JEWS, POLES, AND SLOVAKS: A STORY OF ENCOUNTERS, 1944-48 by Anna Cichopek-Gajraj ...

471 Pages·2008·2.76 MB·English

JEWS, POLES, AND SLOVAKS: A STORY OF ENCOUNTERS, 1944-48

by

Anna Cichopek-Gajraj

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
(History)
in The University of Michigan
2008

Doctoral Committee:

Professor Todd M. Endelman, Co-Chair
Associate Professor Brian A. Porter-Szűcs, Co-Chair
Professor Zvi Y. Gitelman
Professor Piotr J. Wróbel, University of Toronto
This dissertation is dedicated to my parents and Ari

ii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I am greatly appreciative of the help and encouragement I have received during
the last seven years at the University of Michigan. I have been fortunate to learn from the
best scholars in the field. Particular gratitude goes to my supervisors Todd M. Endelman
and Brian A. Porter-Szűcs without whom this dissertation could not have been written. I
am also thankful to my advisor Zvi Y. Gitelman who encouraged me to apply to the
University of Michigan graduate program in the first place and who supported me in my
scholarly endeavors ever since. I am also grateful to Piotr J. Wróbel from the University
of Toronto for his invaluable revisions and suggestions.
Special thanks go to the Department of History, the Frankel Center for Judaic
Studies, and the Center of Russian and East European Studies at the University of
Michigan. Without their financial support, I would not have been able to complete the
program. I also want to thank the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture in New York,
the Ronald and Eileen Weiser Foundation in Ann Arbor, the YIVO Institute for Jewish
Research in New York, and the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies at the United
States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC for their grants. Thanks also go
to Mr. and Mrs. Hubert Brandt, Sheldon Hamburger and Eva Jankelowitz, and Marshall
M. Weinberg for their financial support.
During my research in Poland, Slovakia, Israel, and the United States, I met many
gracious scholars, archivists, and librarians whose knowledge and kindness greatly aided
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my work. I want to thank the staff and scholars in the Center for Advanced Holocaust
Studies at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC, especially
Michlean Amir, Lisa Zaid, Lisa Yavnai, and Avinoam J. Patt. I am also grateful to James
Ward, Susanne Wiedemann, Gideon Frieder, and Malvina and Miriam Burstein whom I
met thanks to the fellowship in the Center. Special thanks must go to Misha Mitsel for his
informed guidance in the Archives of the American Joint Distribution Committee in New
York. I also wish to thank Paul Glasser, Leo Greenbaum, and the entire staff at the library
and the archives of the YIVO Institute in New York. In Slovakia, I am grateful to the
archivists in the State Archives in Nitra and Bratislava as well as to Daniela Ostatnikova,
Pavol Traubner, Pavol Mešťan, and Peter Salner. In Poland, I wish to thank Andrzej
Chwalba and Barbara Klich-Kluczewska from the Jagiellonian University in Kraków as
well as the archivists in the State Archives in Kraków, the Archives of Modern Records
and the Archives of the Jewish Historical Institute in Warszawa. In Israel, I owe special
thanks to Zehava Bar-Yosef, Yeshayahu A. Jelinek, Witold Medykowski from the Yad
Vashem, and the archivists in the Central Zionist Archives in Jerusalem and in the
Strochlitz Institute for Holocaust Studies at the University of Haifa.
A debt of gratitude goes to John J. Hartman who believed in me, invested in me,
and brought me to the United States. Without him, none of this would be possible. I also
want to thank Elizabeth Gajraj who, with her flawless English, tirelessly edited my
dissertation. And, finally, heartfelt gratitude and love go to my husband Ari who not only
edited the entire thesis but also lightly carried me through the stress, anxiety, and fatigue
of the process.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

DEDICATION ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii
CHAPTER
1. INTRODUCTION 1
2. OUTLINE OF HISTORICAL CONTEXT 14
3. RETURN TO “NO HOME” (1944-46) 77
4. RESTITUTION OF PROPERTY (1944-48) 137
5. VIOLENCE (1945-48) 215
6. CITIZENSHIP OF JEWS (1945-47) 279
7. RETURN TO “NORMALITY” (1946-48) 354
8. CONCLUSION 432
BIBLIOGRAPHY 440

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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION

The literature on the history of Polish Jews between 1944 and 1948 portrays this
period as a time of transition between the end of the war and emigration to the West or to
Israel. The narrative is that as Jewish survivors returned after liberation, the local
population “welcomed” them with antisemitism and violence. As a result, rebuilding
Jewish life in Poland was impossible and emigration was inevitable. The titles like Le
Massacre des Survivants: En Pologne après l'Holocauste, 1945-1947 (The Massacre of
Survivors) and Żydzi w Polsce po II Wojnie Światowej: Akcja Kalumni i Zabójstw (Jews
in Poland after the Second World War: Operation of Slanders and Murders) reflect this
understanding of postwar Polish Jewish history.1 Even the works that deal with issues

11 Marc Hillel, Le Massacre des Survivants: En Pologne après l'Holocauste, 1945-1947 (Paris: Plon, 1985);
Yisrael Gutman, "Żydzi w Polsce po II Wojnie Światowej: Akcja Kalumni i Zabójstw," Przegląd Prasy
Zagranicznej 2, no. 3-4 (1986). Other works on antisemitism in postwar Poland include Paul Lendvai,
Antisemitism without Jews (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1971); Krystyna Kersten, “Kielce – 4 Lipca
1946,” Tygodnik Solidarność 36, (December, 1981); Bożena Szaynok, Pogrom Żydów w Kielcach 4 Lipca
1946 (Warszawa: Bellona, 1992); Marian Mushkat, Philosemitic and Anti-Jewish Attitudes in Post-
Holocaust Poland (Levistone, 1992); Stanisław Meducki and Zenon Wrona, ed., Antyżydowskie
Wydarzenia Kieleckie 4 Lipca 1946: Dokumenty i Materiały (Kielce: Urząd Miasta Kielce, 1992); Tadeusz
Wiącek, Zabić Żyda: Kulisy i Tajemnice Pogromu Kieleckiego 1946 (Kraków: Oficyna Wydawnicza
Temax, 1992); Biuletyn Żydowskiego Instytutu Historycznego, “Anatomia Pogromu: Rzeszów 1919, Kielce
1946,” no. 4 (1996); Jan Tomasz Gross, Upiorna Dekada: Trzy Eseje o Stereotypach na Temat Żydów,
Polaków, Niemców i Komunistów, 1939-1948 (Kraków: Universitas, 1998); Anna Cichopek, Pogrom
Żydów w Krakowie 11 Sierpnia 1945 Roku (Warszawa: Żydowski Instytut Historyczny, 2000); Jerzy
Daniel, Żyd w Zielonym Kapeluszu: Rzecz o Kieleckim Pogromie 4 Lipca 1946 (Kielce: Scriptum, 1996);
Joshua D. Zimmerman, ed., Contested Memories: Poles and Jews during the Holocaust and Its Aftermath
(New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2003).
1
other than antisemitism, like Natalia Aleksiun’s study of Zionism in postwar Poland,
stress violence and emigration as the defining factors of postwar Jewish experience.2
The most notable example of this approach is the recently published Fear:
Antisemitism in Poland after Auschwitz. An Essay in Historical Interpretation, in which
Jan Tomasz Gross seeks to explain anti-Jewish violence in postwar Poland, in general,
and the Kielce pogrom, in particular.3 In his attempt to pinpoint the main cause, Gross
shifts attention from the power of stereotypes to the power of “everyday experience,” like
the fear of losing property. He shows that tangible individual interests were the central
incentive for anti-Jewish violence. Although seemingly reductionist in its emphasis on a
single cause, Gross’ argument is a powerful intervention into the field. Gross succeeded
to prompt a rethinking of postwar antisemitism and gave rise to another nationwide
debate in Poland. Yet, as original as his book is, it remains within the limits of the

2 Natalia Aleksiun, Dokąd Dalej? Ruch Syjonistyczny w Polsce 1944-1950 (Warszawa: Trio, 2002); Natalia
Aleksiun, "Jewish Responses to Antisemitism in Poland, 1944-1947," in Contested Memories: Poles and
Jews during the Holocaust and its Aftermath, ed. Joshua D. Zimmerman (New Brunswick: Rutgers
University Press, 2003); August Grabski, Działalność Komunistów Wśród Żydów w Polsce 1944-1949
(Warszawa: Trio, 2004). There are, however, a few studies which escape this easy clasification, including
Michał Grynberg, Żydowska Spółdzielczość Pracy w Polsce w Latach 1945-1949 (Warszawa: Państwowe
Wydawnictwo Naukowe, 1986); Irena Hurwic-Nowakowska, A Social Analysis of Postwar Polish Jewry
(Jerusalem: Zalman Shazar Center for Jewish History, 1986); Józef Adelson, "W Polsce Zwanej Ludową,"
in Najnowsze Dzieje Żydów w Polsce w Zarysie do 1950 Roku, ed. Jerzy Tomaszewski (Warszawa:
Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, 1993). Also microhistory allows an analysis beyond a mega-narrative of
postwar antisemitism. See Szyja Bronsztejn, Z Dziejów Ludności Żydowskiej na Dolnym Śląsku po II
Wojnie Światowej, Acta Universitatis Wratislaviensis, 1542 (Wrocław: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu
Wrocławskiego, 1993); Ewa Waszkiewicz, Kongregacja Wyznania Mojżeszowego na Dolnym Śląsku na
Tle Polityki Wyznaniowej Polskiej Rzeczypospolitej Ludowej 1945-1968, Acta Universitatis
Wratislaviensis, 2171 (Wrocław: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego, 1999); Bożena Szaynok,
Ludność Żydowska na Dolnym Śląsku, 1945-1950, Acta Universitatis Wratislaviensis, 2257 (Wrocław:
Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego, 2000).; Janusz Mieczkowski, Żydzi, Niemcy i Ukraińcy na
Pomorzu Zachodnim w Latach 1945-1956: Liczba, Położenie i Działalność Polityczna, Rozprawy i Studia,
175 (Szczecin: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Szczecińskiego, 1994); Janusz Mieczkowski, "Życie
Religijne Mniejszości Narodowych na Pomorzu Zachodnim w Latach 1945-1956," Przegląd
Zachodniopomorski 10, no. 1 (1995); Julian Kwiek, Żydzi, Łemkowie, Słowacy w Województwie
Krakowskim w Latach 1945-1949/50 (Kraków: Księgarnia Akademicka, 1998).
3 Jan Tomasz Gross, Fear: Antisemitism in Poland after Auschwitz: An Essay in Historical Interpretation
(New York: Random House, 2006).
2
described historiography. It perpetuates the understanding of postwar Jewish history in
Poland as the story of antisemitism and emigration.
This dissertation is a response to such an understanding of the postwar history of
Jews in Poland. While I appreciate the significance of violence, I believe that focusing on
antisemitism alone not only diverts scholarly attention from other aspects of Jewish
experience, but also distorts the overall picture of postwar conditions. Thus I suggest
shifting the focus. In the following chapters, I seek to show this historical moment not as
a short, harsh prelude to an inevitable emigration, but rather as a time of complex Jewish
encounters with state and society in which the exodus was not presupposed. By “complex
encounters” I mean the broad range of experiences generated through the interactions
between Jews and non-Jews on the street and in the public office. These experiences
included travelling back home, struggling to repossess property and retaining citizenship,
rebuilding normal lives by marrying, having children, finding a job, engaging in political
and cultural life, and finally, yes, experiencing violence – an enormously important but
not necessarily defining mark of ethnic interaction.
I suggest thinking of these experiences as a part of the postwar social, political,
and cultural environment, and not just as a manifestation of inevitable, timeless Jewish
victimization. Such an approach will firmly ground the analysis in a historical context,
and thus illuminate the nuances and subtleties of ethnic coexistence. Consequently, I will
present a narrative in which Jews are full-fledged historical actors and active participants
in interethnic relations and not merely inert objects of somebody else’s will. Thus, I will
not solely describe non-Jewish attitudes toward Jews. Rather, I will seek to explain the
attitudes and behavior of Jews and non-Jews toward each other in a historically specific
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setting. Similarly, writing on anti-Jewish violence should not preclude presenting Jews as
active participants in the events, rather than just the helpless objects of aggression.
To illuminate these issues, I will investigate everyday lives in 1944-48. It is not
my intention, however, to present a story of private life. Instead, I wish to set the stage
for an analysis of the borderline between the private and the public, and possibly there, in
the middle ground, pin down the most illuminating moments of ethnic relations, the
analysis of which will allow me to describe and explain a multifaceted profile of ethnic
interaction in its broadest social and cultural dimensions. I define the “middle ground” as
a space where politics and private lives intersect. To better understand the concept of
“borderline,” I will pay particular attention to the interaction between contemporary state
policies and the attitudes and behavior of different population groups toward each other.
This dual relationship – to society and state – is central to my thesis. For example,
I discuss the return as a process of adjustment not only to persistent antisemitism on the
street, but above all to the radically transformed social and political conditions. The
governments formulated new requirements for entry into their national communities by
changing the criteria for citizenship. I explore how this change affected the position of
Jewish returnees in the two states and societies. I also examine the everyday communal
and personal experiences of returning Jews in the context of their relationships with non-
Jews and strive to present these relationships as complex and fluid encounters affected by
the state-revised categories of inclusion and exclusion. In short, by focusing on this dual
relationship, I investigate the limits of belonging to society and state in Eastern Europe
after the Holocaust.
4
To offer this new perspective and to gain a more comprehensive understanding of
postwar Jewish history in Poland, I turned to comparative study with Slovakia. While
aware of the difficulty that a comparative work presents, I nevertheless strongly believe
in its analytical value. I agree with Todd M. Endelman and Maud Mandel, who argue that

[C]omparing Jewish communities across time and/or space or comparing Jews
with non-Jews in the same place or in different national context “transcends the
borders of Jewish historiography” both by revealing what is “individual, specific,
and unique as much as what is more general.”4

Comparing two specific national contexts highlights the more general trends in the
dynamics of interaction among ethnic groups after crisis. The comparative analysis
provides a framework for understanding what mechanisms generate similar phenomena
in divergent political, social, and cultural milieus.
For comparison, I chose Poland and Slovakia, because, in the preliminary stages
of my research, I noticed that pogroms and other antisemitic incidents – attacks in streets
and on trains, among others – occurred mainly in these two countries, more than
elsewhere in Eastern Europe. Yet, both countries had significantly different historical
backgrounds, ethnic compositions, and political frameworks. I found this context to be a
particularly interesting comparative vantage point. On the one hand, the distinctiveness of
the Polish and Slovak settings and, on the other hand, the similarity in the dynamics of
local events, the patterns of behavior, and the frequency of the incidents, provided a
perfect laboratory for analysis of the general and the particular in ethnic interaction.

4 Maud Mandel, In the Aftermath of Genocide: Armenians and Jews in Twentieth-Century France
(Durham: Duke University Press, 2003), 6. Mandel based her argument on Todd M. Endelman’s analysis in
Todd M. Endelman, "Introduction: Comparing Jewish Societies," in Comparing Jewish Societies, ed. Todd
M. Endelman (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1997).
5