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=== Situation of Holocaust survivors and their property ===
{{main|Anti-Jewish violence in Poland, 1944–46|Nationalization in Poland}}
The character of Poland had changed however. In spite of the major [[Polish contribution to World War II]], Poland was placed under direct Soviet control due to British and US dependence on the Soviet military commitment to the defeat of [[Hitler]] and [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]'s unwillingness to confront Stalin over his future plans for Poland. Soviet style Communism was established and the borders of Poland were moved west. The Soviet Union annexed the [[Kresy|eastern regions]], which had many ethnic minorities including Jewish [[shtetl]] communities; on the other hand Poland received formerly German areas east of the rivers [[Oder]] and [[Neisse]]. Millions of people were forced to relocate due to the Soviet-enforced [[territorial changes of Poland immediately after World War II]]..<ref name=":32">{{Cite book|url=http://www.igipz.pan.pl/en/zpz/Political_migrations.pdf|title=Political Migrations in Poland 1939-1948|last=Eberhardt|first=Piotr|publisher=Didactica|year=2006|isbn=9781536110357|location=Warsaw|pages=|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150623213741/http://www.igipz.pan.pl/en/zpz/Political_migrations.pdf|archivedate=2015-06-23|deadurl=yes|df=}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite book|url=http://rcin.org.pl/Content/15652/WA51_13607_r2011-nr12_Monografie.pdf|title=Political Migrations On Polish Territories (1939-1950)|last=Eberhardt|first=Piotr|publisher=Polish Academy of Sciences|year=2011|isbn=978-83-61590-46-0|location=Warsaw|pages=}}</ref>
Jewish survivors returning to their homes in Poland found it practically impossible to reconstruct their prewar lives. Due to the border shifts, some Polish Jews found that their homes [[Territories of Poland annexed by the Soviet Union|were now in the Soviet Union]]; in other cases the returning survivors were [[German Jews]] whose homes [[Recovered Territories|were now under Polish jurisdiction]]. Jewish communities and Jewish life as it had existed was gone. Jews who somehow survived the Holocaust often discovered that their homes had been looted or destroyed.<ref name="USHMM-archive1" /> The Polish government enacted legislation on "abandoned property", placing severe limitations on inheritance not present in pre-war inheritance law which allowed inheritance by second-degree relatives, limiting restitution to the original owners or direct heirs. The unprecedented rate of extermination of Polish Jews in conjunction with the fact that only Jewish property was officially confiscated by the Nazis suggests "abandoned property" was equivalent to "Jewish property".{{Fact}} Polish officials did not conceal this, the formulators of the law argued that it was necessary to prevent wealth concentration in the hands of "unproductive and parasite factors".<ref>[https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1462169X.2016.1267853?scroll=top&needAccess=true&journalCode=rjch20 Weizman, Yechiel. "Unsettled possession: the question of ownership of Jewish sites in Poland after the Holocaust from a local perspective." Jewish Culture and History 18.1 (2017): 34-53.]</ref> The initial 1945 decrees were superseded by a 1946 law,<ref>[https://books.google.co.il/books?id=dDezAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA72&dq=%22%22property+which+is+abandoned+or+left+behind%22+poland&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjDgdjpoNfgAhVK2KQKHS0TAPQQ6AEIKTAA#v=onepage&q=%22%22property%20which%20is%20abandoned%20or%20left%20behind%22%20poland&f=false Beyond Violence: Jewish Survivors in Poland and Slovakia, 1944–48], Cambridge University Press, Anna Cichopek-Gajraj, page 72</ref> with a claims deadline of 31 December 1947 (later extended to 31 December 1948) after which property devolved to the Polish state.<ref name="Beker">[https://books.google.co.il/books?id=j6B_DAAAQBAJ&pg=PA101&dq=%2231+december+1947%22+%2231+december+1948%22+%22dp+camps%22+murdered+%22place+the+number+at%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjKgtzCyvzgAhXNwosKHetJAGEQ6AEIKTAA#v=onepage&q=%2231%20december%201947%22%20%2231%20december%201948%22%20%22dp%20camps%22%20murdered%20%22place%20the%20number%20at%22&f=false The Plunder of Jewish Property during the Holocaust], Palgrave, page 101</ref> Even if Jews regained de-jure control, when it was occupied by Poles additional lengthy proceedings were required.<ref>[https://books.google.co.il/books?id=foN8DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA325&dq=%22rarely+as+simple+as+going+to+court+and+having+a+judge+issue+an+eviction+notice%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiLiImI5tfgAhVis4sKHSnVCswQ6AEIJzAA#v=onepage&q=%22rarely%20as%20simple%20as%20going%20to%20court%20and%20having%20a%20judge%20issue%20an%20eviction%20notice%22&f=false Searching for Justice After the Holocaust: Fulfilling the Terezin Declaration and Immovable Property Restitution], Oxford University Press, page 325</ref> The majority of Jewish claimants could not afford the restitution process without financial help due to the filing costs, legal fees, and inheritance tax.<ref>[https://books.google.co.il/books?id=dDezAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA82&dq=Poland+Jewish+property+800+z%C5%82oty&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjjgJDNpdfgAhWIqaQKHQZeBcQQ6AEIKTAA#v=onepage&q=Poland%20Jewish%20property%20800%20z%C5%82oty&f=false false Beyond Violence: Jewish Survivors in Poland and Slovakia, 1944–48], Cambridge University Press, Anna Cichopek-Gajraj, page 82</ref>
Amidst the [[Anti-communist resistance in Poland (1944–46)|raging civil war in postwar Poland]],<ref name="TP-2" /> anti-Jewish riots broke out in several cities. Hundreds of Jews were murdered in anti-communist violence.<ref name="Engel1" /> The best-known case is the [[Kielce pogrom]] of 4 July 1946,<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20080121220530/http://www1.yadvashem.org/Odot/prog/image_into.asp?id=3048&lang=EN&type_id=&addr=%2FIMAGE_TYPE%2F3048.JPG]</ref> in which thirty-seven Jews and two Poles were murdered.
Where no pogroms occurred, returning Jews still met with threats, violence, and murder from their Polish neighbors, occasionally in a deliberate and organized manner. People of the community frequently had knowledge of these murders and turned a blind eye or held no sympathy for the victims. Jewish communities responded to this violence by reporting the violence to the Ministry of Public Administration, but were granted little assistance.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Fear : Anti-Semitism in Poland After Auschwitz|first=Jan|last=Gross|date=2007|publisher=Random House Publishing Group|year=|isbn=9780307430960|location=|pages=60-68|oclc=841327982}}</ref> Jewish heirs were often murdered (as many as 1500) when attempting to reclaim property.{{fact}}
Several causes led to the anti-Jewish violence of 1944-1947. One cause was traditional religious Jew-hatred; the [[Kraków pogrom|pogrom in Cracow]] (11 August 1945) and in Kielce followed accusations of ritual murder. Another cause was the gentile Polish hostility to the Communist takeover. Even though very few Jews lived in postwar Poland, many Poles believed they dominated the Communist authorities, a belief expressed in the term ''[[Żydokomuna]]'' (Judeo-Communist), a popular anti-Jewish stereotype. Yet another reason for Polish violence towards Jews stemmed from the fear that survivors would recover their property.<ref name="N-A" /> Over 3 million Jewish Poles had perished during the Holocaust, leading the local population to occupy formerly Jewish property and space. New inhabitants at times were displeased to see returning Jewish survivors and refused to return property back to the former owners. The possibility of obtaining property was a motive for local Poles to carry out violence, and even murder, against returning Jews.<ref name=":0" />
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===Emigration to Palestine and Israel===
{{main|Aliyah Bet}}
For a variety of reasons, vast majority of returning Jewish survivors left Poland soon after the war ended.<ref name="jcpa.org"/> Many left for the West because they did not want to live under a Communist regime. Some left because of the
Between 1945 and 1948, 100,000–120,000 Jews left Poland. Their departure was largely organized by the [[Zionism|Zionist]] activists including [[Adolf Berman]] and [[Icchak Cukierman]], under the umbrella of a semi-clandestine ''[[Berihah]]'' ("Flight") organization.<ref name="YV-archive3" /> ''Berihah'' was also responsible for the organized [[Aliyah]] emigration of Jews from [[Romania]], [[Hungary]], [[Czechoslovakia]], [[Yugoslavia]], and Poland, totaling 250,000 survivors. In 1947, a military training camp for young Jewish volunteers to [[Hagana]] was established in [[Bolków]], Poland. The camp trained 7,000 soldiers who then traveled to Palestine to fight for Israel. The boot-camp existed until the end of 1948.<ref>[https://sztetl.org.pl/en/towns/b/1744-bolkow/101-organizations-and-associations/80234-haganas-training-camp-bolkow Hagana's training camp in Bolkow.] Sztetl.org.pl.</ref>
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