Poland

1918 – German part: strong Polish nationalism – anti- semitism – Austrian part: Poles had strong autonomy – Russian part: part industiralized, Galicia backwards Multinationalism: 21 mio – 1/3 non Poles Democracy: Sejm – Jozef Pilsudski – authoritarian regime 1935 – influence of Nazism

Demography Jews: 1/3 of urban population Lower middle class, proletariat

The Jewish Question in the New Poland Zionists negotiate to obtain Jewish national autonomy Treaty on Minorities – deep ressentment among Poles No Jewish autonomy despite the Treaty pogroms tolerated by the army Limited civil rights for Jews of Congress Poland untill 1931

Zionists „The main thing is to take Jews to Palestine, not to spend valuable time and money on election campaigns.“ Palestine : new Jewish workers society

4th aliyah Over 30 thousand Jews – for the 1st time more Polish Jews to Palestine than to America 1926 – economy crisis in Palestine

Violent anti-semitism in the 1930´s 1934 – German-Polish non agression pact  increase of Nazi influence 1935 – antidemocratic constitution 1936 – economic discrimination – Government supports Jewish emigration Madagascar

Violent anti-semitism in the 1930´s – Interdiction of the Jewish ritual slaughter – „ghetto benches“, student murders 1937 „Aryan paragraph“ – Jews can´t make part of doctors or journalists associations Economic boycott Regular pogroms Greater poverty

WWII – September started by a German attack of Poland – Soviet army immedietaly occupied the former Russian part, Germany took the Western Poland including Lodz and Upper Silesia; since 1941 Germany took the Soviet part – Polish intellectual elite murdered – Mass murders of Polish people in the countryside – Polish victims – Second largest Jewish community in Europe – Polish Jewish victims (3 million Polish Jews before WWII) – 6 extermination camps – 3,5 milion Jews murdered here Auschwitz since 1941 Belzec, Sobibor, Auschwitz-Birkenau, Treblinka, Majdanek, Lublin since 1942

Warszaw Ghetto Uprising Largest ghetto in Poland since 1940 – to concentrate Jews before the deportation to the extermination camps; labour 1943 Largest act of the Jewish resistance First mass uprising in Nazi occupied Europe Inhabitants that were not murdered at the place sent to Treblinka Jews !!! Holy Week, 1990´s film adaptation of Jerzy Andrzejewski´s book by Andrzej Wajda Roman Polanski, The Pianist, 2002 – – M M – Wladyslaw Szpilman