Family genealogy
1000 years of Jewish life in Poland
Two short presentations from the Polin Museum
Landmarks in the Jewish History of Poland
Virtual tour of the Museum in English
History timeline
Jews in Poland,
from the end of the 10th century until the Shoah h.
In the Middle Ages
965-966: A Jewish merchant from Spain , Ibrahim Ibn Jaqub (Abraham son of Jacob), travels through Poland. He writes the first description of the country. Jewish merchants, of Greco-Roman or Middle Eastern origin, are very active in Central Europe .
1085: A Jewish scholar, Jehuda ha-Kohen, mentions a community established in the city of Przemyśl
1096: The first major migration of Jews to Poland began with the Crusades.
The departure of this armed pilgrimage from Western Europe was accompanied by numerous massacres of Jewish communities. Historians estimate that France and Germany lost nearly a third of their Jewish population, many of whom sought refuge in Poland where kings and dukes, seeking to accelerate urban development, welcomed them and allowed them to establish kehillot (Jewish communities).
Tolerant kings of Poland
1206: Prince Mieszko III of Greater Poland entrusted the management of the customs house and mint of Gniezno to the Jews. These coins bore inscriptions in Hebrew and Polish, and the name of the sovereign, "Król Mieszko".
1264: The Prince of Poland , Bolesław the Pious, proclaims the Charter of Kalisz, which grants the Jews of Poland the right to engage in trade, to move freely throughout the kingdom, to freely practice their religion, to self-govern within their communities ( kehillot ), and the right to personal security and that of their property.
Article 20 severely condemns the mistreatment of Jews; anyone found guilty of murdering a Jew is sentenced to death and has their property confiscated. Jews are considered servi camerae—a portion of the royal treasury—and any action against Jews is therefore considered an act against royal power.
1320: The coronation sword of the kings of Poland, first used during the coronation of Władysław I Łokietek , bears an inscription in Hebrew and Latin characters:
"A profound faith is awakened by the names of God Sedalai and Ebrehel." The rest is in Latin: "He who bears the name of God upon him will be in no danger." This coronation sword of the kings of Poland, called Szczerbiec, is said to have belonged to the first king of Poland: Bolesław I.
The first Kehilot
1335: Foundation of the city of Kazimierz at the gates of Krakow, then the capital. This city, administered by the Jewish community, was surrounded by walls and developed autonomously for centuries.
The Republic of Two Nations: A Refuge
1343: Persecuted in Western Europe , the Jews were invited to Poland by King Kazimierz III . After the mass expulsion of Jews from Western Europe (England, France, Germany, and Spain), the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth became a refuge for them.
1348: Edicts from Polish kings guaranteed security and freedom of worship from the 13th century onwards, while Western Europe was the scene of persecutions, particularly after the episode of the Black Death of 1348-1349, of which the Jews were accused of being the vectors.
King Kazimierz IV Jagiellon granted Jews privileges known as "Cracow privileges" (which nullified canonical decisions issued by the Pope).
It is now forbidden to summon Jews before religious (Catholic) courts, and only the prince can judge them. The palatines must protect Jews from oppression by the clergy. False accusations are punishable by death.
1550: Under the Jagiellonian dynasty , the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth became the territory of the world’s largest Jewish community.
Jews expelled from France, Spain, Portugal, and German cities sought refuge in Poland. At that time, 80% of the world's Jewish population lived in Poland.
1525: King Zygmunt I was the first Christian sovereign to grant a title of nobility to a Jew without requiring him to renounce his faith.
1532: Jews obtain the right to trade throughout the Kingdom
1534: King Zygmunt I abolished the law that required Jews to wear distinctive signs.
1534: Creation of the first Jewish printing press in Kazimierz (by the brothers Samuel, Aszer and Eljiakim, sons of Chaim of Halicz)
1554: Foundation of the first Jewish printing press in Hebrew in Lublin . In 1559 it obtained a printing monopoly from the king.
1567: Foundation of the first yeshiva in Poland.
1576: King Stefan Batory issues a law severely condemning accusations made against Jews for the homicide of children and the desecration of the hosts.
The Kehilot are becoming more widespread and centralized.
1580: First meeting of the Council of Four Countries (Va'ad Arba' Aratzot) in Lublin (its name refers to the four main Polish regions: Greater Poland, Lesser Poland, Ruthenia and Volhynia-Podoli).
Based on the highly efficient organization of the Jewish communities ( kehillot )—a term encompassing both the administration of the commune and the members of the community—and on various pre-existing institutions dealing with administration, justice, religious matters, and assistance to the needy, the Jewish community thus constituted its own legislative body. This was a kind of parliament composed of 30 members and two committees, one religious and one secular. The Jews were considered a fifth estate, alongside the clergy, the landed nobility, the bourgeoisie, and the peasantry.
The Council of Four Countries is recognised by the King of Poland .
1622: The Jewish communities of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania withdrew from the Council of Four Countries and established their own body, the Council of the Land of Lithuania. This date marks the split between Litvak Judaism and Polak Judaism.
1632: In the context of the Counter-Reformation , King Władysław IV Vasa banned books or any printing of an anti-Semitic nature.
1633: The Jews of Poznań obtain the right to prohibit non-Jews from entering the Jewish quarter of the city.
1648: The Polish Jewish population reached 450,000 people (4.5% of the total population). The world Jewish population was estimated [1] at 750,000 people.
The Time of the Flood
1648: During the Khmelnytsky Uprising , Cossacks massacred the Polish nobility as well as the Jewish community that the Polish nobles were protecting: this was the first pogrom perpetrated by Orthodox Christians. The total loss to the community is estimated at 100,000 people.
1655: The Swedish invasion and occupation, which went down in history as the deluge, added massacres.
1750: The Jewish population of Poland reached 750,000 people, or 8% of the total population. The world's Jewish population was estimated at 1,200,000 people.
1759: Jacob Frank 's followers convert and join the ranks of the Polish nobility.
Poland is out
1791: Creation of the Pale of Settlement, to which all Jews of the Russian Empire were confined.
1795: Third partition of Poland between Russia , Prussia , and Austria . Poland ceases to exist. The privileges of Jewish communities are revoked.
1800: The Jewish population reaches 2,000,000 in Eastern Europe.
1831: Jews take part in the defense of Warsaw, which is in revolt against the Russian imperial army.
1864: Jews participate in the Polish uprising of January .
1862: Many Polish aristocrats entrusted the management of their assets to Jews .
The time of pogroms fueled by the Russian administration and authorities.
1881: Jews are accused of the assassination attempt against Tsar Alexander II . Pogroms encouraged by the Russian government ensue.
1896: Birth of the Bund (General Union of Workers of Poland, Lithuania and Russia). First Jewish, socialist, Marxist, secular, dystri and anti-Zionist political party.
1897: The first Zionist Congress was held in Basel, Switzerland, under the presidency of Theodor Hertzel. This historic gathering structured the Zionist movement, whose objective for the Jewish people was to establish a homeland in Palestine.
1914: The First World War .
1917: The Bolshevik Revolution and the Russian Civil War
Poland regains its autonomy; Polish ultra-nationalism multiplies anti-Semitic acts.
1918: Poland regains its independence
1920: The Bolshevik invasion of Poland.
1914-1921: Wars ravage the former Polish territories.
The Jews living in these lands, particularly among the youth of the " Bund ", took sides with Bolshevism, which promised the end of discrimination based on religion, and total equality for all citizens ("revolutionary Yiddishland "): this resulted in persecutions against Jews in countries hostile to Bolshevik Russia, and the emergence, among White Russians and nationalists of all countries, of the myth of " Judeo-Bolshevism " (which would later be widely exploited by the Nazis and their satellites ).
1921: The Polish-Bolshevik Treaty of Riga . Citizens of the disputed territories (roughly corresponding to the Pale of Settlement ) were granted the right to choose their territory. Many communist Jews chose Bolshevik Russia (many would regret this when Stalinist anti-Semitism emerged), while at least as many, if not more, emigrated to Poland, particularly religious Jews attached to their faith, and artisans, shopkeepers, or merchants whose businesses had been nationalized by the Bolsheviks.
1924: 2,989,000 Jews are recorded in Poland (10% of the population). Young Jews represent 23% of high school students and 26% of university students, which leads nationalists and anti-Semites to demand quotas for university admissions.
The same was true in other Eastern European countries, whereas in the USSR nothing of the sort existed; the Soviet "social elevator" was open to all provided they were communists and atheists.
1935: The death of Józef Piłsudski marks the resurgence of anti-Semitic acts and the establishment of an ultranationalist and anti-Semitic government.
1936: Anti-Semitic riot in Przytyk.
1933–1939: Persecuted by the Nazis , German Jews attempted to emigrate, but almost every country closed its borders to them, including the United Kingdom and the United States. A few found refuge in Poland.
1939-1945: Throughout Nazi-occupied Europe, the extermination of the Jews took place, also known as the Shoah ("destruction, great misfortune, catastrophe") or the Holocaust. In Nazi Germany and occupied Poland , the genocide was industrialized.
1943: Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
1944: Stalin installs a communist government in Poland, the majority of whose members are Jewish. Repression begins against the Polish resistance.
1946: Kielce pogrom; Jewish survivors and repatriates are murdered by Poles
From 1948 onwards: Hundreds of thousands of Jews, including tens of thousands of Holocaust survivors, left Poland and other Eastern European countries (including the USSR) for Israel and the United States .
[1] The Counter-Reformation in Poland was actively carried out from the end of the 16th century under the impetus of the Jesuits and King SIGISMOND III. Its objective was to recatholicize the noble elite and to greatly reduce the influence of Protestantism, permanently anchoring Catholicism as a pillar of Polish national identity.
An example: the city of Wroclaw (Breslau)
740 years of troubled history
History of the Jewish community
The oldest Jewish gravestone found in Wroclaw (Breslau) dates back to 1203, indicating that at that time Wroclaw was home to a Jewish community.
* In 1290 , Wroclaw was the second largest Jewish community in Central and Eastern Europe , after Prague.
The Jews of the city worked mainly as pawnbrokers and merchants; a smaller minority practiced crafts.
* In the 14th century , however, the Jews of Wroclaw were victims of violence.
After a pogrom in 1349, approximately 5 families survived out of the original 70. 41 Jews were tried and burned at the stake in 1453 after being accused of desecrating the Eucharist.
In the same year, the Jewish community was expelled from the city.
* Two years later, the city obtained official intolerance status.
* Until 1744 , Jews were forbidden to live in Wroclaw. They could only go there during the annual fairs.
* En 1741, la ville est annexée par la Prusse et, en 1744, Frédéric II autorise les Juifs à y reformer une communauté officielle.
La population juive augmente rapidement.
* En 1747, 532 Juifs vivaient à Wroclaw (1,1% de la population totale).
* En 1810, ce nombre avait grimpé à 3 255 (5,2%).
Wroclaw devient un centre important pour la Haskalah (les Lumières juives).
Les deux communautés – les orthodoxes et les libéraux – étaient actives dans la vie religieuse et culturelle des juifs de la ville et étaient dirigées par d’éminents rabbins et érudits.
* Le nombre de résidents juifs dans la ville était de 19 743 en 1900 et de 10 300 en 1939.
* En novembre 1938, les activités culturelles, sociales et éducatives de la communauté sont interdites et les synagogues et les écoles juives sont détruites pendant les pogroms de la Nuit de cristal.
* À partir de septembre 1941, les juifs sont chassés de chez eux et leurs biens entassés dans les maisons juives (Judenhaus).
Ils sont déportés quelques mois plus tard dans des camps de transit avant le convoi vers d’Auschwitz.
* Entre novembre 1941 et l’été 1944, les juifs de Basse-Silésie, y compris ceux de Wroclaw, sont déportés dans 11 convois.
Le premier conduit les juifs à Kaunas, où tout le transport est abattu.
Les convois ultérieurs envoient les Juifs dans les camps d’extermination de Sobibor et Belzec, ou à Terezin et Auschwitz. Certains juifs sont envoyés dans des camps de travail temporaires. En 1943, seuls les conjoints de mariages mixtes et certains enfants sont encore à Wroclaw.
Les 150 derniers juifs de la ville sont déportés à Gross-Rosen en janvier 1945, où ils sont tous tués.
* À partir de mai 1945, Wroclaw devient un centre de transit pour les survivants juifs revenant des camps de concentration de Silésie et de Pologne.
Les juifs des anciens territoires polonais annexés à l’Union soviétique pendant la guerre commencent à arriver dans la ville par vagues à partir de 1946, faisant de Wroclaw la plus grande communauté juive de Pologne.
* Bien que le nombre de Juifs à Wroclaw ait culminé à 17 747 en 1946, après le pogrom de Kielce en juillet de la même année, ce nombre diminue considérablement.
* Ainsi, au printemps 1947, environ 15 000 Juifs vivaient à Wroclaw.
La communauté juive d’après-guerre reconstruit une communauté religieuse, des écoles, des coopératives juives et un théâtre juif, ainsi que d’autres organisations et partis politiques.
* La population juive continue de chuter, principalement en raison de l’émigration.
* En 1960, il restait 3 800 Juifs dans la ville.
* La guerre des six jours et l’antisémitisme entraînent une augmentation sensible de l’émigration après 1967.
Dans ce sillage, l’école et le théâtre juif ferment leur portes.
* En 1974, il y avait 3 000 Juifs à Wroclaw.
Une renaissance juive a commencé à la fin des années 1980.
* En 2000, la ville a rouvert la société socio-culturelle juive et son école juive.
La synagogue dite des cigognes blanches, utilisée par les nazis comme atelier de réparation automobile et pour stocker des biens juifs volés, est consacrée à nouveau en 2010 après une restauration à grande échelle.
* En 2014, la communauté juive de Wroclaw comptait 350 membres inscrits, ce qui en fait la deuxième communauté juive organisée en Pologne après Varsovie.
Les vestiges de ce qui semble être une synagogue du 14e siècle semblent avoir été trouvés à Wroclaw en 2021. Une découverte effectuée lors de travaux de rénovation dans un immeuble à proximité de l’Historical Institute of the University of Wrocław, 49 Szewska Street.
Poland's choice in the Middle Ages
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Community autonomy in the Republic of the Two Nations
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The end of the golden age and the beginning of the floods
1648: The Great Trauma
The major turning point was the Bohdan Khmelnytsky uprising in 1648, in the Ukrainian territories of the Republic.
Jews were particularly vulnerable because some of them worked for Polish nobles as tax farmers, estate administrators, innkeepers, or intermediaries. When the Cossacks and other insurgent populations turned against Polish rule and its associated social structures, Jews were often considered part of that group.
Thousands of Jews were massacred in Ukraine and neighboring regions. Some communities were completely destroyed; others were decimated and then rebuilt.
This is a fundamental event in the historical memory of Eastern European Judaism.
After 1648: a community rebuilding itself
However, it should not be concluded that Jewish life in Poland-Lithuania disappeared after the massacres.
It gradually rebuilt itself. Some relatively unaffected regions, particularly parts of Lithuania, welcomed refugees. The Jewish community continued to grow and its institutions remained very strong.
In the 18th century, Poland-Lithuania thus remained the demographic and cultural heart of Ashkenazi Judaism.
But the political and economic context was deteriorating, while the internal divisions of the Republic were becoming increasingly profound.
So, how did the Jews themselves experience this Republic?
Four words describe the situation of the Jews: autonomy — prosperity — vulnerability — renaissance.
They were not simply victims living in a hostile society.
On the contrary, over several generations they had built extremely powerful institutions, a diversified economy, a highly developed educational and religious system, and a genuine Eastern European Jewish culture.
But this autonomy was largely based on legal privileges and the protection of the king or magnates.
When the political and social order was disrupted, this protection could disappear very quickly.
It is this paradox that makes the history of the Jews of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth particularly interesting: Poland-Lithuania was simultaneously one of the places where Ashkenazi Judaism experienced its greatest flourishing and the scene of some of the most important catastrophes in its history before the modern period.
Renewal of Jewish life and thought in the 17th and 18th centuries
Under the Russian Empire and the Duchy of Warsaw in the 19th century
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Jewish political life in the 20th century
The Second Polish Republic
La question juive dans la Deuxième République
Les Juifs sont eux aussi une minorité nationale, mais ils sont répartis dans presque toute la Pologne. Ils sont particulièrement nombreux dans les villes et petites villes. En 1921, la Pologne compte environ 2,8 millions de Juifs, soit autour de 11 % de la population. Et en 1931, la Pologne possède la deuxième plus importante population juive du monde, avec environ 3,1 millions de Juifs. Mais contrairement aux Ukrainiens et aux Biélorusses, les Juifs ne revendiquent pas tous un territoire particulier où créer leur propre État.
La question devient donc : Comment construire une nation polonaise dans laquelle vivent des millions de citoyens qui ont leur propre religion, leur propre culture et souvent leur propre langue ?
Les Juifs de Pologne sont devenus, en principe, des citoyens polonais à part entière. La Constitution de mars 1921 proclame l'égalité des citoyens indépendamment notamment de leur religion, langue ou nationalité.
La Pologne avait également accepté en 1919 un traité international relatif aux minorités sous l'égide de la Société des Nations.
Donc juridiquement : Un Juif n’est plus citoyen de seconde catégorie.
Un Juif polonais peut : posséder une maison ; exercer une profession ; voter ; être élu ; créer des associations ; avoir des écoles ; pratiquer sa religion ; publier des journaux ; créer des partis politiques....
Et c'est effectivement ce qui fait de la Pologne de l'entre-deux-guerres un centre exceptionnel de la vie juive européenne.
Mais la réalité quotidienne est beaucoup plus complexe.
Le grand paradoxe : égalité juridique, discrimination réelle
C'est probablement la distinction qu'il faut garder en tête. Il y a une différence entre : les droits inscrits dans la loi et la manière dont ces droits sont effectivement appliqués. La politique polonaise devient progressivement plus nationaliste.
Dans les territoires orientaux, l'État cherche, notamment, à favoriser la polonisation : administration, école, propriété foncière et implantation de populations polonaises. Pour accèder à certains métiers, maitriser le polonais est exigé, ce qui en limite l'accès de ceux ne parlant que le Yiddish!
Pour les Juifs, la situation est différente de celle des Ukrainiens ou des Biélorusses : ils ne sont pas principalement considérés comme une population territoriale qu'il faudrait poloniser. Ils constituent plutôt une minorité nationale dispersée, essentiellement urbaine et semi-urbaine. Et cela produit une situation très particulière. Mais les années 1920 sont différentes des années 1930
Les années 1920
Il existe une vie juive extrêmement dynamique. On trouve : écoles juives ; yeshivot ;synagogues ; associations ; mouvements sionistes ; Bund ; partis religieux ; presse yiddish ; organisations professionnelles ; réseaux commerciaux.
Les Juifs peuvent même être représentés politiquement au Parlement.
Mais les premières années de la République sont aussi marquées par des violences antijuives et des pogroms, notamment dans le contexte extrêmement violent des guerres et conflits de 1918-1921. Puis la situation se stabilise relativement.
Les années 1930
Le climat se détériore nettement. L'antisémitisme politique se développe, particulièrement dans les milieux nationalistes. On voit apparaître :
boycotts économiques, notamment les commerces juifs ; violences contre des commerçants juifs ; discriminations universitaires ; pression pour limiter la présence juive dans certaines professions ; propagande antisémite ; puis, à la fin des années 1930, des mesures explicitement discriminatoires.
Le débat sur l'interdiction du travail le dimanche va polluer la vie commerciale et industrielle. Les activités juives cessent en général le shabbat, mais imposer la fermeture le dimanche signifie deux jours de fermeture consécutive et c'est problématique pour les juifs.
Le cas des universités est très révélateur. Dans les années 1920, on tente d'imposer un numerus clausus limitant la proportion d'étudiants juifs. Le projet n'est pas adopté sous sa forme initiale, mais des pratiques discriminatoires apparaissent ensuite. Dans les années 1930, les « bancs-ghettos » imposent aux étudiants juifs de s'asseoir séparément dans certaines universités.
A la fin des années 1930, la pression économique et sociale devient beaucoup plus forte.