own money from the bondage of the Jews.[35]
The first mention of Jewish settlers in Płock dates from 1237, in Kalisz from 1287 and a Zydowska (Jewish) street in Kraków in 1304.[31]
The tolerant situation was gradually altered by the Roman Catholic Church on the one hand, and by the neighboring German states on the other.[36] There were, however, among the reigning princes some determined protectors of the Jewish inhabitants, who considered the presence of the latter most desirable as far as the economic development of the country was concerned. Prominent among such rulers was Bolesław the Pious of Kalisz, Prince of Great Poland. With the consent of the class representatives and higher officials, in 1264 he issued a General Charter of Jewish Liberties, the Statute of Kalisz, which granted all Jews the freedom of worship, trade and travel. Similar privileges were granted to the Silesian Jews by the local princes, Prince Henry Probus of Wrocław in 1273–90, Henry of Glogow in 1274 and 1299, Henry of Legnica in 1290 – 95 and Bolko of Legnica and Wrocław in 1295.[31]
During the next hundred years, the Church pushed for the persecution of the Jews while the rulers of Poland usually protected them.[37] The Councils of Wrocław (1267), Buda (1279), and Łęczyca (1285) each segregated Jews, ordered them to wear a special emblem, banned them from holding offices where Christians would be subordinated to them, and forbade them from building more than one prayer house in each town. However, those church decrees required the cooperation of the Polish princes for enforcement, which was generally not forthcoming, due to the profits which the Jews' economic activity yielded to the princes.[31]
Wojciech Gerson, Reception of Jews, Casimir the Great and Jews
In 1332, King Casimir III the Great (1303–1370) amplified and expanded Bolesław's old charter with the Wiślicki Statute. Under his reign, streams of Jewish immigrants headed east to Poland and Jewish settlements are first mentioned as existing in Lvov (1356), Sandomierz (1367), and Kazimierz near Kraków (1386).[31] Casimir, who according to a legend had a Jewish lover named Esterka from Opoczno[38] was especially friendly to the Jews, and his reign is regarded as an era of great prosperity for Polish Jewry, and was nicknamed by his contemporaries "King of the serfs and Jews." Under penalty of death, he prohibited the kidnapping of Jewish children for the purpose of enforced Christian baptism. He inflicted heavy punishment for the desecration of Jewish cemeteries. Nevertheless, while for the greater part of Casimir’s reign the Jews of Poland enjoyed tranquility, toward its close they were subjected to persecution on account of the Black Death. In 1348, the first blood libel accusation against Jews in Poland was recorded, and in 1367 the first pogrom took place in Poznań (Posen).[39]Compared with the pitiless destruction of their co-religionists in Western Europe, however, the Polish Jews did not fare badly; and the Jewish masses of Germany fled to the more hospitable cities in Poland.
The early Jagiellon era: 1385–1505[edit]
Main article: History of Poland (1385–1569)
As a result of the marriage of Wladislaus II (Jagiełło) to Jadwiga, daughter of Louis I of Hungary, Lithuania was united with the kingdom of Poland. In 1388–1389, broad privileges were extended to Lithuanian Jews including freedom of religion and commerce on equal terms with the Christians.[40] Under the rule of Wladislaus II, Polish Jews had increased in numbers and attained prosperity. However, religious persecution gradually increased, as the dogmatic clergy pushed for less official tolerance, pressured by the Synod of Constance. In 1349 pogroms took place in many towns in Silesia.[31] There were accusations of blood libel by the priests, and new riots against the Jews in Poznań in 1399. Accusations of blood libel by another fanatic priest led to the riots in Kraków in 1407, although the royal guard hastened to the rescue.[40] Hysteria caused by Black Death led to additional 14th-century outbreaks of violence against the Jews in Kalisz, Kraków and Bochnia. Traders and artisans jealous of Jewish prosperity, and fearing their rivalry, supported the harassment. In 1423 the statute of Warka forbade Jews the granting of loans against letters of credit or mortgage and limited their operations exclusively to loans made on security of moveable property.[31] In the 14th and 15th centuries rich Jewish merchants and moneylenders leased the royal mint, salt mines and the collecting of customs and tolls. The most famous of them were Jordan and his son Lewko of Kraków in the 14th century and Jakub Slomkowicz of Luck, Wolczko of Drohobycz, Natko of Lvov, Samson of Zydaczow, Josko of Hrubieszow and Szania of Belz in the 15th century. For example, Wolczko of Drohobycz, King Ladislaus Jagiello's broker, was the owner of several villages in the Ruthenian voivodship and the soitys (administrator) of the village of Werbiz. Also Jews from Grodno were in this period owners of villages, manors, meadows, fish ponds and mills. However until the end of the 15th century agriculture as a source of income played only a minor role among Jewish families. More important were crafts for the needs of both their fellow Jews and the Christian population (fur making, tanning, tailoring).[31]
Casimir IV Jagiellonconfirmed and extended Jewish charters in the second half of the 15th century
In 1454 anti-Jewish riots flared up in Wrocław and other Silesian cities, inspired by a Franciscan friar, John of Capistrano, who accused Jews of profaning the Christian religion. As a result, Jews were banished from Lower Silesia. Zbigniew Olesnicki then invited John to conduct a similar campaign in Kraków and several other cities, to lesser effect. In 1495, Jews were ordered out of the center of Kraków and allowed to settle in the "Jewish town" of Kazimierz. In the same year, Alexander Jagiellon, following the example of Spanish rulers, banished the Jews from Lithuania. For several years they took shelter in Poland until they were allowed back to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1503.[31]
The decline in the status of the Jews was briefly checked by Casimir IV the Jagiellonian (1447–1492), but soon the nobility forced him to issue the Statute of Nieszawa.[41] Among other things it abolished the ancient privileges of the Jews "as contrary to divine right and the law of the land." Nevertheless, the king continued to offer his protection to the Jews. Two years later Casimir issued another document announcing that he could not deprive the Jews of his benevolence on the basis of "the principle of tolerance which in conformity with God's laws obliged him to protect them".[42] The policy of the government toward the Jews of Poland oscillated under Casimir's sons and successors, John I Albert (1492–1501) and Alexander the Jagiellonian (1501–1506). The latter decreed in 1495 to expel the Jews from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania when he was the Grand Duke of Lithuania but reversed his decision eight years later in 1503 after becoming King of Poland. The next year he issued a proclamation in which he stated that a policy of tolerance befitted "kings and rulers".[42]
Center of the Jewish world: 1505–72[edit]
Sigismund II Augustusfollowed in the tolerant policy of his father and also granted autonomy to the Jews.
Poland became more tolerant just as the Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492, as well as from Austria, Hungary and Germany, thus stimulating Jewish immigration to the much more accessible Poland. Indeed, with the expulsion of the Jews from Spain, Poland became the recognized haven for exiles from Western Europe; and the resulting accession to the ranks of Polish Jewry made it the cultural and spiritual center of the Jewish people.
The most prosperous period for Polish Jews began following this new influx of Jews with the reign of Sigismund I the Old (1506–1548), who protected the Jews in his realm. His son, Sigismund II Augustus (1548–1572), mainly followed in the tolerant policy of his father and also granted autonomy to the Jews in the matter of communal administration and laid the foundation for the power of the Qahal, or autonomous Jewish community. This period led to the creation of a proverb about Poland being a "heaven for the Jews". According to some sources, about three-quarters of all Jews lived in Poland by the middle of the 16th century.[5][6][7] In the middle of the 16th century, Poland welcomed the Jewish newcomers from Italy and Turkey, mostly of Sephardi origin. However, some of the immigrants from the Ottoman Empire are still considered Mizrahim. Jewish religious life thrived in many Polish communities. In 1503, the Polish monarchy appointed Rabbi Jacob Pollak, the official Rabbi of Poland, marking the emergence of the Chief Rabbinate. By 1551, Jews were given permission to choose their own Chief Rabbi. The Chief Rabbinate held power over law and finance, appointing judges and other officials. Some power was shared with local councils. The Polish government permitted the Rabbinate to grow in power, to use it for tax collection purposes. Only 30% of the money raised by the Rabbinate served Jewish causes, the rest went to the Crown for protection. In this period Poland-Lithuania became the main center for Ashkenazi Jewry and its yeshivotachieved fame from the early 16th century.
Moses Isserles (1520–1572), an eminent Talmudist of the 16th century, established his yeshiva in Kraków. In addition to being a renowned Talmudic and legal scholar, Isserles was also learned in Kabbalah, and studied history, astronomy, and philosophy. The Remuh Synagogue was built for him in 1557. Rema (רמ״א) is the Hebrew acronym for his name.[43]
The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth: 1572–1795[edit]
See also: History of Poland (1572–1795), Jewish Polish history during the 18th century, and Warsaw Confederation (1573)
After the childless death of Sigismund II Augustus, the last king of the Jagiellon dynasty, Polish and Lithuanian nobles (szlachta) gathered at Warsaw in 1573 and signed a document in which representatives of all major religions pledged mutual support and tolerance. The following eight or nine decades of material prosperity and relative security experienced by Polish Jews – wrote Professor Gershon Hundert – witnessed the appearance of "a virtual galaxy of sparkling intellectual figures." Jewish academies were established in Lublin, Kraków, Brześć (Brisk), Lwów, Ostróg and other towns.[44] Poland-Lithuania was the only country in Europe where the Jews cultivated their own farmer's fields.[45]
Number of Jews in Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth per voivodeship in 1764
The Cossack uprising and the Deluge[edit]
In 1648 the Commonwealth was devastated by several conflicts, in which the country lost over a third of its population (over three million people). The Jewish losses were counted in the hundreds of thousands. The first of these large-scale atrocities was the Chmielnicki Uprising, in which Bohdan Khmelnytsky's Cossacks massacred tens of thousands of Jews and Catholic Poles in the eastern and southern areas he controlled (today's Ukraine).[46] The precise number of dead is not known, but the decrease of the Jewish population during this period is estimated at 100,000 to 200,000, which also includes emigration, deaths from diseases and jasyr (captivity in the Ottoman Empire). The Jewish community suffered greatly during the 1648 Cossack uprising which had been directed primarily against the Polish nobility. The Jews, perceived as allies of the nobles, were also victims of the revolt, during which about 20% of them were killed.
Ruled by the elected kings of the House of Vasa since 1587, the embattled Commonwealth was invaded by the Swedish Empire in 1655 in what became known as the Deluge. The kingdom of Poland which had already suffered from the Chmielnicki Uprising and from the recurring invasions of the Russians, Crimean Tatars and Ottomans, became the scene of even more atrocities. Charles X of Sweden, at the head of his victorious army, overran the cities of Kraków and Warsaw. The amount of destruction, pillage and methodical plunder during the Siege of Kraków (1657) was so enormous that parts the city never again recovered. The Polish general Stefan Czarniecki defeated the Swedes in 1660. He was equally successful in his battles against the Russians.[47] Meanwhile, the horrors of the war were aggravated by pestilence. Many Jews along with the townsfolk of Kalisz, Kraków, Poznań, Piotrków and Lublin fell victim to recurring epidemics.[48][49]
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, it still was more numerous than that of the Jewish colonies in Western Europe. Poland continued to be the spiritual center of Judaism. Through 1698, the Polish kings generally remained supportive of the Jews. It also should be noted that while Jewish losses in those events were high, estimated by some historians to be close to 500,000, the Commonwealth lost one third of its population — approximately three million of its citizens.
A Jewish couple in Poland, around 1765.
The environment of the Polish Commonwealth – wrote Professor Gershon Hundert – profoundly affected Jews due to genuinely positive encounter with the Christian culture across the many cities and towns owned by the Polish aristocracy. There was no isolation.[50] The Jewish dress resembled that of their Polish neighbor. "Reports of romances, of drinking together in taverns, and of intellectual conversations are quite abundant." Wealthy Jews had Polish noblemen at their table, and served meals on silver plates.[50] By 1764, there were about 750,000 Jews in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The worldwide Jewish population at that time was estimated at 1.2 million. In 1768 the Koliyivshchyna rebellion west of the Dnieper river in Volhynia led to ferocious murders of Polish noblemen, Catholic priests and thousands of Jews.[51] Four years later, in 1772, the military Partitions of Poland had begun between Russia, Prussia and Austria.[52]
The development of Judaism in Poland and the Commonwealth[edit]
The culture and intellectual output of the Jewish community in Poland had a profound impact on Judaism as a whole. Some Jewish historians have recounted that the word Poland is pronounced as Polania or Polin in Hebrew, and as transliterated into Hebrew, these names for Poland were interpreted as "good omens" because Polania can be broken down into three Hebrew words: po("here"), lan ("dwells"), ya ("God"), and Polin into two words of: po ("here") lin ("[you should] dwell"). The "message" was that Poland was meant to be a good place for the Jews. During the time from the rule of Sigismund I the Old until the Nazi Holocaust, Poland would be at the center of Jewish religious life. Many agreed with Rabbi David ben Shemu’el ha-Levi (Taz) that Poland was a place where “most of the time the gentiles do no harm; on the contrary they do right by Israel” (Divre David;1689).[53]
Jewish learning[edit]
Late renaissance synagogue in Zamość (1610–1620).
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 Kraków, Poznań, and other cities. Jewish printing establishments came into existence in the first quarter of the 16th century. In 1530 a Hebrew Pentateuch(Torah) was printed in Kraków; 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 16th 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-author 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 co-religionists; and the authority of both was recognized by the Jews throughout Europe. Heated religious disputations were common, and Jewish scholars participated in them. At the same time, the Kabbalah had become entrenched under the protection of Rabbinism; and such scholars as Mordecai Jaffe and Yoel Sirkisdevoted themselves to its study. This period of great Rabbinical scholarship was interrupted by the Chmielnicki Uprising and The Deluge.
The rise of Hasidism[edit]
Jacob Frank
Main article: Hasidim
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. What religious study there was became overly formalized, 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 importance. At the same time, many miracle workers made their appearance among the Jews of Poland, culminating in a series of false "Messianic" movements, most famously as Sabbatianism was succeeded by Frankism.
In this time of mysticism and overly formal rabbinism came the teachings of Israel ben Eliezer, known as the Baal Shem Tov, or BeShT, (1698–1760), which had a profound effect on the Jews of Eastern Europe and Poland in particular. His disciples taught and encouraged the new fervent brand of Judaism based on Kabbalah known as Hasidism. The rise of Hasidic Judaism within Poland's borders and beyond had a great influence on the rise of Haredi Judaism all over the world, with a continuous influence through its many Hasidic dynasties including those of Chabad-Lubavitch, Aleksander, Bobov, Ger, Nadvorna, among others. See also: List of Polish Rabbis
The Partitions of Poland[edit]
Jewish dress in the 17th (top) and the 18th century (bottom).
Disorder and anarchy reigned supreme in Poland during the second half of the 18th century, from the accession to the throne of its last king, Stanislaus II Augustus Poniatowski in 1764. His election was bought by Catherine the Great for 2.5 million rubles, with the Russian army stationing only three miles away from Warsaw.[54] Eight years later, triggered by the Confederation of Bar against the Russian influence and the pro-Russian king, the outlying provinces of Poland were overrun from all sides by different military forces and divided for the first time by the three neighboring empires, Russia, Austria, and Prussia.[54] The Commonwealth lost 30% of its land during the annexations of 1772, and even more of its peoples.[55] Jews were most numerous in the territories that fell under the military control of Austria-Hungary and Russia.
Berek Joselewicz (1764–1809)
The permanent council established at the instance of the Russian government (1773–1788) 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. The famous Komisja Edukacji Narodowej ("Commission of National Education"), the first ministry of education in the world, was established in 1773 and founded numerous new schools and remodeled the old ones. One of the members of the commission, kanclerz Andrzej Zamoyski, along with others, demanded that the inviolability of their persons and property should be guaranteed and that religious toleration should be to a certain extent granted them; but he insisted that Jews living in the cities should be separated from the Christians, that those of them having no definite occupation should be banished from the kingdom, and that even those engaged in agriculture should not be allowed to possess land. On the other hand, some szlachta 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 broadmindedness in dealing with the Jewish question. But all these reforms were too late: a Russian army soon invaded Poland, and soon after a Prussian one followed.
A second partition of Poland was made on July 17, 1793. Jews, in a Jewish regiment led by Berek Joselewicz, took part in the Kościuszko Uprising the following year, when the Poles tried to again achieve independence, but were brutally put down. Following the revolt, the third and final partition of Poland took place in 1795. The territories which included the great bulk of the Jewish population was transferred to Russia, and thus they became subjects of that empire, although in the first half of the 19th century some semblance of a vastly smaller Polish state was preserved, especially in the form of the Congress Poland (1815–1831).
Under foreign rule many Jews inhabiting formerly Polish lands were indifferent to Polish aspirations for independence. However, most Polonized Jews supported the revolutionary activities of Polish patriots and participated in national uprisings.[56] Polish Jews took part in the November Insurrection of 1830–1831, the January Insurrection of 1863, as well as in the revolutionary movement of 1905. Many Polish Jews were enlisted in the Polish Legions, which fought for the Polish independence, achieved in 1918 when the occupying forces disintegrated following World War One.[56]
Jews of Poland within the Russian Empire (1795–1918)[edit]
Main article: History of Poland (1795–1918)
See also: History of the Jews in 19th-century Poland, History of the Jews in Russia and Soviet Union, and Antisemitism in the Russian Empire
Jewish merchants in 19th-century Warsaw
Official Russian policy would eventually prove to be substantially harsher to the Jews than that under independent Polish rule. The lands that had once been Poland were to remain the home of many Jews, as, in 1772, Catherine II, the Tzarina of Russia, instituted the Pale of Settlement, restricting Jews to the western parts of the empire, which would eventually include much of Poland, although it excluded some areas in which Jews had previously lived. By the late 19th century, over four million Jews would live in the Pale.
Tsarist policy towards the Jews of Poland alternated between harsh rules, and inducements meant to break the resistance to large-scale conversion. In 1804, Alexander I of Russia issued a "Statute Concerning Jews",[57] meant to accelerate the process of assimilation of the Empire's new Jewish population. The Polish Jews were allowed to establish schools with Russian, German or Polish curricula. They could own land in the territories annexed from Poland. However, they were also restricted from leasing property, teaching in Yiddish, and from entering Russia. They were banned from the brewing industry. The harshest measures designed to compel Jews to merge into society at large called for their expulsion from small villages, forcing them to move into towns. Once the resettlement began, thousands of Jews lost their only source of income and turned to Qahal for support. Their living conditions in the Pale began to dramatically worsen.[57]
Map of the Pale of Settlement with the Jewish population density.
During the reign of Tsar Nicolas I, known by the Jews as "Haman the Second", hundreds of new anti-Jewish measures were enacted.[58] The 1827 decree by Nicolas – while lifting the traditional double taxation on Jews in lieu of army service – made Jews subject to general military recruitment laws that required Jewish communities to provide 7 recruits per each 1000 "souls" every 4 years. Unlike the general population that had to provide recruits between the ages of 18 and 35, Jews had to provide recruits between the ages of 12 and 25, at the qahal's discretion. Thus between 1827 and 1857 over 30,000 children were placed in the so-called Cantonist schools, where they were pressured to convert.[59] "Many children were smuggled to Poland, where the conscription of Jews did not take effect until 1844."[58]
Further information on the Garrison schools for male children: Cantonist
Pale of Settlement[edit]
The Pale of Settlement (Russian: Черта́ осе́длости, chertá osédlosti, Yiddish: תּחום-המושבֿ, tkhum-ha-moyshəv, Hebrew: תְּחוּם הַמּוֹשָב, tḥùm ha-mosháv) was the term given to a region of Imperial Russia in which permanent residency by Jews was allowed and beyond which Jewish permanent residency was generally prohibited. It extended from the eastern pale, or demarcation line, to the western Russian border with the Kingdom of Prussia (later the German Empire) and with Austria-Hungary. The archaic English term pale is derived from the Latin word palus, a stake, extended to mean the area enclosed by a fence or boundary.
With its large Catholic and Jewish populations, the Pale was acquired by the Russian Empire (which was majority Russian Orthodox) in a series of military conquests and diplomatic maneuvers between 1791 and 1835, and lasted until the fall of the Russian Empire in 1917. It comprised about 20% of the territory of European Russia and largely corresponded to historical borders of the former Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth; it included much of present-day Lithuania, Belarus, Poland, Moldova, Ukraine, and parts of western Russia.
From 1791 to 1835, and until 1917, there were differing reconfigurations of the boundaries of the Pale, such that certain areas were variously open or shut to Jewish residency, such as the Caucasus. At times, Jews were forbidden to live in agricultural communities, or certain cities, as in Kiev, Sevastopol and Yalta, excluded from residency at a number of cities within the Pale. Settlers from outside the pale were forced to move to small towns, thus fostering the rise of the shtetls.
Although the Jews were accorded slightly more rights with the Emancipation reform of 1861 by Alexander II, they were still restricted to the Pale of Settlement and subject to restrictions on ownership and profession. The existing status quo was shattered with the assassination of Alexander in 1881 – an act falsely blamed upon the Jews.
Pogroms within the Russian Empire[edit]
Printed caricature by painter Henryk Nowodworski, depicting Białystok pogromof 1906. Note the assailant wearing a Tsarist army hat with a cockade sideways
The assassination prompted a large-scale wave of anti-Jewish riots, called pogroms (Russian: погро́м;) throughout 1881–1884. In the 1881 outbreak, pogroms were primarily limited to Russia, although in a riot in Warsaw two Jews were killed, 24 others were wounded, women were raped and over two million rubles worth of property was destroyed.[60][61] The new czar, Alexander III, blamed the Jews for the riots and issued a series of harsh restrictions on Jewish movements. Pogroms continued until 1884, with at least tacit government approval. They proved a turning point in the history of the Jews in partitioned Poland and throughout the world. As a result of the pogroms and the waves of antisemitism, 36 Jewish Zionist delegates met in Katowice, in 1884, forming the Hovevei Zionmovement. The pogroms prompted a great flood of Jewish immigration to the United States. Nearly two million Jews left the Pale by the late 1920s, setting the stage for the Zionist movement.
An even bloodier wave of pogroms broke out from 1903 to 1906, and at least some of the pogroms are believed to have been organized by the Tsarist Russian secret police, the Okhrana. They included the Białystok pogrom of 1906 in the Grodno Governorateof Russian Poland, in which at least 75 Jews were murdered by the marauding soldiers, and many more wounded. However, ethnic Poles did not participate and instead sheltered Jewish families, testified the survivors.[62]
Haskalah and Halakha[edit]
Main article: Haskalah
The Jewish Enlightenment, Haskalah, began to take hold in Poland during the 19th century, stressing secular ideas and values. Champions of Haskalah, the Maskilim, pushed for assimilation and integration into Russian culture. At the same time, there was another school of Jewish thought that emphasized traditional study and a Jewish response to the ethical problems of antisemitism and persecution, one form of which was the Musar movement. Polish Jews generally were less influenced by Haskalah, rather focusing on a strong continuation of their religious lives based on Halakha ("rabbis's law") following primarily Orthodox Judaism, Hasidic Judaism, and also adapting to the new Religious Zionism of the Mizrachi movement later in the 19th century.
Politics in Polish territory[edit]
A Bundist demonstration, 1917
By the late 19th century, Haskalah and the debates it caused created a growing number of political movements within the Jewish community itself, covering a wide range of views and v