j

THE FATE OF THE

IN POLAND DURING WORLD WAR II by Sister Mary Frumentla MIkula, Phe.

A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School, Marquette University In Partial Fulfillment of the Re­ quIrements for the Degree of Mas ter of Arts

Mtl ..uke., Wisconsin July. 1962 j

PREFACE At no other time In hIstory have European Jews suffered as uch 8' between the years of 1939 and 1945 . .t .... s then that un 1eashed I ts fury agal ns t the bearers of the Jewl sh re 1191 on and Jewish nation•• culture. The events of this period present some of the saddest and most tragic chapters of contemporary European history. It Is essential to make the study of these happenings an object; of historical research and to evaluate them from the viewpoint of moral law. Such Is the aim of this paper.

In presenting my research on the fate of the Jews In Poland during ', t am restricting It to the area occupied by the Germans. Documentary facts show that Poland .... s the central extermi­ nation area for Jews driven there from parts of Poland and from other Nazi-enslaved countrIes, I wish to express my gratitude to Dr. Roman Smal-Stockl, of Marquette University who gave so generously of time, scholarly criticism. and evaluation, and to Dr . Judah Rosenthal of the College of Jewish Studies, Chicago, for the loan of Invaluable reading materIals. I am also Indebted to my Community Superior, Reverend Kother Leona, for making study at Marquette possible. l

TAIL&. OF CONTMS

Page I.MTRO-DUCT ION. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • • • • • • • •• • •• • • • • I

CHMTER HistorIcal Sketch Of The Jews In Po'land To The ResurrectIon Of The PolIsh Republic •••• 2

CHAPTER •• The JewIsh P,oblem .In Poland aetween The Wars. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 23

CHAmA III The Nazi Occ;upetJon Of Poland And Its Consequences For The Jews...... 31 A. Olscrlmlnatlve Laws B. Elimination Of Jews froat Polish Life C. Organization Of Ghettos D. The final Aim of the Nazi 'otlcV. the "FInal Solutlon"-Mass Murder of the Jews I. The EDlc of the Warsaw Ghetto CHAPTER IV Summery--The Results Of This Policy •••••••• 63 A. Statlsttcs of Losses 8. Statl,tlc, of Cultural Losses

CHAPTlR V ' ,resent S.I tua t Ion .•...... •.•..•• 75 Bt8L I OGMPHY • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 82 l

INTRODUCTION

The history of the Jews In Poland dates as far back as the

tenth century. Within a span of almost a thousand years, despite desperate struggl.s, the Jews of Poland succeeded In building a strong

central organIzation that fostered the development of Jewish life and

religion and that carried out Important economic. socl,l, and political activities. This Jewish organization was bound not only by religious

traditions but also by cuhure and language, As a resuh of their accomp 11 shments throughout the centuri es. Po 11 sh Jewry became the

center ot: Hebrew culture. Polish Jewry also figured prominently In

the economic growth of Poland.

In 1939. Poland numbered over three million Jews and was at the tIme the center of World Jewry. Today this once spiritually

and culturally richest Jewish eonnunlty of Poland Is practical1y

non-existent. It had become the victim of of the NazI

occupation and had been reduced to a mere remnant. A community that

evolved through a period of almost a thousand years,. within a span of

a few cruel years became dissolved by HItler's savage and bestial rule.

The open I n9 chapters of th I s paper wi 11 unfold the I nl t la I

Influx of Jewish life In Poland. The last chapter wI t1 record the

almost complete foldIng up of JewIsh life. ! "

CHAPTER I

HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE JEWS IN POLAND UP TO THE RESURReCTION OF THE POLISH REPU8LIC The tradition of the Jews In Poland Is more than a thousand years old. It Is therefore, Important to know of the origIn an~ settlement of the Jews In a country to ~Ich they were bound for a millenium. Some old legends trace the Jewish settlements to dates long before the hIstorically recorded accounts. an the early anctent days the Influx must have been slow and seemingly Insignificant. Gradually, the spr~d of Jews having reached signIficant proportIons, gave rise to the growth of Jewish settlements. Before we gIve an account of the appearance of Jews as ImmIgrants Into Poland, we must go Into some historical background. Among the earliest ancIent Greek settlements In Eastern , Greek colonies on the northern shores of the Blaek Sea occupied a pro- mlnent place. The original home of the Slavs was between the Ba ltic and the Black Seas. But the Slavs dId not reach the shores of the Blaek Sea, colonized since the eighth century B. C. by the Greek cities, because of the Scythian barrier which separated them. 1

The Jews followed In the ~ke of the Greeks, and spread Jewish colonies along the Black Sea, as far as Crimea. It Is In this area of

IRoman Smel-Stockl, Slavs and Teutons ("I hilBukee: Bruce PublishIng Co., 1950), p. 49. 3 the Greek colonies that the streams of Jewish Inmlgratlon meet to form East turopean J.ewry. I After the conquests of Alexander the Great (336-323 B.C,), Judea bee.e part of the Hellenistic Or.lent. Following the ex"nv>le of the Greeks. the Jews wandered. and undoubtedly some branches of the D1aspore reached the colony of Taurls. Here. In the first cen­ turies of the Chrhtlan era, which recorded the merging of the ROIIWIn power over the Hellenized East. there Is evidence of weI l-establ I$hed Jewish conmunltles which are the result of a much older colonization. At this time there prospered in Crimea. on the nearby shores of the Bl.~k and Azov Seas, other small communities of Hellenized Jews whose rulers acknowledged the sovereignty of Rome. These centers of we1t"organlzed Jewish cOIlInunal life led writers to belteve that set­ tlements must have existed here In earlier centuries. The most prosperous of these was and the strength of this community

Is revealed on Inscriptions found on Its soil and In the writings of the famous Church father, St. Jerome. 2 After the division of the Roman Etaplre In 476 A.D., the Greco-Judean colonies on the Black Sea fell under the Influence of the Byzantine Empire. Trade brought the colonies of both Taurls and Byzantium Into closer contact. During the under the Emperors Theodoslus II, Zeno. and JustInian In the fIfth and sixth centuries, !DOre Jews dispersed from the ancient provinces into the co lony of Taud s so that. by the .'gh t century. the Jews were In

d 13-'7. 4 the foreground. The mIgration of Jews along 'the trade routes of the Black / Sea and the Volga was of g,qt consequence. In this region. there existed a strong Khanate of the Khazars. a conglomeratIon of Flnno­ Turkish tribes. which pressed In the dIrectIon of the Byzantine domInion. Contradietory dates and varyIng opInIons are found In numerous historical sources regarding the date of theIr conversion. But, It is presumed that In about 740, the I.. der of the Khazars, Buland, and a part of the Khazar people, prIncipally the nobility. adopted JudaIsm. AgaIn. It Is not cleer whether I t .as wholly embraced or In 1IiIh I ch trad I ti on. Accord I"g to scanty records that have been preserved, Buland's successor InvIted many sages to Instruct the Khazar5 I.n the BIble and the Talmud . Though Khazarla never had. sIgnIfIcantly large settlement. nor did It develop any JewIsh culture. it prospered for a perIod of

250 years and .as governed by Khans. profen lng Judaism. I t was ru led In a spIrit of tolerance and the Jewish Khazars maIntained theIr authority untfl the tenth century. However. by the end of the tenth century, the strength of the Russians Increesed. Under the leadership of the Duke of Kiev, the Khazar Khanate was conquered. SOt'II8 Khazars withdrew to regions along the Black Sea and to the Crimean PenInsula, where they contInued their Jewlsh-KhazarJan traditions. Those who professed Judaism probably merged with the native Jews on the shores of the Black Sea and Increased the Jewish settlements on the Crimean peninsula. On the other hand, as a result of their de'eat by the RussIan princes, a fractIon 0·' the Jewish Khazarians beca ... absorbed and Integrated into the KIngdom of Rus . This 5 group of Jews resided .In Kiev, the capital, which was at this tIme deve' op t ng 1n to a great commerc I a 1 center 11 nk I ng Wes tern Europe, the ~/

Black Sea prov'nces, and the Asiatic contlnent.3

Before Poland had even adopted thrlsthlnlty at tl1e end of

the tenth century. Jewish travellers and ..rchants crossed Poland from the west to the east. Wht Ie the Jewish s.ttl ....nts on the shores of the present U.S.S.R. were the result of 1_lgratton from Greco...

Byzantine and Mohammedan lISt, the orlglNl' Jewish settlements in Poland were founded predominantly by newcomers from Western Europe. In the eleventh century. there was a slow Influx of Jews Into Poland from Byzantium, Persia, the C4ueasus, and from the shores of the Black Sea.

It Is quite possIble that the Jewish mixture from the former Khazar

Khanate and 'rom Crimea merged with the westarn Jewish elements In Poland.

Afte, the first Crusade In 1098. when the Crusaders attacked

the Jews as Infidels and tried unsuccessfully to enforce ChrJstianlty

upon them about twelve thousand Jews were kIlled In GerMany alone.

This resulted in a steady flow of Jews to Poland from theregtons

of the Rhine and Danub~. Later persecutIons durIng the twelfth and thirteenth ctenturles drove other large nUlllben of Jews also IMo the

border prov I nces of Krakow. Poznan (Posen). Ka 'Ish. and S II esl a • King Wladyslaw Herman (1079-1102), hearIng of the perse·

cuttons of the Jews fn Ge ..... ny. Invited them to settle In Poland. a

relatIvely backward r.glon, to .ulst In the development of tbe young

country. The Jews. experIenced In c:ommerce and Industrial arts,

"bId •• pp. 19.32.

"" 6 arrived and settled In Poznan and In GAlezno., the then prIncipal cities of Poland. / Poland, espeeial1y, offered the Jews religIous freedom and the right to run their own connunltle.. In 1264, King Boieslaw tbe Pious Issued a charter promising the Jews freedom and opportunities to earn a living. It became the bash of PoHsh-Jewlsh legislation \4llch enab I ed the Jews to es tab I Ish a Jewish re IIgl ous organ Jza t t on I n the country. This falQOUs charter known as the "Royal Prlv' tege" was recog­ nIzed by nearly all the succeedIng kings of Poland.4

Early I n the fourteenth century the country enjoyed a per I od of prosperity under Cui..,. r the Great (1333-1370), one of the most enlIghtened sovereIgns of the Middle Ages.

He founded the first Polish UnIversity ""Icb was aho tbe ftrst In Central Europe, at Krakow In 1364. CasimIr gave the Jews the assurance of his protection Ween he ratlfl,ed the charter of

Bo les law and Ween he extended the "Roya I P,Ivl1egeU to a It the pro- vlnces within the kingdom. Later, Casl.lr enlarged the privileges of the Jews and sought to draw them nearer to the Christians, In contra­ dictIon to the .evere fsolaUonht measures of the Catholic Church which segregated the Jews from the Chrlstlens and lImited Jewish par­ ticipation In civil lIfe.5 Through'out the earlier centuries of Jewhh life tnPoland, the Jews prospered 8$ merchants, traders. and as fInancial agents of the kIng.. They Introduced the mInting of Hebrew-I,nscrlbed silver and

4Jacob Apenszlak (ed.). Blick Book of Pollah J,wn. (N.w York: Roy Publlsh.r•• 1943). pp. 2S0-2Sl. Future references to this source wIll be Ap.n.zlak.

50ubngw, I, pp. 50-53. 7 copper coins whl.ch were used as media of exchange. Jewhh IIIOney lenders also played an ''"Portant role In the ./ economic deve'lopraent of Poland. The landed nobllhy (szlachta) had by this time acquired Impressive privIleges and rights. Thel, Important status ,educed the authority of the ,Crown. as Polish kings had to: 'depend o.n the good wi I I of the I anded nob I J I ty for support I n mill tary 'and ' political undertakings. In need of money the: nobles turned 'malnly to the Jews for loans. Thus. Jewish capital helped to exploit salt IRtnes. timber the forests. and to open up the deyel~ment of the resources of the loll.

Landed nobility derived the most profit from the Jews upon

~om they. In turn. showered I118Dy prlvllegel. They farmed out tolls of both cOI1IIl8rcfa 1 and Indus'trla·' euab I fshments to the Jews and were neve, In a posltlon of rivalry wIth them. While the J..-s were restricted to carry out their t .rade. In the citIes' only tn a.dgned sections

(ghettos). they were entirely free to engage' in c~rce and handi­ crafts on the estatel of the nob 111 ty. They were further a 1'1 owed to live on the eltates, In mansions and In pataces.For hIgh rutat fees they opened Stores. t nns. and shops. Though th h overprotect Jori led to many abuses and resulted In stirring f .. ·lcHon among group. of petty nob t Ilty, ",,",0 cons I dered the Jews a. elq) 101 ters, J·ews never the 'e.. , enjoyed freedom from elv,le Jurisdiction.

With the development of towns In the second half of the 14th century. a change occurred In the privileged s1tuatlon of the Jews. The Polish merchant cIa.. , aSlumed greater strength and began to struggle against the JewIsh competitors. legal restrictions on the actlvltle. of

Jews as lIORey'ender. turned the Jews IAOre and IIJOre to connercl.' pursuits. 8

The gentry enacted legislation harmful to the emergent Polish merchant I class and tradesmen. Thus. began a stru9gle between the Polish merchant and Jew. whIch continued up to the .present day, and which had been the _In source of anti-Semitism ' In Poland.6 Anti-Jewish 'out- breaks dudng the 14th and 15th centuri,.s tastlfy to the economic character of the existing anti-Semitism. (riots) against the Jews, due to the differences prevailing, were recofded In the middle of the 15th century In Poznan. the most westerly and economically developed 'part of Poland. In the

Nstern section, In Lwow, they were not prevalent uAt'l 1498. But I generally speaking, In spite of the ~Iots during this period, Poland stili remained a refuge for the JeWs from the West.

a.tween ISOland 1643 the number of Jews In Poland Increased. The JewIsh community now targe enough to form a distinct class became a separate religious and ethnIc group. In 1551, King Slglsmund Augustus tssued the famous "Magna Charta" of Jewish self-government giving the

Jews virtual autonomy. ay virtue of separate laws rather than by their means of livelihood. the Jews became a separate social group protected by the Crown. knIt together by close famlty ties, strenghthened by economl c successes. the Jews had better opportun I t I e$ than any other nat lona 11 tyl n Po land}

In this _y, strong cORIIIunftles arose tn Poznan, Krakow. rest-lltovsk, Wrlno, Lwo. (Lemberg), Lub'ln, and other PolIsh and

6Koppel. Pinson. (ed.) • Essays on Anth.ltfsm (New York: Jewish SocIal StudIes Publications, No.2 Conference o'f Jewish RelatIons. 1942). p. 118. 7PubnQw, I, pp. 106-110. 9 llthuanlan towns. On this strong economIc foundation, lIlhicb often

included trade monopolies, the autonomy of Jewish c:~nItJes evolved I tn the 16th ceRtury and embraced the bulk of the Jewish population of PoiaRd and lithuania. The latter .ncl'uded L, , ~huanla prope" 8elo­ RutheRla, and the Ukra'Re.

The ftrm, autonomous organlzatfQn ,,"CM\ as the Kahal repre­ sented at I the phaseaof Jewish public "fe. , ,' ft ineluded religion, educatlon. taw, hygIene, and social _ If.re. ~I long 8S the J~ws ,paid thel r taxes, thty suffered no rnterference from the monarchy. "HO\If8ver.

thIs. tP8tl~ MIliCh never seemed to end, wal. .. serious burden to the

Jews. The Kaha I. wh 1ch ass&.lll8d laf'ge proport t ons. Jnd uded the off Ices of the rabb'. who held unlimited authority o~er religIous matten. The general ,ffa',. of the Kahal, on the other hand, were dtrected, by elected elders with I_nse power, who ~re very InfluentIal In the couru and ~c Ise comma as aons and lillho of ~en , :h I fted the burden of taxatIon on the poor Jewish c'all. Begln"Jng with the middle of the 16th century, conferences of and de'egates from each Kahel wet'e he'd to dlseuss the Inte.reau of the provinces . Theae conferences were organized later 'nto ,the councIl knotlfn a, the C~ncll of Four Lands repres.ent}n, each of the four , _jor provinces, of the Kingdom of Poland. Tl;1ls autoeratle Jewish gove.rnmant guarded Jewhh elvll Interests In Poland by e~tlng as an IntermedIary between the Jews and the Polish parq.ment (',Jm) and court.

I,n 1623 Llthuanla wi thdrew .from , th, Pol Isb Kahal organltatlon and set up a federaHon, of fts own. In 1652 the Kahal. of "lln,o and Shitzk wer, added. •, This Lithuanian ass_ly bee... knO\lllna. the Council 10 of thePrlnclp•• Communltles of the Province of Llthuanla.8 In tbe beginning the Lhh.... nlanCounefl •• .subQrdi 'nated to the Pel Ish Feder- / atlon; but later on It became independent. AS • result of tbe religious and etbnic auton.omy which they enjoyed, tbe Jews prospered culturally and eCODonttca1ty. At the end of tbe l7th century, they seemed to be secure agafAst all trollbhas that had barau.dthe!r forerunne,., In the Ven. But even durtAg thIS fayorable period there were lndleatlon. of a brewing catastrophe. The real clash came In t648. Tbll yea, wltn.ned the first of serious outbreaks against Eastern European Jewry, ended the pros" pero.... age of the Polhh-Hung.rlan.. Jewllh cOlllnunltJe., .nd destroyed their peace. Th'sedtaauers resu1ted In widespread emigration. and the pIcture of Polish Jewry eh.nged considerably. In April of 16lt8, the Cossacks of the Ukraine, under Hetman Bogdan Chmlelnlckl .. rose In revolt agalntt thePol1sh oyerlords. The nobles tried to force obedience upon the Cossack, and proyoked a threefold antagonhm. FIrst, there exIsted a socIal eta.h between tbe landlords and thetr enslaved subjects. The Cossacks opposed being converted Into serh. Second. tbere existed a ,e1IgICMI$ cl.,b. The nobl lIty and admInIstrator., wlth.- few 8)tcept!lons. were Roman CathoHcs and Poles. whereas the subjects belonged to the tareek Ortbodox Cburch.

The hatred of the Ortbodox for the nob .' Ilty and the Jews was motlv.ted by the fact th.-t the nobility rented Ortbodox churehes to the Jews. who we,. permItted to charge the Orthodox wrshfppers ,a fee for their use. The thIrd antagonism was natlonat. Uk,alnlannatlonal sepa:rathm

albld., I. pp. 110-113. 11

permeated ~hose In serfdom. The Cossacks beCime the fighters for the I liberation pf the peas~ntry.9

The Jews ,assumed the role of , intermedl,ary between noble and peasant, and " InasmL\ch as they were, responsible , for the tax collections. e,us toms. an4 me I ntenance of the I nn be 1 JI n9 of a I coho I,). the Ukra t n lans consIdered :them as associates of the, nobility. Therefore. Chmtelnlckl coined the slogan "Slay the Poles and the Jews" for his rebe,111on.

Massacres fel lowed 'n\>lllch nob lemen , Ca,thollcs. and thousands of Jews

fe 11 v I c t Ims. ,As a ,resu It of the murders. • t roe i ties. and persecutions. hundreds of Je~Ish : ~unltles (entire Kahals) ceased to exlst. tO In many 10caJltle, Jews and Poles fought sIde by side offering armed

res Is tance to the Ukra I n I an Cossacks.

~bbi ~nover. a contemporary of the 1648 . rel,ated

in his account that many hundreds of Jews lost their lives and that hundreds of Jewish cOMIIunlties and settlements were devastated. He described this period as the bloodiest In Jewish history. The fury of slaughter. the unspeakable atrocities of the Insurgents made the horrors of earlier days of pogroms and persecutions pa Ie Into lnsIS'" nlflClnce. ~nover gathered this Information personally from refugees who fled from ,the s\!IOrd of the CosS4cks. It ,was from these f ,leelng survivors tha~ he Qbtalned versions of the untold massacres. II ,

90sClr Hal.ckl (.t 81.), Th' ee!!brldge HIstory of Poland to ~ (Cambridge UnIversity Press. 1950) pp. 506-507. 10M.1chel Borwl cz (ed. )1000 Jet rs of J.w'sh 11 f (Paris: Imprlmerle Modern. Oel. Press • p. 70. (-- - given.) 11 Nathan Hanover. ARYsS of D.sCj,r (New York: trans. by Abraham Mesch. Bloch '\lb It sh I n9 Co. , 1950 12

That many Jews lost both 1 tves and property Is unquestIonable.

There Is, however, considerable controversy .lIOng chronIclers and / historIans with regard to the number s I.ln. 12 WIthIn a span of less than teft years (1648-1656). beginnIng wIth the Chllllefnlcki rebellion. adding .1so the Muscovlte-PoUsh and Swedish-Polish wars. the destruction of Jewhh communitIes was drastIc. Mo.r. tban six hundred were destroyed In the Ukr .• 'ne. Belo-Ruthenla (the eastern part of Poland), LithuanIa. and the Polish areas. Refugee, fleeing from these parts poured Into the countries of Germany. Austria. Horavla, Bohemia. Italy, and even Into . The former Chmfelnlckl allies held In captivity by the Tartars, were later ransomed by funds provided by wealthy Jews. Thus, a firmer bond was formed between the varJou. Jewish communities In different Gounttles In the East, and It

Increased the sense of natIonal solidarity between them. 13 But the strength of Polish Jewry was broken and a first breach In the world's reservoir of Jewhh population resulted. The whole of Europe liftS overrun by Jewish refugees. and the tide of emigration resulted In II complete redistribution of Jewhh populatIon throughout th world. Once egaln there Is .. Fross current In tbe hIstory of the Jewish peop '., a process of dec 11 ne concurrent wi th a C:0IIIp It ceted pro­ eess of new upward growth. this slllUltaneous descent end ascent Is the second, the positive aspect of the Jewish dispersion. whIch ensure.$ that at all times of great cbeng. fn the world In which It Is I1vln9. the people as a tlllbole not only get Its share

12 Ib1d •• p. 182. 13A. Steinberg. "The History of the Jews In t he Middle Ages u and Modern Thaes • J,wlshPeople P',t 1M Present (4 vols; New York: JewIsh Encyclopedia Handbook. 1955. 1,181. Further references to this source wIll be gl¥en es Steinberg. 13

of troubles fn the dec:Unlng part of the.,,,ld but also benefits 14 from the rIsing trend rn the progressl"e p.... t of the worJd. I Though Il'ApOver i shed and great Iy redueed In nl.l'Ober. the Jewl sh popu latlon

of Poland remained larger than that of thecOlllblned settlements of

Wes'tern Europe. tn fact. the center of Jewish religious Hfe in

Eastern lurope remelned in Poland. As soon as peace had been restored,

the Jews began to re-85 tab l1sh themselves econoAli cally. KI ng John CasimIr (1648-1654) granted the Jews numerous prlvi Jeges, and he al)evlated the payment of taxes In those oommunltles which had suf- tered !lOst from tbe horrors of the Cossacks and from the Invasions of the Muscovites and Swedes.

'01 lowing the wars disIntegratIon se I led the feudal structures of Poland-Lithuania. and reached sad proportions under the kings

Augustus ' ll and AtJgustus lit (1697 ... 1763}. f'allures during the SwedIsh wars ' and polltl~1 .narchy su,,'-endered Poland to Peter the Great. Under these circumstances, the Jews Jost the support of the monarchy and their former numerous privileges and powers. By the end of the 17th century. the Jews were dtarged wIth ritual lIIurde, and desecration ofChurcn silcraraents. Hence, violent measures were adopted against th_ and trIals were held in high courts

to esteblish thett guilt . Frequently the trlels ended In the ...cutlon of Innocent parties and propaganda against the Jews re$ulted in 'the

destruction of Jewish synagogues. cemeteries. end often in the-ex...

pulsion of Jews . Such Incidents of trlats are those of Sandomlr

(1698-1710). Poznan' (1736), and Z.51.w(1141)~ , During this period. the fate of the Jews In Poland ran

14 IbId • • p. 182. 14 parallel wIth the fate of the Polish-Lithuanian state. SImilar to the middle of the 17th century Ukra)nlan Cossack rebellion. all the later j wars. Inc:ludlng the civil wars In Poland, .re always anti-Jewish wars as well . About the middle of the 18th century. the poverty-stricken

Jews were forced to dep~d on the charity of • handful of wealthy Jews who controlled all theIr religious and national Instl,tutlons.

As • matter of fact. the deprIvations must have demoralized the Jews. Vet, "'en they felt lo.st and when dangers .re the greatest, a remarkable movement .rose among them whIch constituted the foundation of a social and economIc world-outlook. This was Hasldlsll, a trend of Joyful piety that found Its way to the depths of thel r souls and cleared t,he path for .. transvaluatIon of religIous and social values withIn the Jewtsh ~rld . The dlff.rent phases of this mov~t do not belong "'Ithln the scope of this paper. It .rely suffices to stress that thIs trend I.ft a great legacy for the coming Jewish generations. IS

The three partl tlons of Poland-Lithuania In 1772 broke up the Jewish communIty; yet they had the effect of later unitIng the Jews of the Ukr.lne, Belo-Ruthenl., and Lfthuanl. In I new association under Russian rule. BegInning with the fIrst partItIon In 1772, RussIa was forced to accept tens of thousands, tatet even hundreds of thousands of Jews when she could not reconcile herself to tolerate even the handful of Jews present In the lussl.n Ukraine (Little lussla) . The year 1793 noted the second partl tlon of Poland bet.. n Russi., Prusste, and AustrIa. This resulted In hundred. of thousands

lSjW. , p. 187 . 15 of Jews being cut off from Po land. Unable to cope wIth the oppressors, ./ and the measur.s aimed agaInst th•• both Poles and Jews under

Kosclu.zko'5 leadershIp rebelled agatnstthe RuntaDs. In thIs' struggle. the Jews organIzed th.-Ir own regiment. However. this revolutIon f,lled and thousands of Poles lost their lives. Among th $ also the bulk of the Jewhhr.glment. With the third ,artltlon tn 179S, mor. Jews were transferred to Russia. Th.-s. tnc1ud.-d the group from Lithuania, and the Jews from the province of Wllno and Groclno. Prussl. receIved the remalnd.-r of Great Poland, IncludIng Warsaw, Hazovia, and Bialystok. Austria ne.-fved Krakow and Lublin. Some t.-Iva years latet. Napoleon I· changed thts geographic pIcture. , He took a province of Grut Poland from PrussIa and tore sectIons off from Austria to fom the Duchy of Vanaw-Poland (1807),

""ch beume an Independent Httle state. The hopes of the J.-ws rose one. agatn but th.y were short-lived. Napoleon was overthro~ (1 8tS) , and after the Vienna tongres., the Ouchyof Warsaw ceased touist." Pol.nd ...... In.ct partitioned. Out of the remqnts of the

Duchy, the lusslan Tsar. Alexander I, created the $RIIll KIngdom of

Poland. It •• 9tven a c;onttltutlon. slllll,r to the one of Napoleon'. Duchy; and a separate Polish ad ..Jnlstr.tfon and army. Close to a million Jews IIv.ct In thh area of the RussIan IROnarehy.

'1"011 181S to 18JO the Jews In the Kingdom of 'oland enjoyed ful t auton., with a local 90vernment IRWarsa. -mlc:h handled Jewish affairs Independently of the leglsl.tlon of the Aunlan Empire. However, the 'oll$h governnaent under Russian Influence put 'nto operatIon

16Dybngw. I, pp . 292-305. 16 a number of laws restrldlng all Jews to Bve In separate districts and also Introduced heavy taxes for any privileges. The government l proposed to reorganl~e Jewish life. Some Jewish reformers directed efforts towards these goals. However, most of the members of the JewIsh communities were indignant to accept any curtaIlment or change In theIr autol\Clhy and organizatIon. The Jews In the Ki ngdom of Poland fared better than the Jews In eI t her Prussia, AustrIa, or even the Pale of Settlement, the re· strlcted border areas created by the Russian government, In the . The 'ale Settlement Included the provinces of Little Russia (Ukraine), New Russia, the CrImea, and the terrItories from the three . The Ruulan government left nothing undone to cbange the JewIsh mode of life. It tried to use the economic abl1 Itles of the Jewish popula.tlon and at the same tIttle It attempted to asslm' late them with Russian Orthodoxy. The manner of procedure toward this assImIlation varied with the Russian monarchs . DurIng the reign of Alexander I, there existed a mixed tendency of benevolence and severe curtalllllents, under Nicholas I there was a regime of mart lal law. Nicholas subjected Jewish youth to mIlItary service and barrack training. He made continuous attempts to assImilate Jews wIth the other nat. onal elements. demolished Jewl$h autonomous estab II shmenu, and organized schools designed to bring aJl education under Russian Juris­ diction. Furthermore, he abol fshed the use of any language but RussIan , and degraded not only Jews but also the Poles, , and LithuanIans 17 with harshmea,u"e' designed toward complete Ruurflcatlon. Nicholas, however. failed in his policies and In the .xper'mtnts to train Jewish l youth In mill tary barracks. Though they .re forced Into mill tary training, J_tsh youth mlnHested the same sp'rltual strength as. the'r fathers and grandfathers. They preferred to adhere to the In~erlted Ideals of Judah. and .,uld rather be degreded than be considered equals

In the eyes of the law wfth the Gen~t les. And all eUtillpU at aulml­ latlon merely strengthened a firmer bond of Jewish so1fdarfty and led to the establ Ishaaent of a Jewish ~oclety for the future defense of

Jewhh r t ghts. 17

Aleunder tI suc'Ceeded tha barracks INstar. Nicholas. He aUeq,ted to Introduca refol"llll In the Russia.. EMp'ra and ISlued edIcts

.mlch 5 ....,"gly gave hope and the IlIIpresslon that IU$$la was advancing Into an era of enllghtenaent and . Thus, high hopes were held by the Jews. Optlstsmprevalled and .5 to expressed In the wrlUn,s 0' "."Ish authors. Unfortunately. It ws evident that Alegnd... also disliked the J..s and had no confidence In thetr abilities. Tet. he issued one edict In Jewish favor fn 1856, When he abollsbed the stx"'YMr pertod of nt'lltery setvfcelnltlated by hts father. This edIct was received wi th great Joy and In grat'tude the Jews offered prayers of thanksglvl"g to God In overflOWing synagogues. But In keeping with the tenor of the Umes, Aleunde.. II contInued to devise new technIques for a p.raetleal "fuslonH of the

Jewish and lussJan ptople. 'or this reas.on he granted pr'vJ 'eges to flnenct,l1y superIor as well a$ to the edueated Jews. tn 1865, he passed a deeree WhIch pernt.ltted an Influx of merchants. university

17Stllnbltg. pp. I 96 ... }98. 18 graduates, and skilled Jewish artisans Into the Russian InterIor.

. , Other Jews less fortunate '1""ncla11y and in.':el lectual ly, were denied i permission to leave the Pale. Tbe Russian program of Uquasl';emanclpatlon" was IIIOre effective than the old techniques of force. Both beyond and within the ·Pale. new Jewish communities composed of mainly the desired elements were established, and brought Into closer contact with Russian ITfe. The educated and wealthy Jews quickly adapted themselves to the Russian habits of dress and behavior. They sent their children to Russian schools and brought them up In the Russian manner. But even this 1S Interlude of enlightenment and lIberalism WlS soon over. Unrest Inside the former Pol Ish terr'torle.s continued to be felt throughout the middle year's of the nineteenth century. In \S63. the conscription of Poles Into the Russian .rmyled to a bitter lnsur... ,ectlon, one of the bloodiest In PoUsh history. This .revolt failed and with It ended the last hope of the Poles at armed opposition.

A new attitude resulted after the failure of this 1863 rebellion. Russia adopted a policy of strict conservatIsm, and the period following WIllS grimly contrasted to the eadler years of Ilbera 115m. The secret police grollp was re-organized and It hfild a)1 non-Russian nationatiUes under suspleton. 19 The Jews, least popular of the ethnic groups. suffered a furious reversal of po II cles. Along wi th the co 1 lapse

18ffoward Sachar, The Course of Modern Jewish History (New York: World PublishIng Co., 19S5), pp. 181";}S8. .

19'1lffol"d R. Barnett. (et al)'jOJand; Its People hs Society, Its Cultur. (New Haven: Hraf Press, 1955 , pp. 16-17. 19 of the 1863 InsurrectIon, the Jews had to suffer both from the venge­ / nee of the RU$Slans .nd from the revival of antl ... Semltlsm among the

POI8S. During the 1870"s the "liberalism" of Alexander It faded

a~y. Actually his reforms were not as liberal as had been supposed.

He designed not to tolerate the Jews but to use their skills In stl- mutating commerce and Industry. According to the 1887 census, • million and a quarter Jews were found In former Congress Poland. Approximately half of thfs

popul.tlon, whl~h _s ,I tuated In towns 'and cltle', was predominantly engaged In commerce. The other half lived In towns and vIllages and was equally divided between artisans and merchants . , The Jews admitted Into the Interior of Russia took advantage of the Industrial ...kenlng characterizing thIs perIod. Through the Inlttatlve of Jewish contractors and easily available funds from fellow­ Jews In BerHn, Paris, and W.rsaw, the constructIon of Russian rail­ roads prospered. Jews also set up the basis for modern bankIng and established the foundations for large Investment-bankIng sy.tems In Russla. 20

FollowIng the assassination of Alexander If by a 8elo­

Russlan,!1 the policy of re.trlctlon WlS fol10W8d by the reactionary

20S.chtr, pp. 188-190. Dyboow, fn source quoted earlier. described tn det.II the expulsion of Jews from Moscow and quot.s an eyewitness account . II.pp. 399-406 . 21Romen &.II-Stockl. !hI Captive Nat ions (New Haven: Bookman Associates, 1960) p. 26 . The author Mntlons NM and date of assassI­ nation of Alexander II (t888). 20

Tsar Alexander HI. ' He hoped to check progress tolltard the a·ss Imllat Ion

"" I ch had been I n ex IS tenee under h Is predecessor. t n 1887. Alexander • (I· denied the Jews the right of admissIon to schools and aho ltmlted their

.cceptance to the bar.· By 1888; over 650 restrlctlve laws ~re directed agafnst the Jews. Those Jews who were f'otmerty admitted to settlefn , . Moscow were suddenly expelled and forced to return to the Pale of • 1. I Settlement.22 Nicholas" (1894), the suceessor of Alexander I II. wasted no time convIncIng his JewfshsubJect~ that he. ptannedto continue the reactionary measures of his predecessor. Pogt.s, robber'es. killing•• and massacres prevaIled and threatened the Jews whh a new wave of terror. Fear ted some to deny the'r Jewhh Ideals and traditions. On the other hand, It renewed In others I feryor to fight for th.pre­ servatlon of thetr heritage •

• n 1905. following .. workers· rebel Bon I,n which Jewish support played .. pranlnent patt, liI few coneesslons resulted In their favor. When the Duma, an advl lOry body, was c;:reated. the Jews were allowed to vote for representatIves, and In 1906, twelve dtputles wer. elected. Then a campalgo led by aomanOmowskl t a leader of the Natlona I Democrats. urged the Poles not to deal with the Jews.

Aghatlon Increased IIgalnst the Jews especial1y durIng the years of 1912 and 1914. Je~lsh stores wete plcketed and the Poles who purchased frOll them were terrorized. A boycott was orgal\lud by t.he

Natlona' Otl!lOcrats, but economically. It dId not accomplish anythIng

.22Arthur Goodhart., pol'rd, .ad th. (U,nort ty!tjC!S (London: George Allen and Unw'n Ltd •• 1920 • p. 189. 21

51 gn 1f I ean.t other than to pol nt out a new trend of anU .. Sem I t ism I n a Po 11 shseet I on. 23 /

It ean be s.ld that the hIstory of the Jews from the years

1789 to 1914 was one of profound cultural ebanges. The periods during these years varied between emancipation and per.ecutlon, Which followed each other Intermittently. Al1 perJods """e p.ralleled by confllcu withIn Jewish cOlllmUnit .ies of both eastern andwstern Europe.

The great .emlgratlon movement whfch resulted after the 188t pogrom continued with Intervals tiP to World War •• 'et, this foreeful em'gratlon did not destroy the structure of Russian Jewry_ At the beginnIng of the twentieth c.entlll"Y, Russia" Jewry nUltlbered close to six mil Hon lusslan,PoHsh, L.lthuanlan, Ukrainian, end Caucasian. Jews. In the c:ourse of the const1 tutJonaJ development. the Polish Jews under the AustrIan rule. gaIned all the chi' rIghts and fully partIcipated In the '"'tlonal. culturel. poUtlca', and eeonomlc trfe of the Poles

In the Hapsburg b.plre. On the -..ot., they phtyed a rather Important role in PoUsh 1Ife and there .5 a mfntmum ofanU-Semltlsm. The Po.hh Jews who were under the rule of Genuny, pertlcula,ly those In Poznan. the riehest and economfcany the highly developed of ell 'ofhh lands, were completely a$Shlllated wIth the Ger,..ns. Nattonallsm, encorQPa5slng the small nations, brought people wIthout statehood Into the limelight of the Or.tPowen. The struggle for' HberaUon was on. and It began with the revolution In the Russian

"Ire.

231aytlOnd 8ue" ,f'i1lpd: Klv to «"cORe and ed. rey., (New York: Alfred Knopf, 1939). pp. 293"294. 22

Our I n9 the Russo-Japanese War. an Amer I can banker. Jacob SchIff. granted three loans to help Japen d.'eat the Ru&slan Implre. /

The Jews. of W.stern Europe and the Unhed States. together with the other ODpressed national hIe, of the RusIlan £alplr•• aroused public opInion of the world against RUlslan ab.olutlsm and Imperl.llsm.2~

DurIng World Wer I t the Jews of the RUls'an hplre sided with the Centra' Powers. But In the second half of . the War, the sv.athtes of the Jews changed to the sIde of the AI Ues because Rngland procalsed the Jews. through the Balfour Oeelaratlon. the estebllshment of •

Jewish natIonal hOCll8 In Patestlne. The Jewish Zionists thus gained eclstve vletory In the struggle for the r.-establlshment of JewIsh eop 'a and nat lonhood. These new developments changed the position of the Jews In

the world. The former RU"'en Jewry WI- broken up afte, World War I. and a new. bIg Jewry came Into being .fter the Verlailles T,.. ty In

the resurrected Pollth Republic, outside the .

2~ I-StockJ. !:tptlY' Nations. p.]2. /

CHA,n" ., THE JEW'SH PROBLEM IN POLANI) BEMaN THE WARS

One of the authenU cm I rac 1es of Modern European. his tory WiltS the rebirth of the Po 11 sh state a century and • half after Its des­ tructIon by the r.pacious empires of theE.st. The Allies took cognizance of the suffer1ngs, the courage. theendur.nce of the Pol ish people by Insuring th.tPoland rebornshoutd be provided with every possible advantage as she _arked upon her newly won sovereignty •••But If Poland acquired new territory she also Inherited the people ...o lived there: no less than '11,000,000 non-Polish ,people •••.and more than 3 .000,000 Jews.as On June 28,1919. a treaty with the AI Hed and AssocIated

Powers WlS signed guaranteeIng elvll and political equallty as well

.11 cultu.. a' .autonomy to the minorltles. These provisions were

_od I ed f n Po land I 5 Cons tl tut Ion of 1921. The Jews were 9rat i f i ed by these assurances, but they sooor.llzed how sadly mistaken they were In thel,r belte'. Mothing really changed, for no legIs 'atton

WlS enacted to Implement the agreement.

The very outset of 'olandls Independence WlS blotted by mob outrages agaInst the Jews. Though the Constitution of March 17 , 1921 a'ffnned equal rIghts of mInorities, there _s no speeia' legiS­ latIon enacted calling for the abo II tlon of tbe old repressive J.ws.

Czarist restrictions were still In force; 1~1 authQrl ties forbade

Jew$ to acqu I re land. and forced the lMyment of specl,l taxes. 26

25 §leh,r,. p .• 355. 26'eter Heye, " .1., !he J~ Jn the SovletS,l' n Ite" (New Yorkt Syracuse Unlv. Press, 1953: pp. 208-209 • . This bOok consists of a se"res of studies dealing with ,.tel tlte countries. Bernard Weinryb deals wIth Poland. 'ulurereferences wll' be termed ""''lab. 24

RiotIng continued spor~dlcally. In the summer of 1922, antl- / SemitIc societIes circulated literature IdentifyIng Jews with Bolshevism. This resulted In mercl less pogroms In Jewish neIghborhoods, especIally those of Varsaw and Lodz. where for some time no Jew dared to be seen on the s treats • In 1923 the government devised a policy of ellmlnatlng Jews from the economIc life of Poland. These restrtctlons curtailing Jewish economIc opportunities reduced thcra to virtual beggan. As tens of thoull.nds of Jews found thetis.' ves without 1I va II - hoods, the collapse of thel r purcbas I n9 power affected nearly every stratUn\ of Jewish life. The Jewish artls.Rsof Wan.w poInted to some melancholy atatlsties. gathered In the mId 1920's. Of 2,800 Jewish shoemaklng establlshunu, 2,060 were closed. Of ),000 taIloring shops, 2.560 were closed. Of 180 ,embroidery shops, 108 were dosed. Of 100 brush factories, 50 ware closed. Of course thIs attack on the Jews did not solve Poland's economic problems. Neither did loans from the Onlted States. A wild fnflatlon drove the Polish regime once agafn to the verge of bankruptcy.27

The 1924 languege laws, granting the minorities the right to use their own language In public Institutions and courts did not Inetude the Jews.

Article 10 of the Paris Peace Conference, which provided for the propo.rtlonal distribution of public funda to Jewish schoo's, WlS clearly violated. Jews constituted the sol. _Inarlty that did not derive any $uch beneflts. 28

Moreover, the treaty, concerning minorities, stipulated that person$ res I d' "9 hab I tua J Iy w' th t n Po land's bounder I es shou ld autOlll8- tlcelly becOflle cltla-ns. This clause was not respected. Documents

27Sae"ar, p. 358. 288uel1, p. 296. as p,o~ldln9 Jewish eUglbJ 1'1 ty for cft.IMShip, .... lost durIng the .t. l Confront4d, with' the obUgatton of ".enUng any fdenUflcetlon. ai

_ht to do lOt the Jews faced additional dfffleultiCJII. It ..lnor concenfon ... ,concluded fn tga$ by the at.b.kf goVe.r1 t ."the Jewt,tt P... U ury CJab. The ~ dec t.red thel r lovahy to the hPubHc .nd recog.n'~_ the,,, du:tl .. 6. cft""", ,,..'.r

.,.bskf. 9,atl'•• bV these two decl.,.ttOM.~rOlt ,r.ed to 91". _te att..-.tlon to the J.'ab 16 regarding thet, culturat end ,ecoftCllliSC punt4l ts.. Tbls ...."it., in "lnor, ord.tnane,o t.t to AtJlfy the deraudl 0,' the JWl$h representadves", .ut notbtng basic:. ., favotabl, a1t_edpoUtlcatf, :nor a¢1 JeaUy. and d,lscrJ,.lmnlQtlsstllt ~ tlnued.29 'ft tbtl el,ytl ".rvlea the,_ •• nodtf1.r.c:e •• t'IlUC'h Inequality ,revat ted aftd JtlWS ...... t polAted to any IIIWltc. • .,.l .... gov.,...... mental DOlt$~ , t only .....-e , they barred f ,t'GRebes. offfees but, 'ft ,-,ncl.fclv' J .atVjnt•• , ••tso 'etaly '..oved 'na tb_"" It .s notunttl fn 192.6 th.U 'H.wI,kl altered tbe po$hfon of chit 4... trnthe legion of foU.. ". h'Q~_tth'_' the GOver..-, and tr.n.'o,.... 'oland lnto. dtctato... hlp. 811 c:oup-cltetat teapo- ra.. llv endtd tM a"tl,..·S*oUfc, poUc:y. To ...., _(""",h ht ••_t ..

hl~t.tor'.1 1OY.,IMn, he ,.'aced l..,ortantJewlsh .,, I tary tn nat. poshh"'l. Me al.. nUlllb.,9d .,..,. J .. a, hi. supporte,. ·In theM.. c;ellod

goVet'lWIftt b'~k of the $eJm. 30

29 ...... ~.

)O¥tlntJlt. p. 10B~ 26

Unfortunately. PI lsudskl '$ ban on antl-StIIltism ceme too late

nd nothing too significant was accompl Ishedln so short a time. Furth'r. more, a depression struck Poland and millions of Jews were weakened by unemployaaent . Jewish cheri table assoelatlons were obliged to maintain

food dIstribution centers to sustain the f.lshed populace. The American Joint Distribution Committee kept many famille, allve.31 FoJ lowing the death of Pllsudskl., antl-SeIIl tie feeling

Increased. University stuclents fostered a deep-rooted antI-Jewish end enforced an unofficial numerua c1~ayu, (or quota) IIml ttng the number of Jewish students accordIng to the population. The same

Idea of establishing en offIcial numerus ciausul MaS likewise considered by the . but pressure from Frence prevented this restriction. Yet. unlvorsHles and professional schools ltmhed the number of Jewish students In the fIelds of medicine. engineering. end numerous other professions. Added to this . ghetto benches or specla' seats In c:lasuooms for Jews only. were Introduced. Many Polish pro­ fessors refused to condone SUch acts andloud1V protested. SOlIe resigned rether than be assoc'ated with an Institution tolerating such Injustlce.32 Industrial groups, menufaclur.,.. businessmen. and shopkeepers we,. guIlty of ."loltlng antl-S-.hls.. and blamed It on Poland's ec:onontlc

31§ach.C. p. 159. See .lso Isaac Landman (eel.) Vol . VIII of the UnIversal Jwlsh Encyclopedia (10 vols. ; New York: Unlvers.1 Jewish Encyclopedia Ine •• Igz.s), 574 for accounts of anti -Semltlsm and agitation aga' nu Jews .

32aernard N__ n. RUIII,'s Nelghbor-Th, NI)!t Poland (London: Vietor Gollancz LTD • • 19Jt6) I p. 96. For added accounts of the r.slg­ nations of professors see By.' I, pp. 302-)03. 27 difficulties. Subsequently factlon$ arose demanding Jewish emlg.ration

I n order to r~uce. thel r number. / By 1933 the probJem of Jewtsh survival was serIously threatened. Fascist groups fnf.luenced by Nazi German.'s anU .. Jewlsh propaganda deepened the crisis. These groups cried for complete elimination of Jews from employment, provoked riots, and even desecrated synagogues and cemeterles.33 The Influence of the Nazi Germany's anti-Jewish propaganda, the deepenIng economic crtsls, and the success of the anti-Semitic propaganda of the opposition parties. brought about. after "'sudske's death In 1935 •• change In the heretofore relatively tol.rant attitude of the Colonel's Regime. In this statement of June 4. 1936, Premier Skladkowskl flllphasilted tbat though nobody should suffer vIolence In Poland, the economic struggle against the Jews was justified. . • ..Such was the setting In liIhleh the Jtws of Poland attetllpted

to ,bund a Ilf. for themselves between the. .rs. • 34 According to the 1921 census. Poland had a Jewlth population of 2,854;364. In 1931 there were 3,113.go0 Jews In the country. EIght years later, In 1939. It was estimated to be 3,351.000 or 9.7 percent of the entl re popull.tion. In 1931, more than three fourths of the Jews In Poland lived

In cl t t es and tC»li\s.. Poverty I n the vI 118ges drove them to city II f ••· Itore than one third of this 1931 population subsisted on income derived from cORIQ8rce; the remaining t., thirds derived funds from handicrafts and Industry. The population according to source of income.

33S,chaC, pp. 3S9-360. 34welnryb, p. alO. 28

Is represented fn the table below. 3S l JEWISH ,POPULATION ACCOROING TO SOURCE OF INCOME. 19,1

Agriculture 125.1 4.0

Industry and handicrafts 1.313.3 42.5 Commerce andln$uranee l,IitO.5 36.6

Transport and cotmlunl~tlons 139.4 4.S Liberal professions and relIgion '91.0 6.2 Domestic Service 22.5 0.7 Unemployed llt6.) 4.7

Others 33.8 0.8 Totals • • ••••••••••• • 3.113.9 100.00

To complete the breakdown of Jewish population according to occupation.

Welnryb further quoted Table 111.36

Jawt SH ""Ga i.lRtfI"~L~CCO~Ot"-G JC)OC~UPATtON. 1931

Agriculture, flsh.rl.s 0.2% industry and handleratts 62.0 COMmerce and tnsurance 17.3 Transport end communtcati.ons 2.0 Public service and Religion 4.3 Iducatlon and medlc·lne 6.8 DoMestic sentee 5.2 Unknown 2.2

lS..!JUs! •• p. aJ~. The above table taken from the sourc. quoted. originally appea,rsln the foncls. StUJs&Ic;!l YMrbook of ,Poland, (September, 1933-June 1941, pp . 10-11. ..

36,bld. 29

Between the y.ts 1921 and 1933 the ratIo of Jewish enter- prises dropped. especially in such large cities as We raaw , and In the / provinces 0"01esf·e and Vothynla. On the other: hend. nOD-Jewish proprietorship rose and with It the tendency for the eq»loyment of non-Jews. lncr• .slng competition. legal restrictions. and poor economic cond i tI ons of the peuants tremendous 1'1 deer.sed the opportun It I es of artisans who counted hMvl ly oDdewlsh purchases of handicrafts.

From over Di!'le thousand Jewish unh'ers i ty students during the yean of 1922~'923, the number dropped to 4,113 In .938.39. 37

Of the 45.044 Industr'.' enterprises In Jewish hands which hired labor i!'l 193 t. 10.15.$ theft one percent we.re l.rgeJ IS. 1 percent were mlddle·slzed. and 74.2 percent _re sma I I. Only 6.7 percent of the Jewlsh urban population belonged to tb. employe" class, the ,rest. .re Independent help (55.S perc.nt) and workers. Only. very' small percentage 0.' the Jewish poputttion belonged to the wealthy or the m'ddte eluses; t;he bulk were eIther poo-r. lower I dd , ...c lass peep ,_ or still poor8" 'pro letar 'ens. 38

J.,hh cORliJunJty lIf. between the \erst attained a ¢haracter oflU own. ft was organlud Into tne Kanal, or Kehl1Jab,. • eentral autonomous body. but It was _ventuaUy dissolved and replaced by Jewish

Communitle$ under the admlnlsUa'tJon of • centralaellglou$ Counct J.

'these CommunitIes aimed to attend to religiOUS matte,rs only. and they

stronglyr.sentltd any government Int.rference. However, though the

Jewish Ccmmunlty Law of October 24, 1927 recognl2:ed this federatton

It. neverthe,tess. limIted the rights of the cO/1DUnJtles • .Many Jews

)7.bid •• p. 213.

3atbld • • p. 214. 'or further quotes on Jews'" Indu$trfes see nO.tes 13 and 14. InWafnocb, (Appencflx), .p. 314. S84a also R. Mahler. rlJewsin PubllcServlet. In Poland , '918.. 193~1'·, Jewl$b li0ola' studies VI. '944. p. 341. 30 resented thls control, bec.,use It violated the terms of Article Ie of the MinoritIes r,.eaty)9 l

Wefnryb ana lyles the statute of 1924 rather broadly, and be agrees that a wIder scope of actIvity was provided to the local com- lIlunltles which resulted In a wider acceptMce of It by varIous ,e1191oU5 groups ·. However, the more secular groups of the Central Councl .l opposed the purely religious character provIded by the statute. Attempts to agree upon a eonrnon program fa fled because of the opposl tt on and eon .. flictfng views eXlstlng In the parties wIth the Central Council.

• • • the effect I veness of the Jewish representat I ves t n Par 1 t ament. and of Jewl sh CIJmmun I ty 1l fa I n genera t. was grea t Iy reduced by the divhlon of the Jewish population Into mUltiple parties and groupings. Not untl I the l.,t prewar years were att~ts made to unite around a mlntmumprogram. 40

The Jewish poll tical parties tn Poland fell into three drvl- s Ions: the M(:Jderates, the lion) us f and the Red I ca Is. The maJot I ty of

·'oll$h Jews belong4td to the Moderates or OrthodoK Party known as "Agudas

Isreel" or Agudath. tt rhese Jews wer.rnJtJaJty pro~ztoni$t; but later they beca~ antl-·'a'estlnlan. ThIs group of moderates belongIng to a non-party bloc, supported Ptlsudskt. partteipflted in the 1935 and 1938 electlons. end held d9Putles In the SeJII.fundament.. l1y. Jews of the Orthodox 'orty were conservatIve and constant'ly opposed any new Idee. 41

The flonrst fIIovement. p.,t of a 'World Z Jonlst Orgenl~atlon. existed In Poland from the end 0' the "fneteenth century and grew stronger as the yars prog,.s$ed. Ztonlsts bettev" In the nattona.

39Sue 11, pp. 297-298. 4Owelpryb, p. 217. 41801 I, p.298. 31

Jewish rfghtt or auto.nomy. Th4t'( had w:>rked ~rds the aecomp1!shntent / of • stron economic po. Jt ron 'or the Jews. the I nteftanee of Jewl sh utonomoU$ Institutions. and fo.r the fostering o.f Hebrew eultur....

'the Z hmlsts were themse 1ves d i v1 ded t nto. e number ot I nde'" pendent partIes. The most Jmportant wss the Poel. Slon and the

"IzraGhI. The fOnDer Ined Zionism With $QQt.Hsm and Its ld was • lociel1selc state I~ Palestlno. ots were mainly compq$~ of

__ lte-collar wrkers, 15 Int.l1tgentsia. and man.,.' workers. they consIdered YIddIsh the otllcto' language and demanded full rights for the Po HSh-Jewi In ml nor ltV • 42 The 'UzraeM o.r religiou, Z'onlsts eonshJer.d traditional

1 Ife In oraanlzaUons and neUonal Hf. most es,entlal In the future

"'geAe... e~'on of Jewish people. tn eleetlon•• poUttcal matters. or Ufe, they hed sIded maInly with the General Zionists MlO

.rrlsed the conservative and progressive .tCIIIYAU.

The _st Important '.bor group. end by fe, the t i,n·'luentlal ~ the , WI. 'nJIWIIIWII 1ft 1897. I t took ".rt In the 1905 and 1906 ,.e'A)l~ tlonery moVIIMnU In RUI$I., boyeot.ted the 1936 -.nd 19)8 e'eet'ons, and

.po,-' 'llaw:ttkt ~$ "~'ma. Thts party, Ili8de tI, of both Mnual and trIlft... eollar JewIsh .,rke,s, fnc:lu alto art I $8nS and 1'!MIIlber. of the lower class to the uclu.$fon 0" the ..'ddle eta... h r.cogn'.

Yiddish as the offlc,.l '.ng and Ir. 8UtOn(JlftOUS 'nstltutlonsto foster Jewish education and cultu.... The Bund WI anU .. ltOftfst an ntr.Comnwnltt. Though Its lolfuene. grew, It centered It, actt;vlt'.

4~h.rtt pp. 192 .. 193. rtUU* previously Ciuot4td for an 'P. J ,,395. )2 for Jews maInly In Eastern Europe and not the world over.

The JewIsh Conmunists, though strictly not a separate party, / opposed Zlonf,sm and the thought of a separate Jewi sh nattonaltty~

Added to these parttes were the well-to-do Asstmt latlonists or AssImilators, \'llo ,took the strongest Interest in charitable and socIal work. These considered themselves Poles of the Jewish faith

nd Poltsh culture was their matn objective. They denied the existence of a Jewish natton. opposed JewIsh Natfonalfsts, and followed no sl'ngle politIcal program. 1'hetr Influence declined Wten Z10nist sent.iments rose htgh. 43

All the p.ol1tlcal partfesstru99led to preserve the re1tgtous character of the kehtlloth end the tradItIons of Jewish life. Regar'dlng cultural development, 811 part'es deserve mention, except the Asstm' }8- tlonfsts and s members of the Agudath Israel. All, with the exception of those mentIoned, fostered Jewish cultural life tnd endeavored to aGh t eve na tiona 1 s ta tus for JeWS.. , rac t t ca 11 y a II part I es pub II shed their own newspapers In the nddlsh, Hebrew, arPo.rsh languages.

Under the MinoritIes Tr'eaty of 1919, all schools In Poland were promised equal prlvl teges, and proportional funds for their upkeep.

The government further assured the Minorities that instructions could be received In the mother tongue. Actual"y these promises too. hi ted

to materlal":e. Jews were soon obliged to malntaln their SGhools with either small government subsIdIes or none at all. The partleiS that assumed this responslbt llty of centrall",'ng education organIzed thefr own schools wIth emphasIs on particular Ideals, tradlttons. and stud'le,

43Wetnrxb. pp. 218.219. 33 most suited to their particular perty bel ieh. /' Consequently. there arose the HorebschooJs for boys ~nd the .(

8eth Yakob schools for girls. I,mder the sponsorship of the Agudath lsroel Party. In 19)8 the system total~d al8 Institutions. The Mi&richl organized the Vebneh system, Which grew In 1933 to '34 Institutions. The

Zionists associated themselves wI th the Tarbutllsystem of Hebrew schoo1$.

'0 1934-1935, they numbered 72 kindergartens, ·183 prl~ry, none second."y, one agrlc;uH:ural; and foureventng scnoo1$.

The of schools makes ft well-nigh impossIble to obtain c ••r figures on the total number of JewIsh edueational 'acrlftie, in Potand • • • •Accordlng to gOvernment fIgures, In 1934-3S end 1936·37 there were 469.309 Jewish ch.rtdren attendIng primary, high and vocational schools .44

The diversIty of schools established In 'oland between the tw() wars *5 one of the proudest achievements of .Pol Isb Jewry. Rach type of school ~s tl.4 up with tM var'ous social or party Ielealogtes domt",ttng tht Ufe ofPoltsh Jews. The school system _s at modern, and relatively new «rcatlon ac.tually duang 'rom the ft'$t Wor1dWar. Aher the collapse of tht Tsarfst Regime, It WIt$ Imperative for the Jews to but td up a nw educational system to trllln the necessary personnel. and to t ntroducenew teach( ng methods. Wt th' n the twenty yeats, a great netwotk of schools was developed end despite .poorflnancial conditions and many legal obstacles, the I'ise of a modern school system .s remarkably rapid ..

In View, however, of IncreasIng dl$Grf"tnetlon· In the last years .before the WI'. the number of Jewish students decreased. 4.5

44lb1d, pp. 220"223. 4.5AQ.nSZJ.k. pp. 273 .. 277. 34

During the 1930's, about 120 Institutions and (;lInlc5 were supported by Jewish Health Organizations. flellef COIIII1Jttees, orga­ ,/ nizations and scx:letles assisted the poo.r and the needy. 8y 1937, workers were organized into JfNlsh Trade Unions

Wl I ch retal Ded elmos t comp 1ete autonomy. 8y 1939, there were 98.810 organized worken. The T;rade UntonCou.noil carrIed on wide 8gltation

'gJtnst antl-atmhlc descrtmlnatlon In employment . Within this Council,

there were a 1so depe rtmen ts IIItt feh eOncerned them'e I ves with mad leal and

lega' matters and with the problems of producers' cooperatives , credl t cooper. t tv.,s, voce tiona 1 t ra In Jng, and soc I it I S. .,Clur I ty.

Poland numbered ...ny I ..ortaot lIJQdern Jewish Institutions of Hb.,ral aru. These Institutions of learning were patterned after a universIty and tncluded many departments . itudents of the InstItutions represented the elIte of the Jewish youth In 'oland, and admissIon to them w, limited only to schoh.rs who had excellent academic quallfl.,. cations. Various scientific works and periodicals were published by the 'ectur.rs and scholars. The library c:onslsted mainly of TalmudIc and RabbInIcal works, Including IIIny siXteenth and seventeenth century prints, An Important InstitutIon of I ....nlng In Poland *5 the

Seminary for Teachers of Jewish Religion. In Warsaw, which .provided a 11 pub 11 c sch()O' Sib Po land wi th quell f' ad teachers of the Jewllh

relIgion. Another promInent school WIllS the Teacher's Seminary of "Ilno which graduated many future teachers of other countries, Ineluding Palestine. Th4t Seminary had an extensive library, workshops, and labo­

ratories, and an experImental Hebrew school.

Up to the outbreak of the last war, Hebrew writers continued 35 the glorious tradition for Polish Jewry, and Poland r~Jned the chIef / center for Hebrew relIgious lIterature and cultural activities.

As ment loned ear Iter. a 11 phases ·of cu !tura 1 efforts and actIvities were promoted In YIddIsh, H~rew. and Polish languages. evolved from. simple folk language (as the German dialect from th

RhIne) Into. highly developed cultural meclhl'R . As" result of the long trad I t Ion of Yt dd I sh language and 11 terature t n Po land, the country became the cultural center of literary cr.tlon In Yiddish. Books printed in thIs language were sent to all countrIes In the world . 'The Yiddish Institute of liberal Arts at Wllno became a world famous

InstItutIon with branches in thirty countries . The library at this

Institute WlS utenslve and WlS used by writers .nd by students from all part~ of the world. JewIsh publishing flourhhed and grew to eonslderable pro­ portIons. Po land served as a world center for Jewish book production and for literary figures. Just.s books wIelded a powerful Influence. so. too, did the Jewish press exert a tremendous influence on the olltlcal and cultural Hfe of PoHsh Jewry . Aft., 1918. the Jewish press rees tab 11 shed accord I n9 to popu I a tI on propor tI ons, became twl ce the sIze of the PolIsh press. Jewlsh contributIons to the development of art In Poland were

Innunereble. Nearly every community In PoJand had its arc:h ·lves In whIch wer. kept objects of hlstorleal value. Between the WorJd Wars, the Jews of Poland cultivated a.rt In every form. and Wersew was the cradl. of the

Jewhh Art Soc I ety. Th Is Art Socl ety sponsored all Important art events 36 and fostered a tas to and demand for art among the pub II (: .lt6 I 8.fore c:oncludlng this chapter, mention must be medeof the theaters In Poland. Wher'! the Na".lfs attacked Poh,nd, the Jewish theater had reached Its peak. Although the most outstanding theaters were In

Warsow, they were a Iso found tn Wllno, Krakow. and in L.wow.

Ves, the h Is tory of the thea tel' was a long one for I t took forty years of attempts to raise It to .. high .rtistlc standard. HOw-­ ever, by 1936, fifteen YIddish theaters In Poland presented everything from serious pieces to comedies and reviews.47

CfrculIIStances may have curtailed the chances and opportunl ties of a fuller develo~nt In certain f'elds of cultural endeavor. Despite

ny odds. Polish Jews 5ucee.ded tn malntal'nlng a unique cultural.nd econoralc ,pos.ltlon. Ar'!d no other CClOIlIunlty In£urope _5 so deeply rooted In the old traditIons of theIr peopte and 50 strongly attached to their customs, religion. and 1fteratur. as the Jewish p.,.,I ••

I.t6 lb t d •• pp. )01-313.

47Wfinrvb, p. 125. j

CHAPTER III

NAZI OCCUPATiON OF POLAND AND TH&: CONS£QU£NCES FOR THE JEWS

The NazIs .ttacked Poland on September I. 1939. On September 17. 1939. Sovl et forces overran and began to occupy eastern Poland. The resIstance of Polish mIlitary forces soon ceased. The country .as divided, and the boundaries between Germany and the SovJet

Union were sett led by the German-Soviet Boundary and Friendship Treaty of September 28. 1939. The eastern and southeastern sections with. population of some th I rteen million (main ly Ukra t nta" and Be lo-Russlan) fe)) to the Soviets. Germany took the western and central sections with II population of twenty-two mllllon. Including the large citIes and

Industrial centers of the (:Cuntry, and the c~l mines of Upper $Ilesla.

The western regIons, with II population of about ten mit 1Ion, re Incorporated Into the Greater Genllan Reich. The central provInces became the Government General with Its seat In Krakow. These provInces, comprised of twelve mill Ion people, were Intended as II home for the Poles.

The former western regions wer. to become eventually cleared of Pole. and settled by the Germans .

A heavy concentration of Jews lived fn both these regloRs.

Their fate be<:ame questionable. for. in an earlier pre-war speech In the Reichstag, Hitler threatened that In the event of war, their an­ nihtlatlon would result. Thts threat became an actualtty.lt began 38 with the initial antl-JewTsh decrees. looting, shootings. and ended with ,/ cruel e.xtermlnatlon.lt8

The German po 11 cy toward the Jews may be SUlllJled up I n three stages:

1. The f'rst month of occupet'on. marked by antI-Jewish decrees and regutetlons, looting of Jewish property, pogroms. shootings, burnings, rape, etc.

2. The ghetto period, endIng wi th the outbreek of Ger~n-I\usslan war. (1940-1g4l)

3. The perIod of extermination. This began In the mld .. lg41 fn eestern, prevlously$ovlet ... occupled Poland. and sIx months latel; in the western areas of Poland occupied by the Ger.ns in 1939. 9

The German pogromwu carried out conforlOllb ty to the stages out lined above. Accordingly. then. the fl rst stage ..., characterized by the IntroductIon of speelal regulations by the Nazis Intended to humiliate the Jews.Ouring the very first week of occupation, various measures. d.ifferlng from one district to .tnother. were introduced by

local Gestapo chiefs. The Jews were compelled to wear distinguishing badges or armlets to set th_ apart. Signs were .ffhted to theIr businesses and premtses to prevent non .. Jews from trading with them under penalty of

imprisonment. AI I Jews and JeweS$es ove.. ten y.rs of ag8 hed to wear on their right arm a band with the Star of Oavld. at least ten cen- t imeters wi de. Decrees forbade the JeW!; .,nder penalty of detth to move wIthout wr i tten perm iss. on. to 1eave the I r homes or overs tay the enforced curfew.

ItS Welnryb, Jews fn th, Savitt Sattl11tes. pp. 226-227. '*9l!Us1. 39

In. 1934, the mos t degrad I n9 Ie9 J s loSt Ion k,nown as the . was esUblh;hedln Germany. These laws made the Jews outlaws of j

society, whot ly at the mercy of pol Ice and deprived them of court

protection. J10st of t~ decisIons reaehed through the Nuremberg Laws were aimed at the removal of Jews entirely from the land of the Third Reich. Whcltn the German occupation forces moved tnto Poland • . they put into operation many of these decrees against the Jews. In tine. then, wtth the existing Nuremberg laws, the Jews were forbidden to hire non-Jewish help In their households. lo,"al and general decrees further restrictf!d the movement of Jews tn public conveyances, railways and motor coaches without Issued perml ts. I f these were prey I ded, other

measures further 1'.' trl c ted their mf n9 n n9 wI th Po j es and Germans and forced them to occupy partitioned back sections. Jews were off Ilm,ts In parks. towns, of occupIed areas. beaches, swImmIng baths. et ceter• • Brutal mlSMCres. mental and physical tortures, sadistIc sports. werclt systematically carrIed out by the German oppressors. looting of busInesses, coupled with mass murd.rs of owners,

were carried out in a cruel fash'on. All shops stocks of goods, and private hous.s were looted methodically. Whot.sale robbery, deprivIng the Jews of their .property, was one of th. first measures of the Nazis . ConfIscatIon was complete and It Included promIses., Insurance benefits, pensions, and the closIng down of credits. Jewish doctors were per­ m'tted to attend only Jewlshppatlents; lawyer'S were excluded from pub lie courts, and practically all other occupatIons were restricted to the 40

50 Jews.

( On October 26; 1939, til«) deereas were Issued concerning com- i pulsory labo,r-theflrst was for the Poles. the other was for the Jews.

Compulsory labor began at the age of twelve. Jews were expelled from private trade and industry and were put to ~nual labor. In the Initial stages. any Jew wes picked up from the streets or Indoors and forced to

II«)rk for an Indefinite time. Those who could not perform their tasks. were not kept attve. Craftsmen were compel1ed to supply thetr own tools and ~re forbidden to sell, pawn, or dispose of tools and acc.s- sories unde.r threats of heavy .,..,ahl.s. this penalty, eff.ctiv. Immediately. r.sulted in the sentencIng of Jews to hard tabor for ten yean. Confiscation of property usually accClllpanled such a sentence. tronl~l . th~ugh It may seem, the Jews ~owere obliged to forced labor were told to bring two clean blankets and provisions for two days. Nazi humanitarians explained to the world that compulsory labor ws a social policy Intended to provIde wrk for the unemployed.

Actually their MOtives were anti-social. In fact. they were sadistIc.

The facts were reveaJed tn wrhlng. by the Nazis thllllSelves ~o admltt.d rather frankly that they enjoyed wtchlng the sufferings of the ens lav.d Jews. In Novemb.r 28, 1939. Dr. lnal I Strodthoff wrote the following: It gives us particular pl ..sure to usa the beloved gentlemen of Abraham's seed for carrying straw and setting up camps. Their hollow excuses were of no avail. We sllllp)y WItt through the

0 5 Th• G'OMn New O,rd.r In Poland, (no author) ttutchtnson " Co •• Pub lIshen Ltd.)pp. 215-227. This book contains documented proof and photographs r.vealing the barbarous _tbods employed by the Nazis from Sept~er 1939 to .the end of Jun. 1941 . It Is the second volume of the Black Book dealing with the G..... n . ",ny antl .. Jewlsh methods are also revealed In Raphael Leaktn. Axis Rule In Occupied Europe, (Washington: Carnegie Endo1aent to InterNitional Peace, Division of InternatIonal law, 1944) ,pp. 75-78. 41

streets. collecting them . and whoever. despite a friendly request thought he had no time. was soon taught better. During a war / there 1s no time to waste ..... thank God !-plenty of ways of dealing with recalcitrant Jews .51 German publications took pride In publishing snaerlngly captioned photographs of the unfortunate Jews at compulsory labor. The pictures showed old and young Jews supervised by the Nazis. and forced by them to carry heavy loads of stones.

That this kind of work was being Imposed Is also obvious from a Ber l in report In which the ZurIch paper. Ole Tat, dated Januaryl. 1941 states: In the "Government General" of Poland the solution of the Jewish problem Is still a questlon\llhlch eV9kes special tnterest. Untold thousands of Jews. who In fonaer times belonged to the professions are now. compelled by the Germen authorities to do other kinds of work. such as buIlding roads, clearing forests. etc. In the district of Lublin, where as Is known most of the Jews live; they have now begun to calt upon the Jews for reclametlon work . Spread over wide ar... , they are at work on the regulation of str.. ms and rivers, buildIng dykes and draIning swamps . In the Lublin district from 12.000 to 14,000 Jews were rounded up for this kind of work. They have been allocated to forty~flve work centers. They live In thirty-four camps . GeMman camp leaders and guards act as super­ vIsors. Within the next few weeks other districts will follow the exemp Ie of Lub 11 n. and. as the "archlyer I,Itung . reports, the remaInIng Jews will be employed at such and similar work .52 A report from Copenhagen, published In the Manchester GuardIan.

February 19. 1940. tel Is more of what WIIS h.ppenlng:

S'~., p. 227. This, as quoted In the .bove cited source, orIginally appeared In the Volkfscher Btob.chter. a German publication. Photographs In the same paper show elderly Jews being led away from com­ pulsory labor. Lemk,n,. p. 544 cites excerpt$ of document concerning forced I.bor for the Jewish population. 42

The Warsaw Jewish communIty continues to supply dally SOO JewIsh workers for the removal of wreckage and other public works. Nazi hunts for Jews In the streets still continue and no Jew who leaves / his home Is sure of coming back. The humIliations and tortures I nf U c ted upon the Jewl shworkmen, who • re compe' I ed by the I r Nazi overseers to dance and sing and undress durIng their work, and even are forced to belabour each other with blows , show no signs of abatlng.S3

Thus. forced labor became a very Important feature in the life of PolIsh Jews. Thousands worked either In labor battalions or

In I.bor camps. Those In battalfons fared better, for they were per­ mitted to return to theIr homes after a day's work. Those In labor camps, on the other hand, were actually Hvlng under conditions sImilar to concentraUon camps. The major I ty of these labor camps were In the lublin area along the newly established Russian frontier. Much work was done here by the Jews In preparation for the attack upon SovIet

Russia fA 1941. The Jews WGrklng In this area were not allowed to receive wages or unenploYlilent relief.

Work In the I.bor camps lasted about ten hours with but lIttle time gIven for lunch. The winter of 1940-1941 saw such a terrible spread of dIseases I n the camps that the Jewish COIII1lun Jty Coune 11 shad to send doctors and medicine to check the 51 tuatlon. In the Krakow special , spott.d typhus raged among the 1,800 homeless J6ws.

Women. too. 'were conser I pted for forced labor. Those b.tween the ages of sevente.n and thlrty .. flve were ordered to register wIth the author Jt le5 • Many ~re used for fae tory lebor and some were amp loyed In agricultural work. Becaus. of the existing racial theories In Germany,

Nazts would not p.rmit the use of Jewish labor In the Greater Relch,S4

53Aeenszlak, pp. 229.

54$1 mon Seg_ 1. The New 0 rder I n Po l.nd. (N.w York: AI fred Knopf. 1942). pp. 176- 180. 43

It Is Important to mention that on September 21. 1919. / Heydrlch ordered the transportation 0' rural and small-town Jews from the newly established General Government of Poland Into the larger Polish cities. This facilitated Gestapo surveillance over th_ and quarantined the Jews from the rast of the population. As a result. both Poles and Jews had to move sevaral times within the defined Umlts. Tha Rlngelblum Blutetyn. for example. reports: tt ..1 heard of a Jew who moved In and out seven times because of continual changes In the borders of the ghetto. Another moved four tlmes."SS By 1941. Warsaw, Lublin. Krekow. and Kovno received the Jews who were subsequent I y packed I n to crowded areas, and faced s ta rva t I on and dls.. se. The towns of Eastern GalicIa which wera not occupied until June 194t. had no enclosed ghettos.

In Warsaw alone SOlIe 450,000 Jews were compressed In.to an area where 145.000 Jews had been crowded. Brick wells were constructed to prevent any contact with tha Aryan population. Tha process of Qtermlnatlng the ghatto Inhabitants fell Into two phases. In the firs t ph ..a t he Naz I plan wes to s top the Jews from trad I ng, and thus drlva largar mnbers of th_ to starvation. This In turn, would leave a slUller and IUnageable group wlth which to deal durIng the second phase of physical executlon.S6 In the spring of Igl.tO. work on the enclosing of the Warsaw ghetto wes bagun with tha construction of a well. Jews arrl vlng or changing their abode were forced to move within the confines of this wall. Each tl_ new refugaes arrived, the ghetto became more crowded

S5RlngalbiUll Bluletxn, p. 36. Thh Is also quoted In Phtllp Friedman. . and F .

56 Sachtr. p. 444. 44 and food cond I t Ions became more mi ser.b 1e. Philip Friedman describes ./ the WI II thuss .the eleven mile-long wall of the ghetto had to be erected wI th the Jewl sh money. The Judenrat had to pay a German con .. structlon finn for the work and the material. ThIs firm had obtaIned the concession for erectIng e watl of bricks ten feQt hIgh and two bricks wide. The bricks were covered with plaster and fInished with built-In broken ,lass, with the sharp edges on the outside in order to prevent elimblng over the wall ••• 57 ••• the watls 'and barbed wire surroundIng the ghetto grew 'higher every day until on November IS, they completely cut off the Jews from the outside world. Contacts, with the Jews Hvlng In other cIties and towns were, naturally, also made Impossible • • • • these people with practically nothing to theIr names, alone, In strange surroundings where others were preoccupied with theIr own difficulties, 'tt.~ally, dying of malnutrition. trIed to buIld their ex isteBce anew. S

By November, the warsaw ghetto was closed end placed under heavy J~lsh. German, and Polish guard at each of the eleven entrances. The Lodz ghet to Wis set up by Februa ry ) 940; Radom ghet to. I n November of the same veaneracow. In Karch 1941; Klelcil. ,n Aprt) 1941.59 The ghetto was forbidden to have any Intercourse wIth the outside world except with the permission of German agencies. For effective supervision withIn the ghetto and control of the JewIsh com· I ' mun I ty. a Jewish Counc 11. known as the Judenr.t was formed. A pres Ident dIrected each of these councIls and he was the Interlftedlary through whom the N.z1s Issued thel .. order'S or obtaIned vIctims. !vldence proves that several of these presidents were never more than NazI puppets; others were slncer, In attempting to allevIate the sufferIngs of their

S7Frle4man. pp. 104 .. 106. quoted In source.

581bld. In sallie source as told by Edelman. 59welnryb. pp. 227-228. 4S of thoir fe110... en through persona I InterventIon. In Warsaw, the

Pre,ldent never achIeved the role of a ghetto dIctator. In other ,( I ghettos such Instances were common •

. , •• These· presIdents did no . ~ long. toexerelse ~helr ambitions. The record of thefr fate Is one of suicides end executions. Dr. Adams Czernlakow of the Warsaw Jadenrat was allowed to own a motor-car. HIs almost regal state became the butt of the ' ghetto cabaret artists. Vet heconnitted suicIde In July 1942, sooner than be associated with the German rresettlement.' Czernlakow's successor, O. Rotfeld. of Lwow. commhted suicide during the October 1942 action. . .Other Instances can be quoted ,by the dozen.60 The presIdents vmo co-operated with the Nazl$ had tIttle to

~In for themselves. One such. Rumkowskl of the Lodz ghetto, suIted · the German purpose, for as long as five years. nto.ugh he made the ghetto efficient . he suffered the same fate as those he helped to .vacuete., namely the gas chamber. 61 The purpose of self-adminIstration wIthin the ghetto was merely intended to shIft any responslb111ty from the Germans to the

Jews thems.lve,. The Jud.nrat was obliged to accept orders from the High Command end .as responsible for the ¢Onscient'ous carrying out of these orders. The Coune 11 cons I s ted of many members and was d I v Idad Into d.rtments, namely. the 'egal, social service. health, food, super­ vIsion, education. flnanc•• administratIon. and labor. Furthermore. the Counei) WlS responsible for moving the .people Into the ghettos, foF' furnishing the quotas of Jews asked for by the Nazis for cOll1Pulsory labor, for the upkeep of schools. hospitals, and for the prOVisioning of

600erald R.ltllng.r. Ih. Final SQ)u$.Ion, (London Vall.ntln•• Hltehell " Co. , Ltd. 19S3). p. 63. A diary account of Czernlakow's actIvities and death is given by Bernard Goldstein In The Star, Bet Witness trans. and .d. by leonard Snat~kln, (N.w Yorkl Viking Pr.5s,I949), pp. 103"U,. 615ee Sachar. p. 445. 46 the meager food supplies. ,/ '" 1O,me cases the Judenrat was 81$.0 responsible for pollce arrangement.

Whenever p05s1ble, the German~ utiliaed the dregs of Jewish society, the outcasts and criminals. for their purposes. In Va rsaw they amp toyed s' zab 1e nunbers of Jew'sh po 1i cernen, the scum of Jewtsh 11 fe, many of them spos ta tas, to keep order. and to Infor. on thel.r fellow Jews ·, The police were ,given unIforms. armed with trAlfps and clubs, and permitted to 5_gger menacingly about the ghette> streets. Many of them were ..salslnated by ,'the JewIsh underground; those who survived were eventually done to deethhy the Nazis, tn grateful recognition of their servlc:ea.62 As could be expected. friction developed between the JuS,nrat and col1aboratlo,nlsts who hoped for a Nazi vletory and r ..rds for thel r actlvlt'es af,ter ,the .r. Th st notorious group exisUng wfthln th ghetto end 'eared even by the Judenrat was the l1'rzynastka" or the nTh irteen'" headed by GancwaJ ch. On the bas i s of a ser i es of new docu .. nts dtscovered. the author of a recent article discloses the main espionage and -diverse funetlons performed by the gangster' agency under the guise of various fnstt tuttons. GancwaJch taught that th., Jewish population should recognize the Nazi id&als as a new trend to whIch they should adjust themselves; slnce ,eventualty they promised a new hope and a better life for the Jews. He was an apologist whopr.. cbed that ghetto life Is a blessing for the Jews, that it assures thetr autonomy and frees them from outside influences; and asslml 1atlon.

The ''Trzynastka'' formed an f l1-fated strength In the Warsa_ ghetto. It was fea'red not only by the ord'nary occupants of the ghetto,

~~ -

62J.,eJ..g • Go 1ds te I n reca 11 5 t n source. men t i oned p rev i ous 1y. the dhgracef"l role of the Jewfsh police. The entries In his diary are dated October 1940 to April 1942 , pp. 66-69. 47

but II Iso by theofflela I representatIves of the Jewish ,peop ie. tt was recognized as a liazl agency. and Gancwajch, .5 a Hltlerfte spy. ,/ IUngelblum. the archivist wrote a book entitled, A Year Of 'The

Ghettt. tha theme of ~ich Is not dearly known, Documents found in the Chancery at Auers.'d ghetto reveal the correspondence of the Com·

mI •••.,. of the Auers.Jd ghetto with the Warsaw Judenrat, end that of

GanClriajch and the Connhtees of the t'thlrteen.u It contained an

anonymous IIOnograph of 105 typed pages. This raport. according to the author, .s an ennuel report sent by Gancwajch to HItler authorities

and reports of the ghetto. m1.nute de-.J Is of

outsIde and wi thin the ghetto concerning the .-". ,from these spy

activIties r ••ufted en exceHent account of Internal ghetto life. for

the doeuments rev.. l a thorough know) edge of al t phues of soc: f a 1 ,

cultural, politIcal, and artistic: pursuits.

'rOIl the entl ..ety of known accounts .• the author concludes that

the "ThrrteenU endeavored z .. lously to attack the "lIdenret. This struggle .5 long-Jasting and bitter andevontually It let to fights and arrests by ,the Gestapo.63

Though physic.lly weak because of the negligible amount of

food received. the Jews ea,ried out cultur.l activities with intense

nthusiasm. Accounts of these actions .nd of Ufo within the ghetto. under bitter conditions. were <:aroful1y kept and supervised by the

63A .utkowskl, "0 Agenturze Gest.powskleJ \I GetcieW.rszawsklm, "Blylet'(D'nst'(&ulu ZYdowski.go. X'I-XX. (L'ptec-Grudtten. Wanaw. 1956.) pp. 18-57. Goldstein, pp . 68-70, reveals that the "'Thlrteeners" were on the scent of pofi tlce 1 _tertal. 111.gal t Iterature, and actIve workers In the undergroUtid. They actua lly became the .uthor I tv on J.wl$h _tters for the Gestapo. 48 previously mentioned social historian, E. Rtngelblum. His notes, found ~( long after the war, hidden In a rubbertzed milk can and cached deep unde.r the ruins of the Warsaw ghetto, ghe the hhtory of the times. ,They are not 8 diary, srnce they are not restricted to the life of a diarist .•

'nstead, they covel' • wtde scope of activities, are arranged In chrono- logi<:al order, and show history as primarily the .. nterpley of social, economlc, and InstltutloMl forces, and ,only secondarily aa the result of the actions of powerful IndIviduals.

IUngelblUIII knew how to proc_d with the accumulation of

Information, He enlJst.ed the group .ffort of a staff trained In tech­ niques of tnte.. vtewtng. and In the an_ling and writing of car.fully selected data. His Informants were chosen on the basis of represen­ tative occupations, social status and geographIcal distribution. The nographs the staff produced Included community histories and treated such spec i' I c subJ ects as hea Ith, produClt I on end currency. Much material .5 a.$sed In the nOneg Sabbath" or us.cret society of brothers" as these. r-.,ports came to be known, even though It fe with In the ghetto .5 Insecure and the lives of the contributors were endangered.

Several, tIlo volunteered to cover specifIc ~"'eas of research. were se'~ed by members of the Jewish police foree of collaboretors end were sent to extermln.tlon camps. Other writers were shot tn the ghetto

IIrea. and very few escaped over the wall.

Attho\,lgh Rlngelbtw's notes began tn January 1940, barely three months .fter the occupation of Wersaw by the German army they continue for years follOWing the Warsaw ghetto uprlsJng. ftJngelblum continued to write ac(:()unU even hi his underground bunker to whleh he \185 smugg led from the ghetto. 49

the "'r5,t of these reports cove,ed .Incidents of brutality, of the Nazl army of occupatIon. ,(}ther numbe .. some one hundred volumes j of 1Ii«1l01 rs ; ,numerous f lIes of German documents and hundreds of ott'\er: reports .

1n ..... rch , 1944, ltngelbl.um wrote of tt~e rich underg,o,-nd inte41ect... , lIfewtthlnthe War$aw ghetto. ' He described th~ system of underground ,sehoob. the activItIes of the 1,Jndergr,ound press and the lecture courses. , He also hal led the new arUsts who appeared inper­ formances in the ghetto-all of whom .re eventual ty put to death et the

Treb 1t nlut ca"H,.

The Gestapo agents eventuanv discovered his cellar. ,mprls~ned the authe'lr 8ltd hIs fami IV, and made every ettempt to uncover the archlve,. But the records were so carefully hidden that the 'I,.&t of these were not found untf' Sept.ember 191.t6. and the second, at the beginning of Peeembe,. 64 1950 .

Among the doc:umertt5 found in the underground archives was also a dIary of a well knoWR Jewish pedagogue and historian, Abraham

Lew" n. In s account covers the per lad from ftatch 25 to June S, 1942 t a period of tRtet\siffedNazl terror and direct preparetJon for the great exterminatton t ampatg" of the Jews fn occupied Poland general IV. and particularly fn the W.rsl.lw ghetto. The author rev.als the problem of smuggling tnto the ghetto, the terror In AprJl 1942 . end the background

64J~cob Sloan. (ed.) "ot~ ' .rom the '!fauaw Ghetto~rbf Jo gf_pga.l al ng.lk'MI'. (New 'fol"k. acGra.. Hl.11 Book Co.. 19S8~. see also, Rtngelblum,.itNotatkt z Getta,n Blylet)!,.ZydQW$ktAA,9 tosSy,t!iltu . lIlstotyezneSQ. 15 .. 16 (Ltplec.. Srudzten. 1 9S5~. pp_ 245-2 .90~ these fraglll$llts brand the shameful role of the ghetto pot Ice and other renegrades. PM J IpFrledman. IbeirBJ:;9tbar. IURon. (New York era.n PublishIng Inc •• 1957)., pp •. 15-16 verlf'es the death of fU"gelblum. so of the ~ntl-Jewlsh propaganda films shown by the Hltlerltes In the Warsaw ghetto. /

These propaganda films depict false scenes of life within the ghetto. There ar.e scenes of weI I dressed men and women In a restaurant being served the finest of foods and wines, to convince the world that the best of conditions existed there. A funeral carrtage and Jewish cantors (a functionary of the Rabbinate) are .lso portrayed to con­ vince the outside world that the memory of the dead .as respected.

The truth was actually the opposite. Food was at Its lowest. the deaths occurred at such a rapid rate that the bodies were carted out to a nearby cemetery or simply robbed of clothing and left to rot on the ghetto streets;65

The s .. llng off In the ghettos had a deteriorating effect upon the Jews. Overcrowding, leek of food. and unsatisfactory sani­ tation conditions brought on diseases which contributed to the decl- matton of the J..-ish population. Appeals were made to the Judenr" to org.nlze Its own sanlt.tlon squads for more effectIve and humane handl ing of cases. Permission WI. • given. but because of Inadequate facilities for cooking and for sanftatlon, diseases spread with grea. speed. The resourceful medical att... ts of heroic doctors to control diseases were In vatn. Furthermore, In transferring the Jews. to the ghetto from their former residences, the sick were Included. Hundreds had to be carried or carted to th.lr ghetto confl.n_nt. Though the

6SA• Lewin, "~Zlen;~ ~Gett. Wars~.wskl!SJct' 8iuJetvn Zydowskl,go lnstytutu Hlstorygneao. XV-XVI Llpl.c-Grudzlen, 1955) . pp. 169-205 . ft(ng.lbhp mentioned the filming of the ghetto pp . 265·269. 51

Isolated contaglou, C8ses c:ouldnot be taken from hospttah from which j Jews were aho moved. the Nazis did not permit the removal of essential equipment. serum. vaccines. nor surgical Instruments to aid the re-

Ining sick. The existIng epldemtcs and starvation towered the re'$h­ tance of the sick and thereby speeded theIr death.66

Nobel Prize winl1c;Jr. Professor Ludwig Hirschfeld, who discovered the blood types, struggled untiringly to ho1d back diseases and worked feverl$n1y to produce serums. Though he had once been the Director of the Bacterfologlcal Institute at the lIiarsaw UnIversity and had the knowledge of how to proceed. he lacked all Jaboratory facflftfes for this type of work. His prImitive laboratory set-up couldn't produce anything to $Iow up (at least) the sprQad of Infections. Testifying at a trial he admitted that fl ••• If the Jews of Warsaw ghetto had not been deported to Treblinka and murdered there, they would have dIed out In etght years.u61 The arehlves of the Judenrat In Lodz reveal that there wete numerous Instane.s 0' Poles smu9g11ng bread and other food to the betto. Children were eollsted to carry the food to reserve$ and de­ t I gnated areas, where messe.ngers met them and smugg 1ed I t with I n the ghetto. to 1941. shortly after the euabl1shment of the ghetto. the death rate swelled and reached the terrifying proportion of six to seven thousand eaeh month. Under the German occupation the food situatloft ..s

66Goldsteln. pp. 65-67- 67Wefnryb. quoted. p. 228. 52. desperat e ; WI t hl n t he ghet to th,re ".as no, ~ont.ct. mins li 09. nor com-

( munlcat fon p ~rml tted. Smu991Jnglnvolved gren r fsks, and the payment ' of f I "es f or mf ,sdemeanor s ex I 5 ted. 68 .

Quot t"9 Ph II ip ~uerbach. a J ~)tIl sh , wr t,ter and s urvi vor of the

"arsaw ghetto. on th~ assi$t~nce gi~en by ' the. Poles is Friedman ~o states:

'!'hey were ant v~r.$ i ty prof essl:! r's. r.,.n road \I\1Orkers t. bus dt 1vers 't " priests, wives of hIgh offieers of tbe t!"my. ,_dt.'$. merchants . p~san t s. pa' tJ~uta rly peesants~ o ) for", singl e act of char t ty; gtvlngof , lo,af of breed to a Jew. eplnt of lilt tk 01' • night' s aeCOlMlOdat; ton Jn ,the barn. werC! e t:ue tly nun h;hed, of ten 'k f II cd, and theIr homes set fire by the Germans .69

• , • ! .. $,.u9911 n9 was necessary Ind lmp.tet Ive because "hunger broke thfOUGh . ,ll 'barriers,f.· it _scarf ••d on through various channels. . . . . ' ndudlng the ~rlbtn9 of police .nd 9"'d81'~; Streetears pt8yedthelr rolel though the motormen, ~uing througb the ghetto, were not allowed to stop navertheless. they would throw s*ck$ .,t polrlts wfth'fnthe ghet.tofor a fee. but Wo.ufct not reveal anything _en questtoned. Ch ildren casualUes at $mU991in9 attempts were heavy.I'De of the Ingenious methods In 5111ug911n9 .5 the use of coffln$,whlchwere ttl ted with food 8$ they were t·ransf.t red thrm.gh a Chrlatian cemetery and retarhtd to th., gheno. 70

, ..! '.' ~. ',. ~ .' .. 684gld'.f".PP,. 74--75. 'n " 2rl,ihyb .SlJryailsm QUt IUI":QQ' C00cumented Record, Germanyi Z. Wa rh~ ftl 9, 1943.' . p. 15 Go.1 dsteln states that t he weekly ...Uons for oJa"" In Pol i sh ghettos ~unted to a pound of b t.ek bread lit , bost, t l«) Ounces, pf $0 celled Jl rns 01" mafma lade, one ounce of$U98' and p"rh8ps a few potatoes. The Jews reeel vael no ether food . 69Frledman; The'r 8tQ1iQtt! JhtPtr$. p. 116,. AddHto~t '6.ClU of assIstance g lven to the Jews as o&se.. ve~ by t he historian Ringe1 blum and writer Rosenthal are quoted In the same source. 70Gpl_dst,in. Pp.76"78. S3

illegal operators developed their own smugglfng teehnlques ,/ and kept everythJng movIng In a bushed _yo fear'n9 not only the Germans but atso the Jew"h extortionists. At the beginning of $942, even afte.. the hIgh rate of death from disease. and after the massacres In the former Russ Jan sector of Po land, the.. e renla I ned some tw and a ~rter mill I on '0' Ish JeWJ

who should, accordIng to Nazi plans. not h.v~ been alIve. Therefore. HeIdrich .nd Hlmmler resorted to more drastl.C: extermInation measures.

HeidrIch decided that the time had come to! c:4rry out the "Final

Solution" and explained to an assembly of high officials, In January

1942, how the .problem of exterminating the Jews fn Poland as well III those In other countries was to be earrled out. Thus. the thIrd stage

of .molesate exterminatIon reached I ts taQlHntum . 71

In several key centers established only In Poland. huge g8S

chambers and adJotnlng crematorfes .,Itll a large c:apaclty for v:lctlms

were built. Of ell the RnJ concentration camps In existence. some

thirty of th ... were deeth «:amps . However. the destlll.llon of convoys

IIIIIS kept a ctosely gUlrded se<'li'et, and tbe QetIMns skIllfully devised

stratagems to keep up Jewish hopes of sUfvlva,.72 At the War Criminal

Trials. Hoe:ss testified that Jews calle to the death C8I11pS frOnt such

1 7 'Wll11 am L . 5ch f rer. Thea se (New York: $llItOn and Schus ter. ~l :';';96==-O~·. ~p::"p"'.""96~. ~4-.a.:.g6'!1-!8~.~~;....:.:I.:..&.I..~~~ Solution" _5 epp.... ntly Issued verb.lty to HI_ler. Heidrich, and Goertngslnce no document of written eVidence of it ..., ev.r found or presented at tbe Nuremberg Trials. R",dolph Hoess. givIng testimony. related that It meant the total extermination of aI' Jews fn lurope. A number of other witnesses testified that they f·heard'" of It, but none admItted ever seeing It. 72.1!W!. pp . 969"'971, 54 distant parts of . Ho11and. and G,reece. In 1943, a transport of j wealthy Jews from Holland reached the Dachau concentration camp. A former in~t. of the camp. aeverend Justtn Na1:1m. In a written account of personal observatlo.,s on the treatment of Jews. related that many Jews arrived there drened In their ~est clothlng, rich furs', 'nd Jewelry. A$ the, hmates returned from work that evening. Fathe'robserved that the S$ guards were comparing the ' loot they had taken from ', these unfortunate Jews, namely tbe furs. rolls of IIOney, jewetry. end gold objects. &.ater. be ' learned that aU the members of that transport were transferred to the t 1l .. famed Auschwitz extemlnatlon c:amp, _ere they t their death.73

Many acc::ounts rev_' th. ruthless methods Mployed by the

Nazis to ,1ur.,the Jews tnto beHaving that they 'were being merely trans .. ferred to other

In the ,\11101. of ..Poland. p... hiitps ' half a mil flon Jews, Ineltldlng 310,000 from W... saw, were resettled In those ten waks of ",une andJ ...., y. hwas an average of 7,000 kll Hngs a day. Two thIrds of the victIms wre gassed to d.. th a, Trebl1nka •. the r.st ,at idanek. aelzek. Sob I bor, (hellllO, and Auschwitz. But eventue11y, even these highly effIcient d.. th factories. were glutted with c;1i$l1U, and by Septeaber 1942. the SS WIllS compelled to resort to Russlan.styl. executfon, pH shoottng.. By the end of 1942, the

73Letter from Rev . Jystln Nulah fonaer il'llMte of' the Oachau Concentration Cemp, MaV 29, 1961. ' PresontlyF"anc1sqn 'Us~fo,..ry In Japen.

745Gblrer, pp. 970"'974. S.e pages cIted for ghastly accounts of search for gold. and. tso account of test imonypresent.ed at Nuremberg that ashes of victims were sold as fertIlizer. The author also mentions that the Allies discovered much booty from vIctIms abandoned by Nazis In mines. See also, Joseph tenenbaum. Rae! ,nd Retcll (New York; Twayne Publishers. 1956). pft. 206-208 for the economl c val ue of • cilmp I Mltte. Author quotes value of a camp IRlMte's gold ft1Ungs. human hair. et ceter•• 55

number of resettled PolIsh Jews had reached 1.274,000 • • • • Throughout the spring and 4IutlMftfl of that year the Nazts systemattcally reduced the remainIng ghettos ••• I • • •on October 4, 1943. HeInrich Hi_fer Informed a t8therlng of S$ officIals that the Flnat SolutIon was reaching a c1lmax. 75 When the tide of \!Or turned against the Nazis . the RUS$lans moved ctoser to Poland. Since It became .ssentlal that no Inmates of

camps remain to offer an eyewitness testimony tcO the AllIes. efforts for the total extermination of the remaln'ng Jews were Intensified. 8y the, time the RussIan had ga'ned their. way Into Poland. the destru­

ct Ion of Po 1 Ish Jewry had a lmos t been camp I eted. 'or seva.. al months , even after Russian oecupatlon. a thIn haze, light as dust. hovered above the ohimneys of the eremltorla. That haze was vi r:tually aU tha,t rematgad of the largest cOOI'Qunf ty I n the h Is tory of the ,iuropean Jewry.,7

Not all the Jews had e~tetely abandoned themselve$ to fate.

ln the warsaw Ghetto there \185 some ,resistance. tn fact. It was onty In this putleu'.r place that the Jews opposed the resettlement action

which .5 ordered in July by tUmmle,. Of the sixty thousand ·Jews watled In the Warsaw Ghetto, some forty t~ousaod remained. In 1942. Hlnnler was disgusted tolNrn that the inhabitants of the Warsaw Ghetto were not exterminated as rapIdly as he had planned. Furthermore, transport,tlon feci llttes were serious IV hampered beeause of the Russian offensive and HI_ler's order could not be fully realized

until possibly In spring. S~ deportation, neverthetess. was carried out, the remaInder was to be hurriedly taken care of with Ilspectal

U aetlon , In a IaIner of three days.

75 Sacha .. , pp. "t"'IO",4lt8I.I.~ ,",

76 tb1d • S6

History ruled other wise. Desti"y turned the tide. if only / briefly agafnst the oppressors. The total extermfnatlon action WiltS dehtyed because of the bravery and the debut of the W-ars8w Ghetto fighters. When the Jews within the ghetto began to sense that reset ..

tlement meant ·their total extJn(;tlon. they took defensIve ~etion. A series of vi t8 I preparations were carried out: arms were smuggled in and some barricades were set up. To preserve utmost secrecy and to

.prevent news leakage of the preparatIon within the wall, the Jews ' themselves 1 iquideted various Gestapo age,Ats. Fighting groups were organized and trained to take thel r posl tlons at strategic points within the ghetto. HIding places knoWn. as bunkers were exc:a.vUed. cleverly conStructed for men and for the storing of the necessary supplies; Tunnels were du,g and passages were made to malnt.. fn 8 CO!'mIUllt .. cation 5y5t....

On January 18, 1943, German soldiers entered the ghetto and began to drive the people out. Those who reststed were beaten or sbot; others were forced toward the Umschtsgplat:l. the phsce selected for the immediate shooting of resentful. Jews. Severa' ghetto groups retal Jated. opened fire. threw hand grenades. and ktHed many Nazis. To compensate for this aetfon. the Nazis took iii few thousand Jewh;h victims and left.

Another uprising toUowd In I'Iareh when the Jewish counell wa$ orde,,.d to produce two thousand workers from the 'atsaw ghetto for a reset­ tlement cemp. It. ba,.e t_ hundred could b$ persuaded. the others had to be removed by foree.77

On Aprtt 17. Mejor Juergen Stroop, the Hajor ... Oeneral of the

77aettJl0ge,; pp . 1:74-2.75. 57

German poll ce rep laced the c~mp Commandant von Samern. Lfchtenbaum.

( the president of the ghetto. and other Jewish berswere arrested. On'

April 19, Stroop,'s forees. whtch consiSted of. approxImately .t.OOO regular army men and an, almost equal amount of lithuanian and Polish reinforce­ ments. settled In armoured ears at the ghetto.

These forces were supplied with tanks, artillery and flame

throwers . The determi ned ghet to f JgMers pelted them wi th hand-made grenades. The Nazis were astonished by this first instance of resis-

tence and wi thdrew. Germanattacl<.s, however, re renewed ~ndeonsls-

tently repelled by the gallant group of fighters. What was to Jast three clays turned Into five weeks 0·' act10n. thIs Je\'Ilsh rebelllon. the fj,rst In the history of the Third Reich, was very symbollc. Goebbels notes, tn several entries of his f4mOUS di-aries , that the Jews had really succeeded Utn making a defensive position of the Ghetto." He wondered how and where they procured arms to offer such reslstance.78

As the fIght Ing progressed , Stroop realh;ed that the Jews

.re determIned to resist evacuatIon and would not allow any reset- tlement. Furlou$, he ordered upon Hlmmler i s recommendatIon a thorough combfng out of the ghetto. and the burning out of the area. Even this new danger, of beIng burned out. didn't frighten the Jews to subml,t to

vacuation. They pr.eferred to die In the flames rather than to be t.ken.

, by the Nez l s. Some rl'sked JUll'lP l ng out of buIldings only to suffer broken bones, even possIble death.

For .an enUre month the Jews fought wIth whatever courage they could muster, and took to sewers only to be smoked out In the end

78rhe ~ebbe'S I'ariel. 1941- 1943 . Ed. Louis P. Lochner (New York: 1'948. p. lSI. . 58

by bombs hurled into them by the Germans . Stroop continued to burn, I destroy, blow up . and ImprIson untIl May 16. On this day the last

hattIe report WllS submItted by the Major-General to his NazI super iors .

HI s de fly aceounts, neat Iy bound t n I eel ther, i 11 us. tra ted. and typed o.n the best bond, were presented at the Nuremberg trials as documented

evidence of the struggle. This document of crime was found by the

U. S. army in Bavaria In a former vIlla belongIng to Stroop)9

From figures given In the r~orts a total of 56,065 Jews were caught and resettled. Of these, 7,000 were killed within the

gh~tto durIng the rebellion, 6 ,929 were transported and exterminated at Trebllnka, and probably several thousand more had been buried under the deb r is or burnt to cinders durIng the f ina l and complete destru ... ction of .the ghetto. On the other hand, Stroop credited his troops with gallantry and presumably minimized German losses so as not t o disturb Himmler .80 The Polish Underground, supervised by the DIrectorat e of

Civil Reshtance,organized a spedal Informatton service concernIng

the ghetto risIng. New$ from 811 available sources was collected and a steady flow of telegrams was being transmitted to london. The world was aware of the resistance of the Jewish FIghting Organlzatfon and It was pro\lably easIer for some of the defenden to die knowIng that t he

79rfaz I Conse' racy and A99 ress ton. 10 YO Is.; (Wash I ngton: U. s. Print ing Offi ce .. (1 9lt6) , p. 995 . Sn tered 8S Oocuntent 106 1.. P5. b cerpts of this account appear also In $«h frer , Pt>o 975-978. 5'

\C)rld was aware of thelr heroic reststanee.S1

The Poles helped In the rescue work. and credit is given to I them by many Jews in their wrItten accounts • .Schnelderman . writes;

•••Wilen one remembers the wave .· of anti-Jewish hatred that . engulfed so much of the defeated PoJish population under Ha~ism; the help given by the handful of Polish workers to their Jewish comrades acquires truly herofcproportlons. Through the sewage canals they brought food and lIlIftunftlon· to the Jews fightIng In the ghetto In '943 and. when the ghetto went up in f'a~Ai they rescued the few survivon through the saM sewage pipes.

The HIs tor rc Warsaw ghet to ...,. S'taJ\ce \IJOvement i $ recorded for posterity· by the JewJ'sh HistodC8'1 COIMII$slon, whIch devotes tlme to gathering evIdence of the martyrdom of the PoHsh Jews. In the

Jewish Historl~l institute maintained by the present Pol IGh govern..

nt and erected on the ruins of the femous Tlumac:kl S.ynagogue, visitors may see a11 the sed evidence of the life and d.. th wIthin the Warsaw ghetto. The IllUseum contains them' lk can that held the nU$crlpts of Ei¥l'Dlnuel Rfngelblum's Diary. plc:tures of c:rematorl.$» examp les of the St., of Out d that Jews were fo.reed to wear, photos of the t,nks the t ."t.red the ghetto I n Apti 1 .of 1943. ,. i ~h treasures of manuscripts and dlart.s of Jewish "ushors who per I.shed. bIllbJ ted also ere thousands of peges of Nazi doeumen,ts. deerees .prQ¢ 'ematlons. death sentenees. and fJ le$. One lMy vIew more than three thousand

8IStet." lorbonskl f 'lohltng }lars'", TheSsoa of the. Polish Und-romps $S'~" 1919-12!t5. (London:' George Allen end Unwll Ltd. 1956). p . 261. A 1Ial·son offIcer between the PoUsh Underground and the govern­ ment In London arrived fn the U.S. In July 1943. tn Jan Clecb,nowskl '5 .o"Hl In VlctpC'l (New Vor-Itl Doubtectay and (0,. tne. 1947), pp. 179.. 183. the author giVe. an aceount of offlee.. lankl's report to President 'Roosevelt on the action of the Underground and ""at wes actua·lly happening In Poland concernIng the treatment of Jews .• 82 S.l. Schneiderman, BetmnE"t tad HOQ! (New Vo .. k: Areo PublishIng Co .. 1947). 0 .24. . 60 collected photographs. that show the sadistic amusements indulged In by the Na~Js. Though the museum is r~u·ely visited ..cept by visitors from ,/ abroad, It still continues Its research Into the destruction of Polish

Jewry_ In conjunctIon with this it publishes books, monographs. and mlcrof'lms all Important documents whtc::h in turn .re forwarded to the Hebrew Unlvel"$tty tnlsra.l. This work wit I not be carried on much long.r because the one thousand-year old Jewish cQmmunlty of Potand Is slowly approaching total extInctIon. Poland to the Jews today Is • sad memory and an

.ssoc:inlonwlth the haunttng memories of the Mny dead. Presently, nothing r,emalns of the Varsaw ghetto except new tow-tncome houses erected In Its pl..ce. The vacant lots are stll1 rubble and weeds. The ontyr_lnder of the extermination of the

P011sh Je~ Is a monti1lent of the Ghetto Fighters Wlich stands tn the center of • neg'ected squate.S3

The Mew YorkT' ..es edltor.al, commemorating the anniversary of the BettIe of the Ghetto. states these factsi In Warsawther, stands a huge sculpture of bronze and granite. depleting 8< firmly det.t.lned group o~ JewIsh fighters fn the foreground and. behInd th.... a group of Jews. with despaIring faces mlrchlng off to concenUaUon camps. The IIIOnuroent cOIMMIftOrates the Baule of the ".rsaw Ghetto in 1943. in whleh Ito , GOO half starved Jews _0 had been locked In the ghetto, for IiIOr. than two y.. rs, staged a rebel Hon against the Nazis. The ,~ttl. _5 hopeless 'rOIl the start. But the revolt has gone down fn history (IS o.n. of the few open battles that the, J8WI of Europe 'were ,ble to fight agaInst the Nazi persecutors,84

8lMa Jus Bergman. flaeturn to'o 1.nd'·Conment.r~ lXV t L (May. 1959), pp. 395-404. 81t Nf)t Jork tJ!'!!U, Hay 7. , 961. 61

The ghetto Is no more~ Today the cQuntrv holds but iii handful of Jews. a Mr. remnant of the pre-war three ,,11 lion population. ,/ When Germany attacked Poland on September t. 1939, Soviet

trOQPS also crossed the country's eastern and south-eastern borders and acquIred an .rea of 77,606 square mIles with. populatIon of about thIrteen mtlUcm people.8S During the winter of 1939-ltO, l.rge con-

centrated stl"Mt'a$ of PoUsh Jewfsh refugee,. who escaped from Nazi­

occupIed _stern Poland. fled Into ..stern Poland~ All t~se unfor­

tunate Jews "sektd food. clothIng. homes and presented a "i ..rable

sight. ftaflro.d st.tlon., empty frel.ght cars, synagogues, schoo', and even empty fIelds were their crowded livIng quarters.

SJnee local Je~ were of little .t.htance to the fleeing

refugees" the latter had to devise scherMS to establish some contact with

theIr relatives .nd 'rlends wIthin borders occupIed by tbe Nuls. But

this action proved dhastrous to the Jewtilh ,refugees a$ It aroused sus ... plcion among the $ovtet NVKD o"lcl.1I (s~r.t police)' .no eecus.ct the

Jews of spyIng for the Nazis. Exhaustive InvestigatIons, lUSS err.sts and constant deportations resulted .•

The Sov.at authorhles considered the F .• fugees. .. dangerous burden. but bacau$e the Jews were In the newlV incorporated territory, they Inslsited on being treated .5 iovl.tehl ..ns. '.r forcfCI IYny Jews to accept Soviet cfth:enshlp. for fel lure to do so, resulted In brutal treat;nent and deportatIon. Some had hoped to return to their families w.. thln the Nazi occupied ena. and stU, others cherlshed fond

8SHt1nrx2 , pp. 340-342. Exact 'tgures for the n~er of Polish JewIsh refugees Wi"e difficult to establish. 'the number.s (!b~t 300,000 .• 62 hopes of emIgratIng soon to Palestine or to Amerlc •• 86 j When the Germans attacked the Sovlet Union In 1941, many thousands of Jews, roughly estimated between 120,000 to 180,000 were evacuated or fled to the Interior of u.s.s.a. Thousands of unfortunate

Jews ,",,0 fell In the path of the Getman armies were simply slaughtered.

The legal status of the Jewish depott.. s "ndrefug.es durIng the years '941 to 1943 unde.rwent several serious tr.nsforl1lltlons.87 FInally., at the end of 1943. the Pol1sh"Sovlet sItuation

changed, .nd SovIet ."thorhle, re9"rded both Poles and Jews as citizens. and gave them the right to apply for PoUsh citizenshIp .nd eventually the right to return to Poland.88

86wfdnryb Includes al t the.e deportation detal's whIch he had garnered from testhllOnl.1, In .. s8p4lllrate chapter pp . 347-351. See also .!9.t.c. p. 120. on Po llsh Jews acqu Ired by part 'It t on In 1939 ,",,0 refused Soviet c:1 t lzanshlp. 87G'echa!)9WJkl •. pp. 37-40, S.. also 'oHah-Sovlet aelatlons • • 918-1941, Offlcl11 Doc!M)t' Issued by th.Polhh Imb.SlY In Wa.hlngton, D.C. (n.d.)~. 104-105, Ind MId-SOVIet ae'atloos 1919-1941. (Washington. D.C.: U.S. Department of Stlte. 1948. pp. 128 . All these sources dea' with the border disputes. 18gt1lttle, end cl•• ", concerning Pol.nd ,and SovIet UnIon. 88 .bI.D!t p. 39. Three proposals de,lgned to resume Pollsh- SovIet ret.tlons are outlined. /

CflAPTER ."

$~RV - RISULTS OF · THe NAZ·i ' f'OUCY STATl.ST,eS OF ' lOS,S!S

That Polend suffered tremendous ' populAilt lon losses i $ most obvious. According to 0,.. Lout s Flnkelsteint s ' stat 1st teal tabulatI'on, the 1939 pre.. ~r Jewish population ntimbered 3.300.000. Whereas ,in

1945. the total nUmber or survivlng Jews was t.bulated between 475 to

,525 thousand ora 10$$ of about elghty .. fhte percent.S9

aefore the outbrMk of \!tof'ld War H. 'oland beld the d1s ... tJn(:tlon :of being the foratlOH leader in promottng Jewhh culture.

Tbe eountry. however, had lost this leedlng positfon sInce very HUle remained after the Na~l policIes of destruction were ~rrled out. Tbls

Is probably the fIrst time In, tot Jewish hfstorythat the M>rtd's greatest promoter of cultl;fre hlid been almost completely wiped out.

Since extr.. l., little hope remains 'orfal.nd to regain her former

1eadlng posItion, both Israel and tbe Unrted States wIll undoubtedly become the future preservers and .promoters of Jewish Cu 1turalprogres$.

The _Jorl ty .of decrees which were p'romulgated by the Hads during the y~rs of 1939 through 1941, had only one purpose to aehlev•• name ly the deJi tfuct iol') of Jewiih eco.noml e li fe. Consequent Iy. by t9JJ6.

89Finkelu,tn. 'I. p.l90 •• figures quoted in this souree e,'e those given by the ""hut. 9' JtwUih Affain, nStathtfc-s on Jewish CasualtlesOurJng AxIs ~fMtJon.i.t June 1945. 64 after the Nazi's objectlve had been near~y: reached, very little remained of Jewish economIc wealth tnPoland.tt dwindled Inmeasurabl" as a / result of lootIng and the lrnposttton of numerous forms of te~es. levles and constent penalties. Throughout .urope, the confls~ted al"drobbe~

Jewish prope. ~ty WiltS estfm4ted at six to sev~ btl lIon doltar~.

're"'war Polt sh Jews took pr i de f n the I r va luab 1e c~pf:r. t t ve movements. 1t \'85 a system which contfolled credits, reHe1 funds. and strengthened the trade untons. It was operated by thousaJ\ds of Jews who s~rved as ll1elUbers of boards and ~t ttees and "'0 through years of experience developed fnto uscdtll cCIIlIIltmal wor kers. Realizing how important thh cooperative str'uctureWl!lS to the Jews, prompted th

Germens to hstJe it decree on Novem/)er lB. 1940. which aimed at dis .. solv'ng -.1) JewlshCooperntve holdfngs. Consequently, Jewish property was taken over by the GeneratGovernment, and the 5YSt_ was destroyed. ptost of the JewIsh communal workers and leaders were arrested and sent to concentreUol1 carn,pSt and the offlees of the oooperatives were eIther burned down C).. used by the Mads. 90

At the vety begtnnlng of the German OccupatIon, normal school work was f~$s'b1.and any attempt to teach or carryon .ny ~ucatloMl work _ .. forb.ldden. Thls led to the estab Hsfctment of an I Heg,' way of CQnUnuing educatIonal courses. In this secretl've setup, there .5 an tnadeq~te$upply of text books. thetefore~ most materIel had to be copied. Vet" education .5 ~ntfnu~ during til.• 9hetto petfod In camps end ·evenfnthe part hans underground.

After the WI' the Jews. lfho returned to the Po II ,$h cit I es •

90ARlOSZ1 • .k. pp. 266 .. 268 . • 65 discovered that their syQgogues and shrines, their schools and Talmudic:

Colleges, hed been raud to the ground. Already In 1939, the Germans ,/ destroyed the great Jewish Theologlca' Seminary library at Lub1tn.

Tb I s I nc: I den t was reported as fo 11 ows by the Ger_n off I cers: For us It .as a matter of specIal prIde to destroy the TalmudIc: Ac:adenay ~Ich _$ known as the g.... t.st In Poland ••••We threw out of the building the g,eat Talmudic Library, and carted It to the market. There we set fIre to the books. The fire lasted for twenty hours. The Jews of lublin were assembled .round and c:r·led bitterly. The.r cries almost silenced us. Then we summoned the IIllltary band and the Joyful shouts of the soldiers sf1enced the sound of the Jewish cries.9' Fro. the above quoted passage 't could be seld that the

Nazis rejoiced In carryIng out such destructive tasks. Large ntJRbers of trucks were used to ...,tv the other famous lIbr.rles of an books. rare prints dating froat the 16th and 17th centuries. al1 archIves, and many valuable manuscrIpts. Some C.thoJlc priests protested and pleaded wtth the German authorlt'es to hease the ral d on sVMgogues, but thel r appeal s were to no ava f t. Our I n9 such a re'gn In Sczecln. In 1939. the following .vent took place:

••• at noon, the vicar of a loeal Catholic church appeared In the mark.t place In hhsacerdota) .... stments and Implored the G.rmen, to c ..se torturf'ng the Jews and permh th... to return to their prayers. The S$ men. however, were not to be denied thel r af ternoon of fun and fro' Ie; they burned down the svna­ gogues.92 Poland was once. a, mentioned. the center of Hebrew culture.

Nur ly one hundred pr I ntf ng plants In"'" I c:h lfebrew books were pub II shed

91Lemkln, pp. 84-85. Thh deserlptlon as quoted In the mentIoned source orlglnaliv .ppeared In the German publication Frtnkfurter lei tung .. Vochen-Ausgabe. on March 28. 1941. 92Frtedman. Their Brother.s· Keepers. p. 126. wera pfundared by the Germant. In addition to looting, tha Ilbrar. ,/ of "eb,., schools, totaling 250,000 voh_•• ra also burned. 'oland _, also the nucleus of Yiddish Utarary creatIons.

All the latte IIbrart.s In the key cftle. of 'oland tMt praserved the valuble Yfddl.h cultural c:.cmtrlbutfORI .,e l1kewl •• destroyed. Very ,., vol .... nev.rth.less, .re burled und.rground to H ,lva,.

thai frOll destructive Nezi hancls. "with art object•• both secula,. and rellg'oul wer. consl- derab Ie. Meny ....UIIS, _, ntal ned by tbe Jewllh CoImIun Jties. pos.essed

unique collect.on. of rare documents. books of Jewish content. coins • .... 's. ancient Scrolls of the Torah, pray.r books. candl ..tlc:ks. and archlv... How".r, JewIsh art ... found not only In lOUt.... and archlv.. ~ but MUch of It w, elM representtld In the Important • .,na-

UM, In J.lsh c ...t.rt., and In the tIOnUlleftti erected on grav.. of outstandIng Jews. Jewish guilds likewise had IIIny antiques and collections of careMOnla' objects of a,t.93 aut documented evidence shows thet ••• At' thIs Is In the pelt. The Benne"s looted tbtl collection, of Jwlsh art trea.ur... Heny .rthtl perished In tha horrlbl. day. of _1I,'eughte,.._.*ny of' the Msterplec•• of Jwlsh .rt .re Ihlpped to G.,..n.,. With the Ge ....." 'nvaslon ther...... the .rrest and deeth of

ny .rtf I tl. Ther. a'to <:aM the dee til of the thea tre. Thul. I nl' de

the ahetto wi 'I though 10M perfol"Mnces continued they soon ..-dad.

9JApen,al.h, pp. ,)09-312. Opc\!!IIIDtlCo. 2 conteln' edict on ~rks of Art. Hletprlgl lul1d'n!,. ftonYB9tl. and LIbrary Archlyu. 94lbld- •• p. ,13. 67

Thus, the whole structure of the surviving Polish Jewry ./ became abnormal In ~ge and ratIos. There was a distinct difference bet... n the survivors In Poland and the repatriates. The percentage of the survivors of the Jewish tntelligentla, communal .orkers, and religious Jews was drastically low since these were among the fIrst sent to the ..termin~tfon centers. On the other hand. the Committee of Pottsh Jews In the USSR revealed that, among tbe 9roups of Jews streaming to tbe USSR before and after the Soviet occupation of

September 17, 1939. SOlIe members of the Intellectuel element were Included. The.,e refugees from SOViet camps who returned to Poland as repatriates. Incrused the number of tbe PoHsh Jewish convnunl ty. fn Warsaw. the destitute Jews begged the Jew'sh Cotmtlttee functioning there for esslstaDce, but 1t eould barely be offered because of limited resources. Goldstein offers this descrtptlon of them- The condition of the surviving remnant was wretched, pathetIc. barely humen looking. The filthy human skeletons, mlr.culous testimony_of the obstinacy of life. moved In the streets lIke shadows.95

To add to thetrunteld gttef and bitterness, the Polish Jews had hard IV • p h,ce to return to. bee.use thel r former res I donees were either destroyed or occupIed by Poles who refused to give them up.

Consequent Iy. con' 11 ets between the '01e5 and the Jews .rose anew over bulldi ngs. a.p.rtments. stor.s. and houses . A wt tness to those events writes thus:

The Jewish o~ers were not allowed to enter their houses. I a 1so met 501118 ~o have recovered thel r homes and workshops bV

9SGoldstein, p. 276. 68

legal action. but wh§6have left them agaIn upon receipt of threatenIng letters. / The JewIsh repatriates from the SovIet Union were Just as disappoInted about going back to Poland as the camp survIvors had been. Those who returned from the USSR had been Imbued with ZionIst sentIments and had hoped to emigrate to PalestIne as soon as conditions were favorable. When entIre traInloads of JewIsh repatriates from the Soviet Union began to arrive In Poland, In 1946, Polish anImosItIes were stirred anew. givIng a new rise to antI-SemitIsm. Pogroms were perpetuated In the various localIties where the Jews were present In any numbers. An underground band of terrorists who pretended to belong to the Armla KralQW! (Army of the Country). continued attacks on the Jews which led to the terrIble outrage of Kielce on July 4. 1946. 97 The Catholic Church remained neutral and refused to Issue any statements on the pogroms apparently because she regarded these attacks directed not against the Jews as Jews but against Communists. But the government condemned the outbreaks. arrested the offenders. and tried them. More rtots were attempted to Czestochowa, Radom, and Ostrowlec, and several serious assaults were made upon the Jews, who began an exodus from Poland. In a metter of only three months, some 62,000 mainly Soviet UnIon repatrIates. left Poland. SInce few were able to

96Sc:hn.lderrnen. p. 176. 97An account of the pogrom, and attacks of Poles against Jews as quoted from the newspaper In Poland published .fter the war appears In European Jewry Ten Years After the War, (New York: Institute of Jewish Affairs of the World JewIsh Congren, 1956). p. 17. Future ref­ erence wIll be European Jewry. See also - New York Times. July 17, 1946 whIch quotes. Warsaw dispatch stating that In Poland people were IndIf­ ferent to the pogrom. 69

"-Igrate legally. the vast majority \'lent by the underground way.98 / Host of these Jews went to the dIsplaced persons camps In Germany. Austria. and Italy and created news and additional problems for the Allied milItary authorities there. These unfortunates. escaping to the above mentioned countrIes. preferred to remain in the barbed wire compounds and in former concentration camps. rather than to risk living In antI-SemItic Poland. 99 Many chi Jdren . mostly orphans, who hid durfng the war In forests. caves. and celtars. and even some who were concealed In Christian homes were also brought to these camps. Through the .fforts of the Zionists. and with the permission of the AmerIcan authorItIes, pro­ vIsIons ..re made In 1947 to secure teachers and text books from 'alestlne,to educate these children. Some sixty teachers responded and arrived from Israel to instruct the youngsters. No actual count could possibly be made of all the children who survIved because InIRy were hIdden In (hrlst"an homes or lostltu- tI ons wh I ch ref used to surrende, them. I t was presumed the t there were between seven hundred and eight hund red. chi ldren under ,Christian car. in Pol.nd .lone. In the sunwner of 1946, Dr. Isaac Herzog undertook a special mission to the Holy 'ather. H. had hoped that the Pope would tssue a directive to the Church dignitarIes urgtng the Christians to

98!ar.. p. 201. 991srael COhen. Contemporary Jewrv (Londonl Methuen and Co •• Ltd •• 1950), pp. 258-259. ,In Arthur 8. lane. I Saw Poland Betrayed, (New'(ork~ Bobbs-Merrill Co. 19At8). pp. 253. the author states that he believed that the Jewish Infiltration Into the AMrlcan zone of Gerlnlny was .. carefully planned maneuver to Influenc. the U.S. Government to pres sur. the Br I t Ish Goverllftlent to open up 'a les tine to Pol J sh Jewish disp laced persons, 70

release the chtld~en. This conflIct had, however, remained unsolved, and very little hope remains that any of these wIll be returned to the / survivIng parents or relatlves,lOO

Three Jewish groups figured prominently In the exodus from

'oland. The predominant one consIsted of a large number of· Jews who feared that there was no place nor reason for them to stay In Poland.

These des t red a Jewish State where there. wou ld be no fear of "b Jologl­

ee I hatrecf'. Oppos i n9 these v I ews were the members of the second group.

the Jewish COI1J1Iunlsts. who, 1n order to functton in Poland required It

Jewish mInority. These had urged the Jews to remain. The third group were those asSoc lated wi th the Po 11 sh government. Its membets had protes ted aga t ns t the exodus because they feared los f ngface wi th the outside ~rid that s'fq)athlzed with the unfortunate Jews.

Fear of IlIUrders and Marranahood (fear of ) charaet.rlud J_lsh life In post-war Poland. Ma,ranahood Is a queer dual .-y of life .,ereby Jews lIva a. Jews wlthfn their O'NR hOntes. but because of fear they act as ChrIstians In the outside world. Such

Polish Jaws hav.. Polish NlflM!S. adopt Christian customs even to the poInt of having Madonna Images end eruclfl~ In their homes. Fear of entl­

Jewish actlon,never the'ess, fo .. ced them to contInue to live as Gentl 'as.

Though It ba. been It.ted that those b.rfng J.ewhh names were on tha goverf'tln8nt J s bl.ekUu, such wes not the situation with both Hi1ary Mlnc: and Adolph 8erman, J_lsb COIIlIIUnlsts. WlO continued

to retaIn hIgh government posltions. IOI

toO. b1d •• pp. 263-264. IOllbid. 71

The lurvlying .I_Ish professtonals changed their rol. to / Harra for putaly oc::ono:Dlc '.'Oftl., These. conditions also for the 4es t re nyJ to __ grate Itlto ••ta.'. , fn DOn ..., 'oland, on '-v 6. 1945. the GoverM'lllnt pessed la.. for the , ..tltutlon of expropr"ated property. Actually, the

.,fved 11 Ule b.... flt from thaw Ifnc. only. f. c:onsc:lentioul Poles .de any voluntary restitutIon. On tho cottttary ••ny had to bo forced by the gova'f'IIIIlftt to ...turn p'C)pfllr tv to the ,ega I Ot«Ia,.. Th 11 opposl" tlon 0' '01.. to the taws added to tha bfu_rusl batwen the 'oles and Jew. tot

AI • COftS1MIUeR(:e of th I., Jews becute "lIDO•• ' I shed botb _tvtallyand .plrttaany. Slnca Rabbfs and teacha.r, ..,e among tb.

n'11 v'~ttll$ of ext.... lnlnlon, post"''''',. ..eUglo", Jews .ra left without splrhual gutda.n". '018"d the former center of World JM1ty. ""eh bed provfded the Jews 0' _ny countries befora the WI' with roul Rabbll, could not fInd evta one fo, the forlorn congregatIon fn Va,saw. 10J

By March Jg(t8. the J.I,h populatIon In 'ol,,,d we officIally ••t .. at ".,000, of th...... 44.000 lived In a.o... SU .. 'e. At tha

of the ... '.', the n'" dropi to 88,000, and .t the end of 1949, to 75,000.

The POSt __ r center, of Jewish COftGentretfon In Poland dl'-

'.rtld f,om those of th." ....' .Y'. The MW Jewtlh cente"s .tllch .... the least daM9ed cit, ••• Itt II provided .... oppo .. tunl tie. for acCOllO"

102~. p. 25

IOJ.lltlJl •• p. 261. 12 detfonl .nd .they. were compa, atlv&ly ,.f.er then tile smat I.,. towns during unfors , 'lots. j LowerSt 1.18' became a very hl'lpoJ'tant center because of the pres.c.. of IIfnerat wealth h' the area .nd btcause It provIded other nlltterous economic pontbf HUes. Prlo, to the ou.tbreak ()f World War It about 50_000 Jews lived there. O.,r'ngthe war the Nazh ,et tip this

.rea t. sen" as eoncefttraUon end , ..bor C8IIJP1 'or the J_. When .the

Rtid Amy advanc;ad In ...., 194$; the Nazt panonnel, Mme1, the S$ men and ca. C:omMnders. moved GWlV 10 suddenly that they faned to com­ plete Hlnn4.,·s order of Mterllllnatlng the remelnlng J.... Consequently. same 15,000 Jews survIved. Hembers of the elv' 11,n populatlon .Iso fled before the IU""n at•• nd '41ft behInd thet, houle,. furnIture. food sUPIlH.s, .nd other ponenlcms. Mea,..., Ie; the lurvlvlng J.., org4l'\h;ed theMelves .nd t'ot"flled "ttl • mflltHt to g_td the abandoned properttes 1rOll bal looters and a c:GI'aittee w ,rovl4e for the sick and needy _elated Inmates. ResetU.... t proeeeded slow., wfththe Jewish camp

InmatD: those who were not f.rca Pol.net returned to thetr Nt've countries. HopefuUy. Polish Je. ft. arMI other th.n Sne.'., decided to return to th•• , fonner clUes and tOllrtI only to flnd th_

tted of thetr f.1 lies and frlen4,. 'rustrated. they had returned to SU•• I. end created new Jewith «:tnte,s Innumerous e .. eas of fts western regions. The newly formed Dhtrtet JawlshCommJtte popul.rlzed the Idea ef reseulement In ad 10$'e of Jews not on.y from Polend but elso the .Jewf'h repatrta,e. frem "",.111. A delegatton .ent to the Pothh goYe"n·

t In "-rsew lIII0.. the .pprovat., or.. Un9 ...ttleaaent for 20,000 Jews. 73

This action spared the government numerous problems of restitution, resettl81Hnt. and indemnIfication. When Jews .re given abandoned /

German properties, ' they dropped claims to recover their former pro­ perties from the '0Ie5. 104 In additIon to the Impoverishment and numerous deprIvations. the beginning of Igit6 found the prevalence of hunger and disease. The

Jews had tc, rely solely on whatever a.sisblnce outsIde organlatlons

such as. the UNUA, the Jewish Olstrlbuting COlWII tte, and the American and World Jewish Congresses were able to ship and provide.

The employment 5 I tuat Ion ,.5 aqua l1y dlsappol nt ing due to

the prevallll1g anti-Semitism In Poland which made It precarious for

iven a small percentage of Jews to compete wi th Po 11 sh pedd I en or

shop-keepers. lven the simple ~rkshop trades were vIrtually Impos-

sible due to their laek of materf.ls and tools. It w.s not until about the mIddle of 1946 that any effort ,.. made by the Polish Government

to fInd SOllIe form of employ_nt for the Jews. Official figures as to

how many J~ have received ~rk vary, but, It Is safe to admIt that

with the stabilization of the country, the number of Jew$ engaged fn business and nUlMrous types of employment In Poland. rosa significantly. lOS

Fortunataly, the sItuation of Jewhh population continued to Improva slightly and Indicated. rise In the number of Jews employed

from the YMrs 19lf6 to 1948. Conditions, however. seemed to changa.

lO"wa I nrvb. pp. 266-.268.

I05The Ce.nttal Jewish COIIIAIlttea give figures In 1947 Vlhlch amounted to about 30 percent Jews employed.. These wera, however. besad on 'nadequate Information. ThaND York Time', FebrtMIry 3, 1948 makes this 51.iftt observation. Activities and formation of this Centra' Jewish CommIttee .re gIven In!9!t. pp. 180-193. 74 but no complete reli.,ble Information 'on the Jewish occupational and economic situatIon after 1;rtQn'.O was available.\ 106 / (

The Central tQnmlttee of Jews a federation ()f liberated JeW$ formed In the 'c:Qmps to represent their people before the American Army, gave some figures on the socio-economlc structu.re of the Jewish popu­ lation. The p.rcen~ge of Jews in agriculture was very sma ll, whereas, those JoYed'" ;tteavy and light Industry such as the coal miners showed an iilcr.. se~ 'He> deta' led data if) 1948 was available on th' occupational dls'tributlon, but the stress of the C olst Piirty at this time was to have the Jews leave.rtlsan ·workshops and coopera­ tives to work In large s~le Industries. because the latter were mor. vital to the re-development of post-war Poland.

Con41tlons In the factories have become much Improved mor hyg ienle wi til better prospects for the future. For this r-.son, young JjaWS have In r.~nt years flocked almost exclusively to the 'tetor'es.. The Jewish COlIIIItunlsts are dancing for joy; but the Jewish youth Is being submerged ahd swallowed up In a Polish SM .. Assl.' latlon, which was a.r.. dy fntenslve enough, Is n.ow proceedIng at a tempo never witnessed before In Poland. 107

Gradually, Poland was beIng transformed Into a Communist di c ta tonh i p wh i eh had t r.endous consequ."ces Jn chang i ng the soclo-econa.ic pattern of life also for the Polish Jewry.

The Jewish CommunIsts began to re·pattern Jewish communal life along Soviet Communist lines.

l06EucooMn :lewry. p. 24.

I07.!.k.lS., p. 32. ,/

CHA.PTil V

paiSENT Slr~TtOM

The changing post...... '" soe'lo-economic order and transforation of Poland Into _ Ccanunist cUctatorshi,. 'had affeeted the JewIsh COO'IQUn.'

struetu.... A 'lelf-governJng Jewish ,yst_ could not posslb'V Mfst In

rigidly ~n'stfe country- Thus. It' •• neeesHry to .. _ka ,'I

.ccordlng to the SovIet h.ge. Acc:o ..dhl"y. then. t.ha Gharacter of tha

tlO afn JewIsh Cottnunal Qrga,nlutl'ons ...... 1., .• the Centr.l Coaahta for Jews and the Union of ReUglous Cong"egations.' ..a, tra:"sformed. The for.r .5 coiIDtete1v obliterated. _i.d with It. dutructlon. the Jewish .ssoch,tlons. publlc.tlons. unions. and yeuth or.nSz.atlons .ra dis ..

olv_. The Union of Rttligioul ~9r.Uon contln_ to function with ''''s_ IImhatlons. Howv.r; outside contect wIth Jew'''' orgenlu.. tlons on ,eHg'Qus _ttars ., restricted.

Tha COIIIIlUntstlc state Hquldllted _n ""$h polltl~1 ,.rtta~ and c:ompletely .bsorb4td all socf.l. cultu...... end ..lfare InstItutions. At the beginnIng of the 1949--1950 school .,eer. eU schools were ..tlon­ lh:e4. Thfs .h..... tlon ereat_ edditlona1 probl_ b.ause of the 'enaUl,. dtfferences -nleh ned •• eted bet...,. stat..-..ppolnt_ , ..cher. and the Jews . PecuHarltles. ""'tett .ro.e wfthlh the ' ..ching .yn.. aecounted for a larg8 numbe .. of Jowlsh pupll absenteeIsm, The n.ar of Schools dimInished. and ev_lng classes fn Hebrew for adults dls.pp.. red eltogether. Though VI

Jewish welfue Institutions ceased to be I inked wi th the Jewish Com- j munlty and became supported by state funds. Whatever YIddish publl- cations or periodicals were permitted wer. purely " Jewish" In language. and completely imbued wi th Communis t Ic thought and full of praise for

the government.

Similarly, the Yiddish theater bad undergone a transformation and was placed under, the JurisdictIon of the Ministry of Art and

Culture.

On August 5. 1949. the goverom$nt passed a decree granting freedom of conscience and religion to all Polish citizens. In keeping with this decree. the Jewish Religious UnIon was recognized and res­ pected. and enjoyed many organh:atJonal privllages. at provided assistance to needy ers and ministered to Jewish relIgIous needs.

y December 1949, Poland had slxty-tllte,e such organized cOIIPunl tles. t07

To~rd the end of 1948. and especially In 1949, the PolIsh

Government clamped down on the ZionIsts. On December 31, 1949, a decree _s passed dfsbandlng aU Zionist pertles and organizations, conf t scat I n9 $chooh, mod I ca 1 and commun I ty centers. old age homes ., and everything else that had been reconstructed for the second time.

"'n 1950 the Conmunlsu became the sole and complete masters of Jewish life.1l108

About this tIme, also In a spechl. actIon, Polish authoritIes

IOheon Shapiro. "Pol~ndu. AmeriCln Jewish Y·.. r .Book (New York: American Jewish CGIIIIIlI tt... 1951), pp. 336·341-

108Euroeeanewry, J p. 39. 77

permi tted Jews iinbued wi th Zioni $t idea 10gles to leave for israel'. / This step encouraged emigration "nd weakened the Zionist group in

Poland completely. Within the country aH members ~re disbanded and

their Zionfst activities were terminated . In May .950, all soda) service and welfare agencies organized and; functioning with the help of American f l.lnds, were forced to cease their activities , and ,.H out-

s ide representatives controlling thos'e or9anlz~t Ions were advl'sedto leave Poland. The Jotnt Distribution Cow:nlttu terminated over a third of a centu.ry of service to needy Polisb Jews. For the small size of • post-war Jewish community, the number of welfare unIts was exceedingly large. During 1949 .. 1950, a Congress of. Jewish Culture, subsidized

by government funds, was held in Wroc::law, At this meeting, goals for

future act'·vi ties were set up'n order to expand progressive Hcultur-rt

socIalist In content ~lRd national In form. According to reports pre­ sented at this Congress, the number of Jewish members totalled some fifteen thousand. Statistics further revealed that during ,these above

ment toned years. Poland numbered forW.four Yiddish libraries. forty- three reading rooms and twenty clubs, In 1953; the Lublin synagogue was turned Into a factory

because of the dwindling number of worshfppers. A mere four hundr~

Jews lived In the area and convnunal lIfe there was practl~lly at a standstill. Similarly, the Lodz th.. ter shut d<*ll because of the lack of public Inter-est, lOg

The Polish Embassy Information aul1etln of 1954, listed thirty

IO't.nstltute of Jewish AffaIrs, "Survey of Events In Jewhh Life, 1'9S3u • (New York: World Jewish ~On9r8$s). 78 cultural clubs In '1arlous secttons of Poland, each having a Yiddish

library and one permanent Yiddish th_ter In Wroc,law. The Gullettn / noted that the JewIsh Pub If sh 1"9 C~any pr i nted some th I,ty Vi dd Ish books annua 11 y. 1l 0

The Warsaw Youth f'es t I va 1 of August 19S5. attracted more than th.lrty thousand young COlIIJlUnist$ from atl parts of tha world. It drew se'len hundred young Jews from Poland alone. Specially arranged conferences featured d1scusslons on last-West probl.s of Jews,. and the pa.rtlc'pants presenteclaccounts of polltlcal,eulturat, and ecOnontle Hfe of present day Poland. Ourlng this '.sttval ., several delegates paid a visit to the s he of the former Warsaw Ghetto Wae .. e they lal d .. wreath at the foot of theFlgbters' MemorJaLJl1

In 1·957, new aceusattons .ra leve11ed against the Jews. These resulted In the removal of prominent JewIsh luders from the security organs of the government by Gomulka, the h.. d of the Polish government.

Other Jews. predomlnantlv those of the .. Iddle c'ass t liany of "'om were completely Polonlzed or asslmnated, hid theit Jewfshorlgfn from· their children by adopting PoUsh sounding Mme.s. I 12-

When the J957 Sovlet ... Pollsh .. epatrlatlon ot cl tlzens agreement

.explrecl In June 1959. less than flye· hundred Jews returned to Poland.

110 .. Federbulh, $ ... 'StEIdl_tv To9ix (hra.h "-uadah Ltd •• 1959) t p. 619. 111 lyropMn. Jprv. pp. 42 .. 43.

Jl2Cqamwea1 • April St .957. An editorial in this hsu. deplore. the new ...v. of antl .. $.,.hlslll In Poland and blame. It on Soviet Influence­ part of • calculated project against the Jews. 79

To aid them. the formerly disbanded _rtcan Joint Distribution j Org.nlz.tlon was Invited to return '0 Poland with asshtance. It was hoped that, eventually, these repatriates would someday be permitted to emigrate to Is~ael.113 A church-state agreement regulating the optional attend.nee of thUdren for ROIIIIn .. Cetho lie ,'ell glous Instruet'ons In pub It c school\? placed the Jews In 8 serious dl1emna. Many who are Jews and pretended to live 8S Christians would either have to be baptIzed or be exposed .s Jews. 'arents. fearing what this reaction would have on their children, were undecided whether to relse them as Poles In Poland or as Jews fn tsrael. The majority decided upon lstael, and once again the panic to emigrate sel3.d the troubled Jews. So the last remnants of Polish

Jewry continued to teave Poland. 114

their depar'ture had a serious impact on the few Jewish Cannunal acttvl Ues .. tch Md dwindled In size and became almost completely over­ shadowed by organized Communist activitIes. Anti-S.'tlsm. though not c_letely dead. occurs only sllghtly.

The gove.r~nt endeavors to curb dlsc ... tm'~tlon and preJudlee. An __mple of caution was demonstrated by the state "'en It p,. ..vented tho showi ng of the dr.... uMerehant of Venlc.tt In Wenaw state theater. because It feared anti-Jewish IIfslnterpretatlons.

J_lsh Hfe continues to function under the directIon of the UnIon of Jewish Religious CongregatIons . Of the twenty four congreg8-

113 &W:. p. 112. "4Lucjan B1It. nPoland and the Jewish Remnant." Connent.,ry XXXIII. (March, 1957), pp. 215-221. 80

t Ions 11 s ted In 1960, the 1arges tis In Wroc law. The Jewish Dis tr I butl n9 / Conwnltt .. carries out I ts assistance. It not only set up Kosher canteens which dIstributed elose to forty thousand metls per month In spite of betng taxed on the sales of Kosher meat and meals, but the Committee also contributed substantfally to the capita' Investment of producer cooperatives. It helped establish hemes and to provide furnishings to

260 n~ Indlvlduals. As to the present status of education. Jewish schools functioned In a ffW cities, such as Wrochlw. Walbravch. Szaecln, lodz, Llgnlce, Dzlerzlonow. and Blelawe. Polish r..alns the language of

Instruction In all JewIsh schools. Yiddish Is strtctly confined to

the Jewish part. of the curriculum. n.-1y history, end literature.

The Yiddish language Is taught one !'lour a day and the study of Jewish history Is permItted one hour each week. In Mey 1960, • Congress of T-.chers, organized by the "Inhtry of £ducttlon, discussed the admini­ stration of .schools, the use of teMtbooks, and. the problems of teaching

Yiddish to children ..0 speak three lang~ges, Yiddish. Polish, and

RussIan. SUIIIJler ~s orgtlnlzed bV Jewl.sh I,choots were att end.d by some 2,000 children.

Since the 11 b.ret Ion, some fifteen vMrs aft.r Wor 1d Wa,. II. a mill Ion cop I.s of 230 t It l.s of books had been Issued by the YI dd Ish

publishing hous.. The Communht pap.r folk,-Shtl!l!!!f- , appMrs four times a week end devotes a specla. section to a wide coverage of Jewish news from _II ov.r the wo,ld.

The Historical Institute of War~aw • .t1.ch functIoned almost lat.ly aft.r the wer, cont'nues Its I tudles and r ....rch. It 81 pubHshed sixty studies In Yiddish, Polish. and other language.s , and has announced plans of publlshtng • coroptete, new edl tion of the Ghetto ;'

DiarIes by the eminent hlstorian, Immanuel Rlngelblum.

The population figure of 1960 __ 5 between 27,000 and 28,000

Jews, exctudlng at least 10,000 who cont inue to JIve under .ss!.tmed names. The probeble 1960 estimate was close to 40.000. '15 But eV~D this figure has dwIndled. according to the 1962 listing, t. a mere fIfteen thousand J~. So ...o lIIII.tt.r how unwilling one Illy be to believe that an end to the thousand"year history of th,_ Jewish people .In Poland has been reached. It Is actually so. Sadly, one author mak.s this obs.rvatlon-

••• Thls ..s the sum total of hundreds of generattons of living and building. of religion, of Torah, of prety. of free thinking of Zionism, of Bundlsm, of struggles and the battles of the hop.s of an entire people--this. this empty des.rt. f16

nSLeon Shapiro., npolancP~. _rletn Je"h .V.. rBook. (New Yorkt .r I can Jewl sh Connl t tee and Jewi shPubll cat Ions of Amer I ca. 19(1), pp. 291-295.

116Agar , p. 110. As quoted In source. 82

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Nazt.SovJ,t !elitlsms. 1$9·1941, United St.tes Department of St.te. Wasblngton D.C., 1948.

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___~ __U 'Not.tkl z G,tta ,U 81u1ltvn Zyslgwskle99 Instytutu HfUQtvc1Dt90. XV ... XVt (LJpf.c..Qrudzlen), Warsaw,. 1955.

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Cohen. tsrael. Sgntempor,a Jewry. London: ftethuen and Co •.• 1950. 84

Oubnow, 5." • . Hlstorygf th. J.ws .n Russ", and Po lend. 3 I/ols •• Philadelphia: JewIsh PublicatIon $o(:1,ty, 1916. ,(

Federbush. S. \1f9rld J!wry Today . tsraeh Hassadah Ltd. , 1959.

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Mey.r. ',t.r (.t ,1.). Th, Jews tft lb, Sovl'5Sat.l11 tl,. Syrac.use Unlv,rslty Press, 1953.

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Reddawy, V.f. (,t ".). Th' Ctmbrld9! KIUgry of '2"04. tg 1696. N.w York: Cambrtdg. Univ'fsfty Press, 1950.

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ARTICLIS AND PERIO'HtAU

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8U t. LueJ.n. "Poland and the Jewl sh Remnant ," C9QI!I!nt.rv. XXIII ("'reh. 1957). 215-22 I. '

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