It is not known exactly when Jews first arrived in Poland, but merchant and diplomat Ibrahim Ibn Jakub mentioned Krakow in his account of the voyage in the middle 900's. Many Polish dukes and kings in the 13th and 14th Centuries gave Polish Jews safety for their property and community (Jews in Poland, 14 July 1997).
During the Spanish inquisition and the Crusades, between the 12th and 15th Centuries, many Jews emigrated to Poland. It came to house the largest concentration of Jews in all of Europe. However, in 1399, the Poles began to persecute the Jews. The Jews of Krakow were restricted to Kazimierz, the first Jewish ghetto.
In pre-World War II Poland, Jewish culture was at a high point. Jewish musicians, writers, and
poets, such as Shalom Aleichem and Szalom Asz contributing great works to the arts. Jews made
up about 10 percent of Poland's population before the war. Warsaw had a Jewish population of
380,000, and the population of Lodz was about 202,479 (807 survived). The population of
smaller towns ranged from 50-70 percent. At one time, almost 60 percent of all doctors in Warsaw were
Jewish (Polish Jews in WWII, 14 July 1997). Many beautiful temples and synagogues stand today as
historical monuments. The Jewish population is too small to fully support these surviving
buildings of the Nazi occupation. The Nazis planned to make them into museums for the "extinct
Jewish race." These temples have been carefully restored for cultural purposes.
Poland has mixed roots of hatred and tolerance for Jews over the years. During the
Holocaust, most of the country supported Hitler's Final Solution. The infamous death camps of
Auschwitz, Treblinka (720,000 Polish Jews killed), Sobibor, and Majdanek were all located in
Poland. Combined, around 3 million Jews were murdered in Polish camps, comprising about one
half of the total number of Jews killed in concentration camps. Of the 3.3 million Jews that called
Poland home, about 10 percent survived the war (Polish Jews in WWII, 14 July 1997).
As the few thousand haggard war refugees came back to their homes, they were not welcome
back. Several post-war massacres in Poland left an additional 1,000 Jews dead. The worst of
these was the 1946 Kielce massacre. It was sparked by a rumor that Jews had stolen Christian
children and killed them for their blood. An angry Polish mob besieged an apartment building
housing several different Jewish groups, killing 43 people. (Barker 1997)
On July 7, 1996, the 50-year anniversary of the massacre, government officials,
representatives, and members of the Jewish and Catholic clergies held a ceremony for the 27,000
Kielce Jews killed in the War. A "wall of memory" was also unveiled, commemorating 80 Poles
who aided local Jews during the war. Prime minister Wodzimierz Cimoszeiez gave the first formal
apology for the Kielce massacre. Elie Wiesel also addressed the crowd, saying: "To forget is to
choose to dishonor. Honor can not exist without remembering." Kielce mayor Bogusaw Ciesielski
said: "As mayor of this town, I can only ask for one thing: forgiveness" (qtd. in Oepiewak & Branachewski 1996). The apology, however was disputed by some Poles. Edward Moskal, head of the U.S.
Polish-American congress claimed that it was just another act of appeasement on behalf of the
government. He also blamed the Soviet-led communists for the killings. Whether or not they were
responsible, it was a Polish mob that attacked the building, and the Polish army did nothing. In
addition to the devastation of the Holocaust, the Jews of Poland were not welcome back home.
In addition, the Holocaust promoted a mass emigration of Jews to Palestine and America.
Most had little or no family left, and no reason to stay. As Artie Spiegelman's father Vladek says
in Maus II (1991), "So don't worry, let the plane crash--at least we'll be out of Poland. . . . It was
nothing anymore for us after the war. Nothing." This sums up why most Polish Jews left soon
after World War II. After friends and neighbors had turned their backs, there was nothing to
return home to. Many Zionists also emigrated to the kibbutzim of Palestine, which as of 1948
became Israel. Helen Hirsch, Goethe's maid from the real Schindler's List was one of those
immigrants. The Jewish population in Poland grows smaller again.
Poland today is much like the rest of Europe, with busy, crowded cities, and many tourists. In
Kazimiercz, the former Jewish quarters in Krakow, thousands of tourists snap pictures of the old
houses and synagogues. Warsaw is alive with new Jewish culture. One could buy Jewish books
and music. Yiddish concerts and theater are advertised all over, although usually performed by
gentiles. About 12,000 Jews and Catholics are discovering their unknown Jewish identity.
Students say that Polish children know nothing about Jews, and that their little knowledge is
based upon stereotypes. People use racial slurs like "dirty Jew" for someone they are arguing
with. Most people considered to be Jewish by the Nazis (one Jewish grandparent) know nothing
of their heritage. In the book A Tree Still Stands (Strom 1990), a compilation of contemporary Jewish
teens, one Polish girl, Magdalena Klinger stated, "Even though our political situation has changed
for the better, I don't think the Jews will ever return." Most children are of mixed Jewish-Catholic
parentage, and the majority do not practice Judaism. A center for survivors called Our Home
opened recently in Poland, the first of its kind there. (Poland's first center for survivors 1995) It is designed to meet the needs of survivors,
and to educate their children. About 1/5 of Europe's Jewish population are children, and they are
now exploring their heritage.
The Jews of Poland have been living there for almost one thousand years. Within the six years of the Holocaust, they were almost annihilated. The handful that chose to stay in Poland are growing old, and some never tell their children that they are Jewish. But a tree does still stand, and everyone who is rediscovering their culture and faith strengthens the small existing community.
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