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In 1454 anti-Jewish riots flared up in [[Bohemia]]'s ethnically-German [[Wrocław]] and other [[Silesia]]n cities, inspired by a Franciscan friar, [[John of Capistrano]], who accused Jews of profaning the Christian religion. As a result, Jews were banished from Lower Silesia. Zbigniew Olesnicki then invited John to conduct a similar campaign in Kraków and several other cities, to lesser effect. In 1495, Jews were ordered out of the center of Kraków and allowed to settle in the "Jewish town" of Kazimierz. In the same year, Alexander Jagiellon, following the [[Expulsion of Jews from Spain|1492 example of Spanish rulers]], banished the Jews from Lithuania. For several years they took shelter in Poland until they were allowed back to the [[Grand Duchy of Lithuania]] in 1503.<ref name=polishjews.org/>
The decline in the status of the Jews was briefly checked by [[Casimir IV the Jagiellonian]] (1447–1492), but soon the nobility forced him to issue the [[Statute of Nieszawa]].<ref>
===Center of the Jewish world: 1505–72===
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The newly independent [[Second Polish Republic]] had a large and vibrant Jewish minority. By the time [[World War II]] began, Poland had the largest concentration of Jews in Europe although many Polish Jews had a separate culture and ethnic identity from Catholic Poles. Some authors have stated that only about 10% of Polish Jews during the interwar period could be considered "assimilated" while more than 80% could be readily recognized as Jews.<ref>Nechama Tec, "When Light Pierced the Darkness: Christian Rescue of Jews in Nazi-Occupied Poland", Oxford University Press US, 1987, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Kg0L3L0kImUC&pg=PA12 p. 12]</ref>
According to the [[Polish census of 1931|1931 National Census]] there were 3,130,581 Polish Jews measured by the declaration of their religion. Estimating the population increase and the emigration from Poland between 1931 and 1939, there were probably 3,474,000 Jews in Poland as of 1 September 1939 (approximately 10% of the total population) primarily centered in large and smaller cities: 77% lived in cities and 23% in the villages. They made up about 50%, and in some cases even 70% of the population of smaller towns, especially in Eastern Poland.<ref>
The major industries in which Polish Jews were employed were manufacturing and commerce. In many areas of the country, the majority of retail businesses were owned by Jews, who were sometimes among the wealthiest members of their communities.<ref>[[Peter D. Stachura]], ''Poland, 1918–1945: An Interpretive and Documentary History of the Second Republic'', Routledge (2004), p. 84.</ref>
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[[File:Powazki wrzesien 4.JPG|thumb|upright|Graves of Jewish-Polish soldiers who died in [[Invasion of Poland|1939 September Campaign]]]]
The number of Jews in Poland on 1 September 1939, amounted to about 3,474,000 people.<ref name="ess.uwe.ac.uk"/> One hundred thirty thousand soldiers of Jewish descent, including [[Baruch Steinberg|Boruch Steinberg]], Chief Rabbi of the Polish Military, served in the [[Polish army order of battle in 1939|Polish Army]] at the outbreak of the Second World War,<ref>Shmuel Krakowski, [http://www1.yadvashem.org/odot_pdf/Microsoft%20Word%20-%206215.pdf The Fate of Jewish Prisoners of War in the September 1939 Campaign]</ref> thus being among the first to launch armed resistance against Nazi Germany.<ref>[http://www.zchor.org/meirtchak/meirtchak.htm B. Meirtchak: "Jewish Military Casualties In The Polish Armies In Wwii"]. Zchor.org. Retrieved on 2010-08-22.</ref> During the [[Invasion of Poland|September Campaign]] some 20,000 Jewish civilians and 32,216 Jewish soldiers were killed,<ref>[https://books.google.co.il/books?id=D7bobfzrcCoC&pg=PA115&dq=32,216+jews+poland&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjO-7rHwoDcAhWQZ1AKHTbpC3AQ6AEIOjAE#v=onepage&q=32%2C216%20jews%20poland&f=false Judenrat: The Jewish Councils in Eastern Europe Under Nazi Occupation], [[Isaiah Trunk]], page 115</ref> while 61,000 were taken [[POW|prisoner]] by the Germans;<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.ca/books?id=hC0-dk7vpM8C&printsec=frontcover&dq=number+of+polish+collaborators&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiC7OHfmovaAhVV0WMKHbLvCv0Q6AEIKTAA#v=onepage&q=the%20corresponding%20Jewish%20losses&f=false|title=Poland's Holocaust: Ethnic Strife, Collaboration with Occupying Forces and Genocide in the Second Republic, 1918-1947|last=Piotrowski|first=Tadeusz|date=1998|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9780786403714|language=en}}</ref> the majority did not survive. The soldiers and non-commissioned officers who were released ultimately found themselves in the [[Ghettos in Nazi-occupied Europe|Nazi ghettos]] and labor camps and suffered the same fate as other Jewish civilians in the ensuing [[Holocaust in Poland]].
In 1939, Jews constituted 30% of Warsaw's population.<ref name="boni"/> With the coming of the war, Jewish and Polish citizens of Warsaw jointly [[Siege of Warsaw (1939)|defended the city]], putting their differences aside.<ref name=boni/> Polish Jews later served in almost all Polish formations during the entire World War II, many were killed or wounded and very many were decorated for their combat skills and exceptional service. Jews fought with the [[Polish Armed Forces in the West]], in the Soviet formed [[Polish People's Army]] as well as in several underground organizations and as part of [[Polish resistance movement in World War II|Polish partisan units]] or [[Jewish Military Union|Jewish partisan formations]].<ref>
===Territories annexed by USSR (1939–41)===
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The [[Soviet invasion of Poland|Soviet annexation]] was accompanied by the widespread arrests of government officials, police, military personnel, border guards, teachers, priests, judges etc., followed by the [[NKVD prisoner massacres]] and massive deportation of 320,000 Polish nationals to the Soviet interior and the [[List of Gulag camps|Gulag slave labor camps]] where, as a result of the inhuman conditions, about half of them died before the end of war.<ref name="AFP">{{cite web |title=Polish nation's WWII death toll |publisher=AFP / Expatica |date=30 July 2009 |accessdate=12 December 2015 |url=http://www.expatica.com/de/news/german-news/Polish-experts-lower-nation_s-WWII-death-toll--_55843.html}}</ref>
Jewish refugees under the Soviet occupation had little knowledge about what was going on under the Germans since the Soviet media did not report on the goings on in territories occupied by their Nazi ally.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Nz_RAwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=soviet+nazi+allies&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj_3b6qwdTbAhUCY6wKHQhjCDIQ6AEIJzAA#v=onepage&q=soviet+nazi+allies&f=false|title=The Devils' Alliance: Hitler's Pact with Stalin, 1939-1941|first=Roger|last=Moorhouse|date=14 October 2014|publisher=Basic Books|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>
<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.ca/books?id=FzkrDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA79&dq=soviet+nazi+alliance&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjKxrXw_dTbAhVBOH0KHSZECpUQ6AEIWDAI#v=snippet&q=The+Nazi-Soviet+alliance+delaying+danger&f=false|title=Soviet Foreign Policy 1917-1991: Classic and Contemporary Issues|first=Jr|last=Fleron|date=5 July 2017|publisher=Routledge|via=Google Books}}</ref>
Many people from Western Poland registered for repatriation back to the German zone, including wealthier Jews, as well as some political and social activists from the [[interwar period]]. Instead, they were labelled "class enemies" by the [[NKVD]] and deported to Siberia with the others. Jews caught at border crossings, or engaged in trade and other "illegal" activities were also arrested and deported. Several thousand, mostly captured Polish soldiers, were executed; some of them Jewish.<ref name="geni/Lutsk"/>
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Since the Nazi terror reigned throughout the Aryan districts, the chances of remaining successfully hidden depended on a fluent knowledge of the language and on having close ties with the community. Many Poles were not willing to hide Jews who might have escaped the ghettos or who might have been in hiding due to fear for their own lives and that of their families.
While the German policy towards Jews was ruthless and criminal, their policy towards Christian Poles who helped Jews was very much the same. The Germans would often murder non-Jewish Poles for small misdemeanors. Execution for help rendered to Jews, even the most basic kinds, was automatic. In any apartment block or area where Jews were found to be harboured, everybody in the house would be immediately shot by the Germans. For this thousands of non-Jewish Poles were executed.<ref>
[[File:Death penalty for Jews outside ghetto and for Poles helping Jews anyway 1941.jpg|thumb|upright|Announcement of death penalty for Jews captured outside the Ghetto and for Poles helping Jews, November 1941]]
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Food rations for the Poles were small (669 kcal per day in 1941) compared to other occupied nations throughout Europe and [[black market]] prices of necessary goods were high, factors which made it difficult to hide people and almost impossible to hide entire families, especially in the cities. Despite these draconian measures imposed by the Nazis, Poland has the highest number of [[Righteous Among The Nations]] awards at the [[Yad Vashem]] Museum (6,339).<ref>[http://www1.yadvashem.org/righteous_new/statistics.html The Righteous Among the Nations]. .yadvashem.org. Retrieved on 2010-08-22.</ref>
The [[Polish Government in Exile]] was the first (in November 1942) to reveal the existence of Nazi-run concentration camps and the systematic extermination of the Jews by the Nazis, through its courier [[Jan Karski]]<ref>[http://www1.yadvashem.org/odot_pdf/Microsoft%20Word%20-%206425.pdf Karski, Jan] on [[Yad Vashem]]'s website</ref> and through the activities of [[Witold Pilecki]], a member of ''Armia Krajowa'' who was the only person to volunteer for imprisonment in Auschwitz and who organized a resistance movement inside the camp itself.<ref>
====Warsaw Ghetto and its uprising====
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[[File:Gesiowka.jpg|thumb|right|Freed prisoners of [[Gęsiówka]] and the ''[[Szare Szeregi]]'' fighters after the liberation of the camp in August 1944]]
Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, was followed by other [[Ghetto uprising]]s in many smaller towns and cities across German occupied Poland. Many Jews were found alive in the ruins of the former Warsaw Ghetto during the 1944 general [[Warsaw Uprising]] when the Poles themselves rose up against the Germans. Some of the survivors of 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, still held in camps at or near Warsaw, were freed during 1944 Warsaw Uprising, led by the Polish [[resistance movement]] [[Armia Krajowa]], and immediately joined Polish fighters. Only a few of them survived. The Polish commander of one Jewish unit, [[Waclaw Micuta]], described them as some of the best fighters, always at the front line. It is estimated that over 2,000 Polish Jews, some as well known as [[Marek Edelman]] or [[Icchak Cukierman]], and several dozen Greek,<ref>
[[File:Ghetto Uprising Warsaw2.jpg|thumb|The [[Warsaw Ghetto Uprising]] of 1943 saw the destruction of what remained of the Ghetto]]
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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"/>
Successive restitution laws on “abandoned property” of March 2, 1945, May 6, 1945 and March 8, 1946, which remained in effect until the end of 1948, allowed property owners who had been dispossessed during the war or, if deceased, their relatives, whether residing in Poland or outside the country, to reclaim privately owned property that was not subject to [[nationalization]] by way of a simplified, expedited and far less expensive procedure than the regular civil procedures.<ref>
According to the American Jewish Year Book, “The return of Jewish property, if claimed by the owner or his descendant, and if not subject to state control, proceeded more or less smoothly.”<ref name="American Jewish Year Book">American Jewish Year Book, 5708 (1947–1948), vol. 49 (Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society of America, 1947), p. 390.</ref> Numerous Jewish organizations and law firms outside of Poland submitted applications on behalf of non-residents. For example, Keren Kajemet Le-Israel Ltd. submitted 1,821 restitution claims by July 4, 1948.<ref>{{cite boo|author1=Jan Grabowski
===
====Anti-Jewish violence and discrimination====
{{main|Anti-Jewish violence in Poland, 1944–1946}}
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" /> ▼
The anti-Jewish violence in Poland refers to a series of violent incidents in [[Poland]] that immediately followed the [[end of World War II in Europe]]. It occurred amid a period of violence and anarchy across the country, caused by lawlessness and [[Anti-communist resistance in Poland (1944–46)|anti-communist resistance]] against the [[History of Poland (1945–1989)#Consolidation of communist power|Soviet-backed communist takeover of Poland]].<ref name="Cich2014">{{cite book |pages=26, 47, 114, 143 |title=Beyond Violence: Jewish Survivors in Poland and Slovakia, 1944-48 |first=Anna |last=Cichopek-Gajraj |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dDezAwAAQBAJ&q=civil+war |work=Introduction |publisher=Cambridge University Press |date=2014 |ISBN=1107036666 |quote=The most intense battles took place in the east but the fighting was not limited to this region; all over the country, partisans clashed with communist security forces. Repressions increased in the winter of 1945/46 and spring of 1946, when entire villages were burnt. The fighting lasted with varying intensity until 1948 and ended with thousands killed, wounded, arrested, or transported to the Soviet Union.<sup>[p. 26]</sup>}}</ref>
▲In addition, some returning Jews were met with antisemitic bias in Polish employment and education administrations. Post-war labor certificates contained markings distinguishing Jews from non-Jews. The Jewish community in Szczecin reported a lengthy report of complaints regarding job discrimination. Although Jewish schools were created in the few towns containing a relatively large Jewish population, many Jewish children were enrolled in Polish state schools. Some state schools, as in the town of Otwock, forbade Jewish children to enroll. In the state schools that did allow Jewish children, there were numerous accounts of beatings and persecution targeting these children.<ref name=":0" />
<ref name="Prazm2004">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ReF8DAAAQBAJ&q=national+uprising |page=11 |year=2004 |title=Civil War in Poland 1942-1948 |last=Prazmowska |first=Anita J. |publisher=Springer |author-link=Anita J. Prazmowska |ISBN=0230504884}}</ref> The exact number of Jewish victims is a subject of debate with 327 documented cases,<ref name="Engel"/> and range, estimated by different writers, from 400<ref name="Chodakiewicz-212">Marek Jan Chodakiewicz, ''After the Holocaust: Polish-Jewish Conflict in the Wake of World War II'' (Boulder, CO: East European Monographs, distributed by Columbia University Press, 2003), 212-213. {{ISBN|0-88033-511-4}}.</ref> to 2,000.<ref name=Michlic/> Jews constituted between 2% and 3% of the total number of victims of postwar violence in the country,<ref name="Michlic"/><ref name="The World Reacts to the Holocaust"/><ref name="TP-2"/> including the Polish Jews who managed to escape the [[Holocaust]] on [[territories of Poland annexed by the Soviet Union]], and returned after the [[Territorial changes of Poland immediately after World War II|border changes]] imposed by the Allies at the [[Yalta Conference]].<ref name="BP285">{{cite book |title=Warlords: An Extraordinary Re-Creation of World War II |first1=Simon |last1=Berthon |first2=Joanna |last2=Potts |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q45EBArmpRYC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA285#v=onepage&q=Livadia+Palace,+Poland&f=false |page=285 |publisher=Da Capo Press |year=2007 |ISBN=0306816504}}</ref><ref name="MB-HS"/> The incidents ranged from individual attacks to [[pogrom]]s.<ref name="Engel1" />
▲Several causes led to the anti-Jewish violence of 1944-1947. One cause was traditional
===Emigration to Palestine and Israel===▼
▲====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 persecution they faced in postwar Poland,<ref name="N-A" /> and because they did not want to live where their family members had been murdered, and instead have arranged to live with relatives or friends in different western democracies. Others wanted to go to [[Mandatory Palestine|British Mandate of Palestine]] soon to be the new state of [[Israel]], especially after General [[Marian Spychalski]] signed a decree allowing Jews to leave Poland without visas or exit permits.<ref name="Kochavi-175"/> In 1946–1947 Poland was the only [[Eastern Bloc]] country to allow free Jewish [[aliyah]] to Israel,<ref name="D-H" /> without visas or exit permits.<ref name="Kochavi-175" /><ref name="Marrus" /> Britain demanded Poland to halt the exodus, but their pressure was largely unsuccessful.<ref name="Kochavi-xi" />
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A second wave of Jewish emigration (50,000) took place during the liberalization of the Communist regime between 1957 and 1959. After 1967's [[Six-Day War]], in which the Soviet Union supported the Arab side, the Polish communist party adopted an anti-Jewish course of action which in the years 1968–1969 provoked the last mass migration of Jews from Poland.<ref name="jcpa.org"/>
The Bund took part in the post-war [[Polish legislative election, 1947|elections of 1947]] 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.{{fact}} Under pressure from Soviet-installed communist authorities, the Bund's leaders 'voluntarily' disbanded the party in 1948–1949 against the opposition of many activists.{{fact}} Stalinist Poland was basically governed by the Soviet [[NKVD]] which was against the renewal of Jewish religious and cultural life.{{fact}} In the years 1948–49, all remaining Jewish schools were nationalized by the communists and Yiddish was replaced with Polish as a language of teaching.{{fact}}
====Rebuilding of Jewish communities====
For those Polish Jews who remained, the rebuilding of Jewish life in Poland was carried out between October 1944 and 1950 by the Central Committee of Polish Jews (''Centralny Komitet Żydów Polskich'', CKŻP) which provided legal, educational, social care, cultural, and propaganda services. A countrywide Jewish Religious Community, led by [[Dawid Kahane]], who served as [[chief rabbi]] of the [[Polish Armed Forces#After 1945|Polish Armed Forces]], functioned between 1945 and 1948 until it was absorbed by the CKŻP. Eleven independent political Jewish parties, of which eight were legal, existed until their dissolution during 1949–50. Hospitals and schools were opened in Poland by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and ORT to provide service to Jewish communities.<ref name=Weiner/> Some Jewish cultural institutions were established including the [[Yiddish theater|Yiddish State Theater]] founded in 1950 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'' ("People's Voice"). Following liberalization after [[Joseph Stalin]]'s death, in this 1958–59 period, 50,000 Jews emigrated to Israel.<ref name="relations"/>
Some Polish Communists of Jewish descent actively participated in the establishment of the communist regime in the [[People's Republic of Poland]] between 1944 and 1956. Hand-picked by Joseph Stalin, prominent Jews held posts in the [[Politburo of the Polish United Workers' Party]] including [[Jakub Berman]], head of state security apparatus ''[[Urząd Bezpieczeństwa]]'' (UB),{{r|hoover}} and [[Hilary Minc]] responsible for establishing a Communist-style economy. Together with hardliner [[Bolesław Bierut]], Berman and Minc formed a triumvirate of the Stalinist leaders in postwar Poland.<ref name="hoover">{{cite journal |title=Jakub Berman’s Papers Received at the Hoover Institution Archives |url=http://www.hoover.org/library-and-archives/acquisitions/28981 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101130192558/http://www.hoover.org/library-and-archives/acquisitions/28981 |dead-url=yes |archive-date=30 November 2010 |date=11 August 2008 |publisher=The Board of Trustees of [[Leland Stanford Junior University]], [[Stanford University|Stanford]] |author=[[Hoover Institution]] |journal=Library and Archives Recent Acquisitions}}</ref> After 1956, during the process of [[destalinisation]] in the [[Polish People's Republic|People's Republic]] under [[Władysław Gomułka]], some Jewish officials from ''Urząd Bezpieczeństwa'' including [[Roman Romkowski]], [[Jacek Różański]], and [[Anatol Fejgin]], were prosecuted and sentenced to prison terms for "power abuses" including the torture of Polish anti-fascists including [[Witold Pilecki]] among others. Yet another Jewish official, [[Józef Światło]], after escaping to the West in 1953, exposed through [[Radio Free Europe]] the interrogation methods used the UB which led to its restructuring in 1954. [[Solomon Morel]] a member of the [[Ministry of Public Security of Poland]] and commandant of the Stalinist era [[Zgoda labour camp]], fled Poland for Israel in 1992 to escape prosecution. [[Helena Wolińska-Brus]], a former Stalinist prosecutor who emigrated to England in the late 1960s, fought being extradited to Poland on charges related to the execution of a Second World War resistance hero [[Emil Fieldorf]]. Wolińska-Brus died in London in 2008.<ref name=krakowpost>{{cite news |first=Nick |last=Hodge |url=http://www.krakowpost.com/article/1218 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110713174914/http://www.krakowpost.com/article/1218 |dead-url=yes |archive-date=13 July 2011 |title=Helena Wolinska-Brus: 1919–2008. Controversial communist prosecutor dies in the UK |work=Kraków Post |date=31 December 2008}}</ref>
====March 1968 events and their aftermath====
In 1967, following the [[Six-Day War]] between [[Israel]] and the [[Arab]] states, Poland's Communist government, following the Soviet lead, broke off diplomatic relations with Israel and launched an antisemitic campaign under the guise of "anti-Zionism". However, the campaign did not resonate well with the Polish public, as most Poles saw similarities between Israel's fight for survival and Poland's past struggles for independence. Many Poles also felt pride in the success of the Israeli military, which was dominated by Polish Jews. The slogan "our Jews beat the Soviet Arabs" (Nasi Żydzi pobili sowieckich Arabów) became popular in Poland.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.wprost.pl/tygodnik/13189/Wojna-zastepcza.html|title=Wojna zastępcza|first=Łukasz|last=Kamiński|date=9 June 2002|website=WPROST.pl}}</ref><ref>[http://prawy.pl/r2_index.php?dz=felietony&id=37395&subdz=] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090602202347/http://prawy.pl/r2_index.php?dz=felietony&id=37395&subdz=|date=2 June 2009}}</ref>
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In March 1968 student-led demonstrations in Warsaw (''see [[Polish 1968 political crisis]]'') gave Gomułka's government an excuse to try and channel public anti-government sentiment into another avenue. Thus his security chief, [[Mieczysław Moczar]], used the situation as a pretext to launch an antisemitic press campaign (although the expression "Zionist" was officially used). The state-sponsored "anti-Zionist" campaign resulted in the removal of Jews from the [[Polish United Worker's Party]] and from teaching positions in schools and universities. In 1967–1971 under economic, political and secret police pressure, over 14,000 Polish Jews chose to leave Poland and relinquish their Polish citizenship.<ref name="Steinman2013">{{cite book|author=Louise Steinman|title=The Crooked Mirror: A Memoir of Polish-Jewish Reconciliation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qhbqt0mk-KYC&pg=PT134|date=5 November 2013|publisher=Beacon Press|isbn=978-0-8070-5056-9|page=134}}</ref> Officially, it was said that they chose to go to Israel. However, only about 4,000 actually went there; most settled throughout [[Europe]] and in the [[United States]]. The leaders of the Communist party tried to stifle the ongoing protests and unrest by scapegoating the Jews. At the same time there was an ongoing power struggle within the party itself and the antisemitic campaign was used by one faction against another. The so-called "Partisan" faction blamed the Jews who had held office during the Stalinist period for the excesses that had occurred, but the end result was that most of the remaining Polish Jews, regardless of their background or political affiliation, were targeted by the communist authorities.<ref>AP Online, "Some Jewish exiles to have Polish citizenship restored this week", 03-10-1998, [https://web.archive.org/web/20110812044919/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-19804342.html]</ref>
There were several outcomes of the ''[[March 1968 events]]''. The campaign damaged Poland's reputation abroad, particularly in the U.S. Many Polish intellectuals, however, were disgusted at the promotion of official antisemitism and opposed the campaign. Some of the people who emigrated to the West at this time founded organizations which encouraged anti-Communist opposition inside Poland.{{fact}}
First attempts to improve Polish-Israeli relations began in the mid-1970s. Poland was the first of the [[Eastern Bloc]] countries to restore diplomatic relations with Israel after these have been broken off right after the Six-Day's War.<ref name="relations"/> In 1986 [[Israel–Poland relations|partial diplomatic relations with Israel]] were restored,<ref name=relations/> and full relations were restored in 1990 as soon as communism fell.
During the late 1970s some Jewish activists were engaged in the anti-Communist opposition groups. Most prominent among them, [[Adam Michnik]] (founder of ''[[Gazeta Wyborcza]]'') was one of the founders of the [[Workers' Defence Committee]] (KOR). By the time of the fall of Communism in Poland in 1989, only 5,000–10,000 Jews remained in the country, many of them preferring to conceal their Jewish origin.{{fact}}
==Since 1989==
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There have been a number of Holocaust remembrance activities in Poland in recent years. The [[United States Department of State]] documents that:
<blockquote>In September 2000, dignitaries from Poland, Israel, the United States, and other countries (including [[Prince Hassan of Jordan]]) gathered in the city of Oświęcim (Auschwitz) to commemorate the opening of the refurbished [[Chevra Lomdei Mishnayot synagogue]] and the [[Auschwitz Jewish Center]]. The synagogue, the sole synagogue in Oświęcim to survive World War II and an adjacent Jewish cultural and educational center, provide visitors a place to pray and to learn about the active pre–World War II Jewish community that existed in Oświęcim. The synagogue was the first communal property in the country to be returned to the Jewish community under the 1997 law allowing for restitution of Jewish communal property.<ref name="Poland, International Religious Freedom Report"/></blockquote>
The [[March of the Living]] is an annual event
[[File:Jewish Culture Festival in Krakow.jpg|thumb|left|"Shalom in Szeroka Street", the final concert of the 15th Jewish Festival]]
An annual [[Jewish Culture Festival in Kraków|festival of Jewish culture]], which is one of the biggest festivals of Jewish culture in the world, takes place in Kraków.<ref>[http://www.jewishfestival.pl/index.php?pl=strony&nrstr=4&lang=e Jewish Culture Festival in Krakow.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090722213508/http://www.jewishfestival.pl/index.php?pl=strony&nrstr=4&lang=e |date=2009-07-22 }} Homepage. Retrieved 19 July 2012. {{pl icon}}</ref>
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Poland is currently easing the way for Jews who left Poland during the Communist organized massive expulsion of 1968 to re-obtain their citizenship.<ref>[http://www.americangathering.com/2008/03/05/3178/jta-poland-reaches-out-to-expelled-jews/ "Poland reaches out to expelled Jews"] at www.americangathering.com</ref> Some 15,000 Polish Jews were deprived of their citizenship in the [[1968 Polish political crisis]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.jta.org/2008/02/28/news-opinion/poland-reaches-out-to-expelled-jews |title=Poland reaches out to expelled Jews |date=28 February 2008 |publisher=[[Jewish Telegraphic Agency]] |accessdate=4 July 2018 }}</ref> On 17 June 2009 the future [[Museum of the History of Polish Jews]] in Warsaw launched a bilingual Polish-English website called "The Virtual Shtetl",<ref>[http://www.sztetl.org.pl/?cid=15&lang=en_GB "The Virtual Shtetl", information about Jewish life in Poland] at www.sztetl.org.pl</ref> providing information about Jewish life in Poland.
==Numbers of Jews in Poland since 1920==
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<ref name="USHMM-archive1">[https://web.archive.org/web/20071215094214/http://www.ushmm.org/outreach/surviv.htm USHMM: The Survivors.] [[Internet Archive]]</ref>
<ref name="JVL"/>
<ref name="YV-Grodno">[http://www1.yadvashem.org/about_holocaust/lost_worlds/grodno/grodno_the_german_occupation.html Lost Jewish World, Yad Vashem]</ref>
Line 610 ⟶ 614:
<ref name="lukas">Richard Lukas ''Forgotten Holocaust'', Hippocrene Books, 2nd revised ed., 2001, {{ISBN|0-7818-0901-0}}.</ref>
<ref name="opoczno-1">
<ref name="partners-1">[http://www.friends-partners.org/partners/beyond-the-pale/index.html Beyond the Pale] Online exposition</ref>
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