Chapter 1 : Jewish Genealogical Society of Washington State Get this from a library! Sources on Polish Jewry at the Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People. [H Volovici;] -- Annotated listing of the inventory of Polish holdings of the Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People. It is estimated that between, and, Jews perished at that time. After that dreadful episode, much of Polish Jewry was impoverished, and Poland became a fertile ground for messianic leaders such as Sabbatai Shabbtai Tzvi and Jacob Frank. Later it gave birth to the Chassidic movement. During the Shoah, some 3,, Jews lived in the country, constituting the second-largest Jewish community in the world. Warsaw alone had over, Jews. After the WWII, most of the survivors refused to return to or remain in Poland, which was rocked by civil war and anti-semitic outrages. Emigration accelerated after the Polish-led pogrom in Kielce in July, which claimed the lives of over 40 Jews. Although the situation eventually stabilised, the Jewish population continued to shrink through successive waves of emigration. In the last few years, there has been a reawakening of Jewish consciousness. Young people of Jewish origin who had no knowledge about their Judaism are joining the community. It represents the voice of Polish Jews towards the state authorities and other organisations at home and abroad. The UJRCP achieves its primary objectives by helping and supporting the Communities, providing social aid for Holocaust survivors, operating kosher cafeterias, renovating the derelict buildings and maintaining in a good state the Jewish cemeteries. Besides that, the UJRCP carries out varied educational activities â lectures, discussion sessions and meetings all over Poland. The main subjects are Jewish history and tradition as well as the contemporary life. Private kosher restaurants can be found in Warsaw and Krakow. Kosher meat and other foodstuffs are available, and in recent years, Poland has become an important centre for the production of kosher spirits. Religious life There are synagogues in most of the towns mentioned above. These include the central ghetto monument, designed by Natan Rapoport and the exhibition at the Jewish Historical Institute, which also houses a collection of paintings by Polish-Jewish artists. In Krakow, a number of old synagogues can still be visited, among them the Remu and the 14th-century Stara Synagoga the oldest in Poland, which today houses a Jewish museum. The museum has taken steps to revive the culture through concerts and events held on site. Lodz is the site of one of the largest Jewish burial grounds in Europe. Many of the smaller towns contain remnants of the Jewish presence. Among the most noteworthy is the town of Tykocin near Bialystok, which has a magnificent 17th-century synagogue recently restored to its former grandeur. The sites of former killing and concentration camps, including Auschwitz-Birkenau, Majdanek and Treblinka, are a magnet for Jewish visitors. No trace remains of Treblinka and the grounds are the site of a powerful monument consisting of thousands of shards of broken stone. Israel As far as the relations with Israel are concerned, Poland resumed full diplomatic relations in after a hiatus of 23 years. Since,, Polish Jews have emigrated to Israel,, of them between and Page 1
Chapter 2 : Talk:History of the Jews in Poland - Wikipedia sources on Polish Jewry at the Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People. In the year the Central Archives published the second edition of its guide to sources on Polish Jewry, in the original and in microfilm, which had been catalogued by the. The web site JewishGen may also be of help in your research. Sallyann Amdur Sack and Gary Mokotoff. A98 2nd floor open shelf. How to Trace Your Jewish Roots: Discovering Your Unique History. D38 2nd floor open shelf. Jewish Genealogy Yearbook International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies, Handouts from the 20th International Conference on Jewish Genealogy. My Ancestors Were Jewish. Society of Genealogists, E5 J67 2nd floor open shelf. From Generation to Generation: K87 2nd floor open shelf. A Practical Guide to Jewish Cemeteries. M48 2nd floor open shelf. Family Heritage Institute, A Guidebook to Jewish Genealogy. R57 2nd floor open shelf. A Catalog of Judaica in the Newberry Library. N J49 3rd floor, checklist table. Jewish Cemetery Publishing, c S45 2nd floor open shelf. A Bibliography of Publications to U5 S58 3rd floor open shelf. Genealogical Resources within the Jewish Home and Family. Federation of Family History Societies, A Sourcebook of Family Histories and Genealogies. B5 Z79 2nd floor open shelf. Resources for Jewish Genealogy in the Boston Area. Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Boston, Genealogical Resources in New York. Jewish Genealogical Society, Call Local History Ref Z U6 N 2nd floor open shelf. Other Countries Aaron, Sam. A Guide to Jewish Genealogy in Lithuania. Jewish Genealogical Society of Great Britain, A37 2nd floor open shelf. Thea Skyte et al. Harold Rhode and Sallyann Amdur Sack. J4 M35 2nd floor open shelf. B5 S23 2nd floor open shelf. Hanna Volovici et al. Jewish Roots in Poland: Pages from the Past and Archival Inventories. Jewish Roots in Ukraine and Moldova: E5 B43 2nd floor open shelf. Finding Your Jewish Roots in Galicia: G35 W96 2nd floor open shelf. A Dictionary of Jewish Surnames from Galicia. Z9 G 2nd floor open shelf. B 2nd floor open shelf. B43 2nd floor open shelf. A Dictionary of German-Jewish Surnames. Biographical Resources Also see Jewish Encyclopedia for biographical entries circa The Blackwell Dictionary of Judaica. C 3rd floor open shelf. Includes some biographical entries. A Directory of Distinguished British Jews,, with selected compilations extending from Distinguished Jews of America. Distinguished Jews of America Pub. Colonial Times Through University of Kentucky Press, J5 R63 3rd floor open shelf. First American Jewish Families: S76 2nd floor open shelf. National News Association, Dictionary of Jewish Biography. Simon and Schuster, W49 3rd floor open shelf. Grosse Judische National- Biographie. Please specify surname on call slip. Genealogical Gazetteer for the Kingdom of Hungary. G 2nd floor open shelf. JewishGen also has an online gazetteer. Please specify fiche number. Fiche number can be determined by using the index map 2nd floor, on top of bookcase near computers. Search by town name in indexes. Wojskowy Instytut Geograficzny, Please specify fiche number and number of editions. Fiche number and editions can be determined by using the index map 2nd floor, on top of bookcase near computers. Where Once We Walked: E83 M65 2nd floor open shelf. Contemporary towns are listed alphabetically and by Soundex. M65 2nd floor open shelf. Immigration Also see Passenger List guide. Germans to America, ongoing. G3 G38 2nd floor open shelf. Ask at the 2nd floor reference desk for the reel number for your Soundex code and for the guide to using this source. The print on this microfilm is extremely small and very hard to read. Migration from the Russian Empire: R9 M54 2nd floor open shelf. Indirect Passage to New York, June Names are listed alphabetically and by date. J4 S23 2nd floor open shelf. Indexes immigration, passport, visa, and related consular records of Russian citizens, primarily between The Holocaust in Lithuania, A Book of Remembrance. Page 2
Chapter 3 : History of the Jews in 20th-century Poland - Wikipedia Sources on Polish Jewry at the Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People Archives Record Group Full Name " Fridman Lichnyi arkhiv Naftali Fridmana, chlena. Jewish Polish soldiers were among the first, [41] to launch armed resistance against the Nazi German forces during the Invasion of Poland. Germans killed about 20 civilians in September, a number of them Jewish. In many cases the Germans turned the remaining synagogues into storage facilities, workshops, places of entertainment, or ad-hoc prisons. Rabbis and other religious Jews were ordered to dance and sing in public with their beards cut or torn. Within weeks, Germans ordered all Polish Jews to register and the word "Jude" was stamped on their identity cards. Jews were placed outside the law and their lives were regulated by orders or edicts. Series of restrictions and prohibitions were introduced and brutally enforced. Jews were forbidden to walk on the sidewalks, use public transport, enter places of leisure, sports arenas, theaters, museums and libraries. On the street Jews had to lift their hat to passing Germans and contact between Jews and non-jews was banned. Occupation of Poland â In newly partitioned Poland, according to census, Based on population migration from West to East during and after the Invasion of Poland the percentage of Jews in the Soviet-occupied areas was probably higher than that of the census. The largest group of all those arrested or deported were ethnic Poles but Jews accounted for significant percentage of all the prisoners. Jewish refugees from Western Poland who registered for repatriation back to the German zone, wealthy Jewish capitalists, prewar political and social activists were labelled "class enemies" and deported for that reason. Jews caught for illegal border crossings or engaged in illicit trade and other "illegal" activities were also arrested and deported. Several thousand, mostly captured Polish soldiers were executed on the spot, some of them were Jewish. Private property, land, banks, factories, businesses, shops, and large workshops were nationalized. Political activity ceased and political prisoners filled the jails, many of whom were later executed. Zionism was designated as counter-revolutionary and forbidden. All Jewish and Polish newspapers were shut down within a day of the entry of the Soviet forces and anti-religious propaganda was conducted mainly through the new Soviet press which attacked religion in general and the Jewish faith in particular. Although the synagogues and churches were not shut down, they were heavily taxed. Sovietization of the economy affected the entire population. However, the Jewish communities were more vulnerable because of their distinctive social and economic structure. Red Army also brought with them new and different economic norms expressed in low wages, shortages in materials, rising prices, and a declining living standard. The Soviets also implemented a new employment policy that enabled many Jews to find jobs as civil servants in place of former Polish senior officials and leading personalities who were arrested and exiled to remote regions of Russia together with their families. From to between, and, Polish Jews were deported from Soviet-occupied Polish territory into the Soviet Union. Some of them, especially Polish Communists e. Jakub Berman, moved voluntarily; however, most of them were forcibly deported, some of them to Gulag. General Anders decided not to prosecute the deserters. The cemetery of Polish soldiers who died during the Battle of Monte Cassino and the one in Casamassima [50] contains also headstones bearing a Star of David. Collaboration[ edit ] While most Poles of all ethnicities had anti-soviet and anti-communist sentiments, a portion of the Jewish population, along with ethnic Belarusians, Ukrainians and communist Poles had initially welcomed Soviet forces. A large group of scholars note that while not pro-communist, many Jews saw the Soviets as the lesser threat compared to the Nazis. They stress that stories of Jews welcoming the Soviets on the streets are largely impressionistic and not reliable indicators of the level of Jewish support for the Soviets. Additionally, it has been noted that ethnic Poles were as prominent as Jews were in filling civil and police positions in the occupation administration, and that Jews, both civilians and in the Polish military, suffered equally at the hands of the Soviet occupiers. The reasons for these massacres are still debated, but they included resentment over the cooperation with the Soviet invaders and prior collaboration in the Polish-Soviet War and the Page 3
invasion of the Kresy regions, not to mention coercion by the Nazis to participate in German massacres. As a result of these factors they found it easy after to participate in the Soviet occupation administration in Eastern Poland, and briefly occupied prominent positions in industry, schools, local government, police and other Soviet-installed institutions. Except the children, they had to wear an identifying badge with a blue Star of David. Many Jews in what was then eastern Poland also fell victim to mobile Nazi death squads called Einsatzgruppen, which massacred Jews especially in The Germans established hundreds of ghettos in which Jews were confined and starved although cruelly offered hopes of survival before eventually being subjected to genocide. Ghettos were also established in smaller settlements. Living conditions in the Ghettos were terrible. Jews who tried to escape were shot to death with their bullet-riddled bodies to be left in public view until dusk as a warning. Many of those who fled to the Aryan side without connections with Christian Poles willing to risked their lives in order to help, returned to the ghettos when they were unable to find a place to hide. Hundreds of four- to five-year-old Jewish children went across en masse to the Aryan side, sometimes several times a day, smuggling food into the ghettos, returning with goods that often weighed more than they did. Smuggling was sometimes the only source of subsistence for these children and their parents, who would otherwise have died of starvation. Shooting of Jews who were caught trying to smuggle in food became routine. People were shot to death for bringing in a chicken or a liter of milk. Poles from the Aryan side found assisting Jews in obtained food were subject to the death penalty. Judenrat was also responsible for organizing the labour battalions demanded by the Germans. However, the size of the Ghetto was about 2. The Germans then closed off the Warsaw Ghetto from the outside world on November 16 of that year, building a wall around it. During the next year and a half, Jews from smaller cities and villages were brought into the Warsaw Ghetto, while diseases especially typhoid and starvation kept the inhabitants at about the same number. Average food rations in for Jews in Warsaw were limited to kcal and kcal for Poles as opposed to 2, kcal for Germans. Deportations to death camps[ edit ] On July 22,, the mass deportation of the Warsaw Ghetto inhabitants began; during the next fifty-two days until September 12, about, people were transported by train to the Treblinka extermination camp. Employees of the Judenrat, including the Ghetto Police, [71] along with their families and relatives, were given immunity from deportations in return for their cooperation. Additionally, in August, Jewish Ghetto policemen, under the threat of deportation themselves, were ordered to personally "deliver" five ghetto inhabitants to the Umschlagplatz train station. The final destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto came four months later after the crushing one of the most heroic and tragic battles of the war, Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, led by Mordechaj Anielewicz. Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, which was reverberated throughout Poland and the rest of the world as an example of courage and defiance, was followed by other failed Ghetto uprisings in Nazi occupied Poland. Some of the survivors of Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, still held in camps at or near Warsaw were freed a year later during the larger Warsaw Uprising, led by Polish resistance movement Armia Krajowa and immediately joined Polish fighters. Only few of them survived. Polish commander of that Jewish unit, Waclaw Micuta, described them as one of the best fighters of the Warsaw Uprising, always at the front line. It is estimated that over Polish Jews, some as well known as Marek Edelman or Icchak Cukierman, and several dozen Greek, [72] Hungarian or even German Jews freed by Armia Krajowa from Gesiowka concentration camp in Warsaw, men and woman, took part in combat against Nazis during Warsaw Uprising. As many as 17, Polish Jews lost their lives during Warsaw Uprising, who either fought with the AK units or had been discovered in hiding. The fate of the Warsaw Ghetto was similar to that of the other ghettos in which Jews were concentrated. Many died from hunger, starvation, disease, torture or by pseudo-medical experiments. The mass deportation of Jews from ghettos to these camps, such as happened at the Warsaw Ghetto, soon followed, and more than 1. The Polish Government in Exile was the first in November to reveal the existence of Nazi-run concentration camps and the systematic extermination of the Jews by the Nazis, through its courier Jan Karski and through the activities of Witold Pilecki, member of Armia Krajowa and the only person who volunteered for imprisonment in Auschwitz and organized a resistance movement inside the camp itself. History of Poland â Between 40, and, Polish Jews survived the Page 4
Holocaust in Poland by hiding or by joining the Polish or Soviet partisan units. Another 50,â, were repatriated from the Soviet Union and 20,â 40, from Germany and other countries. After the war, the vast majority of survivors left for several reasons, often more than one. Many left simply because they did not want to live in a communist country. Some left because the refusal of the Communist regime to return prewar private property. Others did not wish to rebuild their lives in the places where their families were murdered. Yet others wanted to go to British Mandate of Palestine soon to become Israel. Some of the survivors had relatives abroad. The dominant factor, however, was the decision made by Gen. Spychalski of PWP to sign a decree allowing the remaining survivors to leave Poland without visas or exit permits. Sonderaktion for the liquidation of the actual mass graves in both Treblinka and Belzec. Hundreds of Jews were murdered in anti-jewish violence, including numerous functionaries of the new Stalinist regime. Until today the debate in Poland continues about the inferred evidence of the Soviet NKVD provocation and the presence of Russian soldiers in the killings. Between and,,â, Jews left Poland. Their departure was largely organized by the Zionist activists in Poland such as Adolf Berman and Icchak Cukierman under the umbrella of a semi-clandestine, tolerated by the government of Poland, organization Berihah "Flight". Berihah was also responsible for the organized emigration of Jews from Romania, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia totaling, including Poland Holocaust survivors. A second wave of Jewish emigration 50, took place during the liberalization of the Communist regime between and Then there was the third major wave of emigration, which one might call an expulsion of Jews, in â Thereafter almost all Jews who decided to stay in Poland "stopped" being Jewish. The Bund took part in the post-war elections of on a common ticket with the non-communist Polish Socialist Party PPS and gained its first and only parliamentary seat in its Polish history, plus several seats in municipal councils. Eleven independent political Jewish parties, of which eight were legal, existed until their dissolution during â Jerzy Borejsza was an important press and book editor, who attracted many talented writers. Some Jewish cultural institutions were established including the Yiddish State Theater founded in and directed by Ida Kaminska, the Jewish Historical Institute, an academic institution specializing in the research of the history and culture of the Jews in Poland, and the Yiddish newspaper Folks-Shtime. From â [ edit ] In, following the Six-Day War between Israel and the Arab states, communist Poland broke off diplomatic relations with Israel. Due to economic, political and police pressure, 25, Jews were forced to emigrate during â The campaign, though ostensibly directed at Jews who had held office in the Stalinist era and at their families, affected most of the remaining Polish Jews, whatever their backgrounds. There were several outcomes of the March events. Many Polish intellectuals were disgusted at the promotion of official anti-semitism, and opposed the campaign. Some of the people who emigrated to the West thereafter, founded organizations which encouraged anticommunist opposition inside Poland. During the late s some Jewish activists were engaged in the anticommunist opposition groups. By the time of the fall of Communism in Poland in, only 5,â 10, Jews remained in the country, many of them preferring to conceal their Jewish origin. Page 5
Chapter 4 : Publications The Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People Jerusalem (CAHJP) A detailed guide to the material on Polish Jewry at the Central Archives, in the original and in microfilm, has been published by Avotaynu. Jewish Colonization Association (JCA) Was founded in Paris by Baron Hirsch. IX, pp. This article describes the manner in which genealogical registration was carried out in Israel and various parts in Germany. It does not, however, list names of individuals. The book contains regesta summaries of documents relating to Jews, which were inscribed in the ksiegi grodzkie court registers of Lublin between and The documents record criminal and civil proceedings, as well as privileges charters issued to Jews, royal decrees, safe conduct passes, apportionments of taxes, agreements and contracts. Ksiegarnia Uniwersytecka, 5 Palc M. Photographs taken before by Theodor Harburger, of synagogues and religious artifacts in Bavaria, Germany, together with a number of essays by Harburger and others on Bavarian Jewish ethnography. The regesta of the sources from the registers of the Cancilleria Real of the Archivo de la Corona de Aragon, offer students and scholars the richest collection of sources on the Jews under Fernando I, whose reign coincided with one of the most tragic and turbulent periods in the history of the Iberian Jewry. The sources included in this volume, covering a period of less than four years, from August to the end of March, describe in detail the life of Jews and conversos in the realm of the Crown of Aragon during a period when anti-jewish campaigns and feelings reached their peak. Contact us Volume 5: This volume contains the indices to volume 4 and 5, as well as close to regesta from the Cartas Reales from up to and including the Expulsion. Contact us Volume 4: This volume, the first of two parts, relates mostly to the reign of Jaime II. Contact us Volume 3: The regesta of notarial records, published in this volume, all originate from the Protocolos of Tortosa, and are particularly valuable in describing economic activities of the Jews, such as financial transactions and moneylending. They also reveal hitherto unknown details on communal institutions and complement other information already at our disposal. Contact us Volume 2: The Expulsion of the Jews from Calatayud â Documents and Regesta, Jerusalem These sources from Aragonese archives, presented by Motis Dolader of the University of Saragossa, are an important contribution to scholarship, as they cover practically every aspect of the Expulsion which affected the fate of Jews and Conversos in the second largest Aragonese aljama. Contact us Volume 1: Regesta of documents from the Archivio Capitular, Barcelona, Jerusalem, The regesta, here published, shed new light on the history of the Jews in Barcelona during the period of territorial expansion, political consolidation, economic achievement and cultural progress of the Catalano-Aragonese realm. Archivio Alfonso Pacifici A guide to files and documents relating to Jews in the various record groups of the government archives at Radom, Poland. Page 6
Chapter 5 : Jewish Genealogy Newberry The Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People, Jerusalem and Center for Research on the History and Culture of Polish Jews, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Ksiegarnia Akademicka, Kraków More Jews arrived during the period of the first Crusade in, while leaving persecution in Bohemia, according to the Chronicler of Prague. There is also archeological evidence, coins from the period with inscriptions in Hebrew, revealing that other Jewish merchants traveled to Poland in the 12th century. The coins may have belonged to 12th century Jewish traders, Holekhei Rusyah travelers to Russia. While persecution took place across Europe during the Crusades, in the 13th century, Poland served as a haven for European Jewry because of its relative tolerance. During this period, Poland began its colonization process. It suffered great losses from Mongol invasions in and therefore encouraged Jewish immigrants to settle the towns and villages. No central authority could stop the immigration. Refugees from Germany brought with them German and Hebrew dialects that eventually became Yiddish Jews were treated well under the rule of Duke Boleslaw Pobozny and King Kazimierz Wielki, aka King Casimir the Great because the now-decentralized nature of Polish polity saw the nobles forced to run their own areas and therefore the Jews- a group with commercial and administrative experience - were fought over to attract to the various townships. In, Duke Boleslaw issued the "Statute of Kalisz," guaranteeing protection of the Jews and granting generous legal and professional rights, including the ability to become moneylenders and businessman. King Kasimierz ratified the charter and extended it to include specific points of protection from Christians, including guaranteed prosecution against those who "commit a depredation in a Jewish cemetery" and banning people from "accusing the Jews of drinking human blood. One of the great sages of the time, Jacob Savra of Cracow, was extremely learned in Talmud, his opinions differed from Talmudic authorities in Germany and Bohemia. In the 14th century, opposition arose to the system in which Jews owned land that would be used as collateral for loans. According to the Chronica Olivska, Jews throughout Poland were massacred because they were blamed for the Black Death. There were anti-jewish riots in and again in and and Jews were expelled form the city of Cracow in During the 14th and 15th century, Jews were active in all areas of trade, including cloth, horses, and cattle. By the end of the 15th century, Polish Jews began trading with Venice, Feodosiya and other Genoese colonies in the Crimea, as well as with Constantinople. Accusation were made against the Jews claiming unfair competition in trade and crafts. Due to these complaints, in, Jews were forced to renounce their rights to most trades and crafts. These accusations may have led to the Jewish expulsion from Cracow in Jewish religious life thrived in many Polish communities. By, Jews were given permission to choose their own Chief Rabbi. The Chief Rabbinate held power over law and finance, appointing judges and other officials. Some power was shared with local councils. The Polish government permitted the Rabbinate to grow in power, to use it for tax collection purposes. Only thirty percent of the money raised by the Rabbinate served Jewish causes, the rest went to the Crown for protection. He founded a religious academy in Cracow. Beyond Talmudic study, he was also familiar with many of the Greek philosophers and was one of the forerunners of the Jewish enlightenment. Colonization of the Ukraine In the 16th century, Jews also thrived economically and took part in the settler movement of Poland. In, Poland and Lithuania unified and then Poland annexed the Ukraine. Many Jews were sent to colonize these territories. Polish nobility and landowners and Jewish merchants became partners in many business enterprises. Jews became involved in the wheat export industry, which was in high demand across Europe. The Jews built and ran mills and distilleries, transported the grain to the Baltic Ports and shipped it to the West. In return they received wine, cloth, dyes and luxury goods, which they sold to Polish nobility. The roles of magnates, middleman and intermediaries with the peasants were held by the Jews. Jews created entire villages and townships, shtetls. Fifty-two communities in Great Poland and Masovia, 41 communities in Lesser Poland and about 80 communities in the Ukraine region. Ordinances of the Council of the Lands revealed the ideals of widespread Torah study. Jews were active at all levels of society and politics. Page 7
Almost every Polish magnate had a Jewish counselor, who kept the books, wrote letters, and managed economic affairs. In turn, the Jews put pressure on the local peasants. The first wave of violence in destroyed Jewish communities east of the Dnieper River. Following the violence, thousands of Jews fled west, across the river, to the major cities. The Cossacks and the peasants followed them; the first large-scale massacre took place at Nemirov a small town, which is part of present-day Ukraine. It is estimated that,, Jews died in the Chmielnicki revolt that lasted from This wave of destruction is considered the first modern pogrom. Hasidism flourished after his death and was spread by Rabbi Dov Baer, the Maggid storyteller throughout Eastern Europe. Rise of the Haskalah There were three partitions of Poland in, and in Poland became a mere client state of the Russian empire. In, Catherine II, empress of Russia; discriminated against the Jews by forcing them to stay in their shtetls and barring their return to the towns they occupied before the partition. This area was called the Pale of Settlement. By, more than four million Jews lived in the Pale. During this period, the Haskalah Jewish Enlightenment spread throughout Poland. Supporters of the Haskalah movement wanted to reform Jewish life and end special institutions and customs. A belief existed that if the Jews assimilated with the Poles, then they would prosper and would not be persecuted. The Haskalah was popular among wealthy Jews, while the shopkeepers and artisans chose to keep speaking Yiddish and continue practicing Orthodox Judaism. In the 19th century, the Haskalah philosophy of integration began to be implemented by the Sejm Senate. The Jewish self-government, the Kahal, was abolished. A tax was levied on Jewish liquor dealers, forcing them to close their shops. Jews then became involved in agriculture. A yeshiva opened in, with the goal of producing "enlightened" spiritual leaders. In, Jews were emancipated and special taxes were abolished and restrictions on residence were removed. Despite efforts to assimilate, Jews continued to be subject to anti-semitism under the Czars and in Poland. Since Jews were treated badly by the Russians, many decided to become in involved in the Polish insurrections: Jews also joined Polish legions in the battle for independence achieved in In, fourteen percent of Polish citizens were Jewish. Jews were represented in government with seats in the Sejm, municipals councils and in Jewish religious communities. Jews developed many political parties and associations, ranging in ideologies from Zionist to socialist to Anti-Zionist. The Bund, a socialist party, spread throughout Poland in the early 20th century. Many Jewish workers in Warsaw and Lodz joined the Bund. Zionism also became popular among Polish Jews, who formed the Poale Zion. The Polish Mizrahi, a Zionist orthodox political party, had a large following. General Zionists became popular in the inter-war period. In the election of the Sejm, the General Zionists received 50 percent of the votes for Jewish parties. Jews were massacred in pogroms by Poles who associated Trotsky and the Bolshevik revolution with Jewry Trotsky was Jewish. The situation was mixed for Polish Jews in the inter-war period. They were recognized as a nationality and their legal rights were supposed to be protected under the Treaty of Versailles; however, their legal rights were not honored by Poland. The Kehillah, a Jewish governing body, was not allowed to run autonomously. The government intervened in the elections and controlled its budget. On the other hand, Jews received funding from the state for their schools. Economic conditions declined for Polish Jews during the inter-war years. Jews were not allowed to work in the civil service, few were public school teachers, almost no Jews were railroad workers and no Jews worked in state-controlled banks or state-run monopolies i. Legislation was enacted forcing citizens to rest on Sunday, ruining Jewish commerce that was closed on Saturday. Their economic downfall was accompanied by a rise of anti-semitism. A well-developed Jewish press circulated newspapers in Polish, Hebrew and Yiddish. There were more than 30 dailies and more than Jewish periodicals. More than fifty percent of all physicians and lawyers in private practice in Poland were Jewish because of the discriminatory laws against civil service. The Jewish population stood at 3. The German military killed about 20, Jews and bombed approximately 50, Jewish-owned factories, workshops and stores in more than Jewish communities. Several hundred synagogues were destroyed in the first two months of occupation. Immediately, restrictions were placed on Polish Jews. All Jewish stores were forced to display a Star of David and were subsequently raided and forced to pay large sums of money to the Germans. Jews were not allowed to own bank accounts and there were limits on the amount of cash they could store in their homes. Page 8
Jews were not allowed in to work in textiles and leather. On July 24,, instructions came from the High Command of the Wehrmacht to intern civilian citizens, which led to the arrest of Jews and Poles of military age at the time of the invasion. Hundreds of civilians, Poles and Jews, were subsequently murdered. Still more Polish Jews were killed by the Einsatzkommando. Under German occupation, Poland was divided into 10 administrative districts. Confinement and Extermination To provide more "living space" for Germans, the Jews were removed from the Polish countryside and concentrated in the cities of the General Government. Page 9
Chapter 6 : Index to AVOTAYNU Guide to the Sources for the History of the Jews in Poland in the Central Archives () - Compiled by A. Teller. This guide to primary sources held by the Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem is organized geographically. In a statement issued that year, they declared the reestablishment of YIVO in New York, since "normal communications with the Institute in Vilna have been cut off. In, it began accessioning literary manuscripts and institutional records and by, its library had about 15, volumes. But soon its mission was significantly broadened. As the war progressed and the extent of the Jewish catastrophe in Europe became clear, the YIVO Archives widened its responsibilities to include documentation on the life and death of the destroyed communities of Europe. Efforts to rescue the remnants of Jewish archives in Europe gained prominence. Already in Vilna, YIVO was known as an "active" collector that organized special collecting campaigns around specific goals or topics. This method was adopted in New York and it proved most useful in enlarging the Archive in a purposeful way. An immigrant autobiography contest was organized in with the aim of establishing YIVO as a research center for the history of Jewish immigration in America. Army, and staff members of Jewish relief organizations assigned to the European theater. YIVO envoys were sent to Europe to coordinate collecting activities. As a result of this campaign the archive on the Holocaust and its aftermath was assembled. The archive included documents from ghettos, records of Nazi government agencies, records of wartime Jewish organizations, eyewitness accounts, records of the DP camps, and pictorial materials. In, YIVO initiated a collection campaign which turned once again to the theme of contemporary Jewish life. The intention was to establish a central archives on the history of the Jews of the United States, with emphasis on the period of mass immigration, from the s to In conceptualizing this goal, it was pointed out that American Jewish historiography had hitherto been limited to studies of Jewish life in America before This excluded from consideration an important segment of American Jewry, that is, immigrant Jews from Eastern Europe. This ambitious concept was realized, in part, by acquiring the records of the several American Jewish relief agencies dealing with Jewish immigration to the United States. From to, a Landsmanshaftn Project was conducted with highly successful results. During this period, YIVO located and secured for the Archives records of over landsmanshaftn, which are now organized in record groups. These records document the history of immigrant mutual aid societies in the New York area since the mid-nineteenth century. In the ss, there were several outreach programs to collect historical photographs. Two of these projects, one focusing on Polish Jewry and the other on Russian and Soviet Jewry succeeded in greatly enriching the territorial photographic collections on Poland and Russia. These collection projects also resulted in traveling exhibitions, books, and a documentary film, Image Before My Eyes. Over the years, the YIVO Archives has become an established repository of primary sources in the Jewish humanities, preserving and providing access to a collection that is central to studying the past and present of the Jewish people. Chapter 7 : Poland Virtual Jewish History Tour Sources On Polish Jewry At The Central Archives For The History Of The Jewish People. Volovici; H. Poland. Chapter 8 : Poland - European Jewish Congress Polish Sources at the Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People. Compiled and edited by Hanna Volvici, Witold Medykowski, Hadassah Assouline and Benyamin Lukin. Compiled and edited by Hanna Volvici, Witold Medykowski, Hadassah Assouline and Benyamin Lukin. Page 10
Chapter 9 : Guide to the Collection on Poland (Vilna Archives),, (bulk ), RG 28 Sources on Polish Jewry at the Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People. Ed. Hanna Volovici et al. Bergenfield, NJ: Avotaynu, Call# ZP7 S68 Page 11