Historical
Background
Historical records
verify that Jews have lived in Poland since the middle of the 10th century.
During the Middle Ages, Poland was the only country in Europe to welcome
Jews as they were expelled from England, Spain, and Portugal and fled
from persecution in France and Germany. At the time of partition of Poland
by Germany, Austria, and Russia in the late 18th century, there were far
more Jews living within the borders of Poland than in any country in the
world.
During the 16th
and 17th centuries, Polish Jews enjoyed a cultural and religious freedom
unsurpassed anywhere. The large Jewish populations in the cities of Vilna,
Warsaw, and Lodz became renowned centers for biblical studies. However,
from the beginning of Poland's partition in 1878 through the end of World
War I, a series of restrictive edicts and procedures made life increasingly
difficult for the more than 3 million Jews living in the three occupied
areas under the control of Austro-Hungary, Russia, and Prussia.
Although Poland
was restored as a nation at the end of the First World War, the 20 years
that followed was a time of great economic and political stress. Jewish
citizens found themselves subjected to increasing governmental and social
restrictions. Anti-Semitism, long an underlying reality in broad segments
of Polish life, was further exacerbated by the harsh economic conditions
of the time. The world was experiencing a profound economic depression;
in Poland, there was a 20 percent unemployment rate. Many Poles, influenced
by fascist-oriented political propaganda, blamed what they considered
to be hostile Jewish influences for the economic problems of the country.
On September 1,
1939, Germany invaded western Poland, which was annexed and placed under
German occupation. A short time later, the Soviet Union also invaded Poland
and annexed the eastern area.
Resentment over
Poland's lost independence increased the anti-Semitic feelings of some
Poles. The fact that some Jews were fleeing to the relative safety of
Soviet-occupied Poland, and later the Soviet Union, fueled this resentment.
On the other hand, some Poles, viewing their own oppression as parallel
to that of the Jews, were sympathetic and supportive.
In June 1941, Germany
invaded the Soviet Union. In the process, all of Poland came under German
control. A tragic litany of edicts issued by the German occupation authorities
led to the virtual demise of Jewish life in Poland. At first, Jews were
forced to wear the Star of David on their outer clothing. Jewish-owned
property and businesses were then confiscated. The Jews were then forced
to live in segregated areas (ghettos), which were sealed off from the
rest of the population by troops and barbed wire. Living conditions in
the ghettos were abominable, and thousands died of starvation and disease.
The German decree
to murder all Jews—the "Final Solution"—was made official
at the Wannsee Conference in Germany in January 1942. There followed a
systematic deportation of Jews from Nazi-imposed ghettos to concentration
camps and killing centers constructed in Poland and in other parts of
Europe. Most of these places were established in Poland by the
Germans. In these camps, people suffered humiliation, torture, and death
by many means, including poisonous gas.
At the end of the
war, 90 percent of Polish Jewry had been killed. Of the 300,000 Jews still
alive, most had been saved by escaping into the USSR. Some had survived
the concentration camps when the Germans had not had sufficient time to
kill them. But some survived thanks to the courageous efforts of Polish
people who hid and cared for them through both individual and organized
efforts.
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