History

History of Poland's Jews

While we know when Poland's Jewish population came to a virtual end, it is more difficult to determine exactly when it began. By all accounts, there was already a documented Jewish presence in Poland as far back as the late 11th century.

For the most part, it appears that Jews in Poland enjoyed relatively good relations and conditions with their neighbors and those that ruled. We know that Mieszko III, the prince of Poland between 1138 and 1202, employed Jews in his mint as engravers and technical supervisors. Until 1206, Jews worked on commission for other contemporary Polish princes, including Casimir the Just, Boleslaus the Tall and Ladislaus Spindleshanks.

In 1264, a successor to Mieszko III in Great Poland, Boleslaus the Pious, granted Jews a privilege known as the Kalisz statute. According to this statute, Jews were exempted from municipal and castellan jurisdiction and were subject only to princely courts. The same statute granted Jews free trade and the right to conduct money-lending operations which were, however, limited only to loans made on security of " immovable property".

The Kalisz statute, which described the Jews as "slaves of the treasury", ensured protection of persons, protection of property and freedom in conducting religious rites. They were also given the opportunity to organize their internal life on the principle of self-government of their individual communities.

Through the creation of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1569, Poland was one of the most tolerant countries in relation to how it treated its Jewish population. It became home to one of the world's largest and most vibrant Jewish communities. However, as the Commonwealth weakened, Poland’s traditional tolerance for the Jewish minority began to wane and the predicament of the Commonwealth’s Jewry worsened, declining to the level of other European countries by the end of the eighteenth century.

Following the Spanish Inquisition and exile in 1492, many Spanish Jews and their descendants found their way to Poland. Jewish life, for the most part, was rich and full in Poland.

But ultimately, all roads lead back to those defining moments in history when Poland's Jews were taken to Auschwitz and Treblinka and Maidanek and Chelmno and to the ghettoes and mass graves.


	History of Poland's Jews While we know when Poland's Jewish population came to a virtual end, it is more difficult to determine exactly when it began. By all accounts, there was already a documented Jewish presence in Poland as far back as the late 11th century. For the most part, it appears that Jews in Poland enjoyed relatively good relations and conditions with their neighbors and those that ruled. We know that Mieszko III, the prince of Poland between 1138 and 1202, employed Jews in his mint as engravers and technical supervisors. Until 1206, Jews worked on commission for other contemporary Polish princes, including Casimir the Just, Boleslaus the Tall and Ladislaus Spindleshanks. In 1264, a successor to Mieszko III in Great Poland, Boleslaus the Pious, granted Jews a privilege known as the Kalisz statute. According to this statute, Jews were exempted from municipal and castellan jurisdiction and were subject only to princely courts. The same statute granted Jews free trade and the right to conduct money-lending operations which were, however, limited only to loans made on security of " immovable property". The Kalisz statute, which described the Jews as "slaves of the treasury", ensured protection of persons, protection of property and freedom in conducting religious rites. They were also given the opportunity to organize their internal life on the principle of self-government of their individual communities. Through the creation of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1569, Poland was one of the most tolerant countries in relation to how it treated its Jewish population. It became home to one of the world's largest and most vibrant Jewish communities. However, as the Commonwealth weakened, Poland’s traditional tolerance for the Jewish minority began to wane and the predicament of the Commonwealth’s Jewry worsened, declining to the level of other European countries by the end of the eighteenth century. Following the Spanish Inquisition and exile in 1492, many Spanish Jews and their descendants found their way to Poland. Jewish life, for the most part, was rich and full in Poland. But ultimately, all roads lead back to those defining moments in history when Poland's Jews were taken to Auschwitz and Treblinka and Maidanek and Chelmno and to the ghettoes and mass graves.