Poland Country Guide
Use this guide with The Return and Joe’s Violin
Modern Jewish Identity in Europe: Interview with Will Recant
Will Recant, JDC’s Assistant Executive Vice President, talks about modern Jewish identity in Europe.
Jewish Community In Poland
Jews in Poland faced many hardships from the beginning of the 20th century. After WWI, Polish Jews faced famine, widespread disease, and extreme economic challenges, as well as numerous pogroms that threatened their safety. Still, Poland was home to more than three million Jews in 1939, when roughly 10% of the population was Jewish.
Poland’s Jewish population was largely annihilated by the Holocaust and further diminished by its anti-Semitic communist government. After the war, the Keilce Pogrom, a major outbreak of anti-Semitic violence, caused many Jews to leave Poland for Displaced Persons (DP) Camps hastily set up in Germany, Austria, and Italy.
Archival footage from the JDC Archives about the Kielce Pogrom in Poland.
Poland was site to the rise of Yiddish culture, Hasidic Judaism, and so many other trends that dominated the Ashkenazi Jewish landscape. With the collapse of communism, there has been a revival of Jewish life and a growing movement of Jews reconnecting to and embracing their heritage.
JDC and Poland
JDC has been providing direct aid to and supporting (and rebuilding) Jewish life in Poland for over 100 years, in the face of three major historic events: WWI, the Holocaust (including funding the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising), and the fall of Communism.
Images from JDC Archives’ photo gallery of Poland during WWI.
Immediately after WWII, JDC responded to community needs in Poland, allocating nearly $7 million 1946 alone. Funds helped finance humanitarian aid, such as hospitals and medical care, soup kitchens, and homes for the elderly. They also contributed to religious and cultural institutions, vocational training, and other programs.
Images from JDC Archives’ photo gallery of Poland during WWII.
In 2020, JDC provides humanitarian support — medical aid, school supplies, utility payments, scholarships for Jewish activities, and emergency funding — through its partnership with local Jewish welfare organizations and programs.
JDC has also been at the forefront of efforts to revive Jewish life since the fall of Communism. Some flagship programs include: two Jewish community centers in Warsaw and Krakow and the 7@nite Synagogue Festival, which showcases concerts, exhibits, lectures, and other events at historic Jewish places of worship.