HISTORY

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The history of the Jews in Poland is outlined in events below.

960 A Jewish merchant from Spain, Ibrahim Ibn Jaqub (Abraham ben Jakov), travels to Poland and writes the first description of the country. Jewish traders are very active in Central Europe. Mieszko I mints coins with Hebrew letters on them, though some attribute the coins to the times of Mieszko the Old.

1264 Polish Prince Boleslaus the Pious issued Statute of Kalisz - The General Charter of Jewish Liberties in Poland.

1343 Persecuted in Western Europe, the Jews are invited to Poland by King Casimir the Great.

After massive expulsions of Jews from the Western Europe (England, France, Germany, and Spain), they found a refuge in the lands of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. During the Jagiellon Era Poland became the home to Europe's largest Jewish population, as royal edicts warranting Jewish safety and religious freedom from the 13th century contrasted with bouts of persecution in Western Europe, especially following the Black Death of 1348-1349, blamed by some in the West on Jews themselves. Large parts of Poland suffered relatively little from the outbreak, while the Jewish immigration brought valuable manpower and skills to the rising state. The greatest increase in Jewish numbers occurred in the 18th century, when Jews came to make up 7% of the Polish population.

1500 Some of the Jews expelled from Spain, Portugal and many German cities move to Poland. By the mid sixteenth century, some eighty percent of the world’s Jews lived in Poland,[1] a figure that held steady for centuries.

1501 King Alexander of Poland readmits Jews to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

1525 The first Jew is promoted to knighthood by king Sigismund I of Poland, without being forced to leave Judaism.

1534 King Sigismund I of Poland abolishes the law that required Jews to wear special clothes.

1547 The first Hebrew Jewish printing house is founded in Lublin.

1567 The first yeshiva is founded in Poland.

1580-1764 First session of the Council of Four Lands (Va'ad Arba' Aratzot) in Lublin, Poland. 70 delegates from Jewish communities (kehillot) meet to discuss taxation and other issues important to the Jewish community.

1623 The first time a separate Jewish Diet (Va'ad) for the Grand Duchy of Lithuania is convened.

1632 King Ladislaus IV of Poland forbids Anti-Semitic books and printings.

1633 Jews of Poznań are granted a privilege of forbidding Christians to enter into their city quarter.

1648 Jewish population of Poland reaches 450,000 or 4,5% of the whole population. In Bohemia Jews number 40,000 and in Moravia 25,000. The worldwide Jewish population is estimated at 750,000.

1648-1655 The Ukrainian Cossack Bohdan Khmelnytsky leads Uprising resulting in massacres of Polish szlachta and Jewry that leaves ca. 65,000 Jews dead and similar number of szlachta also. The total decrease in the number of Jews is estimated at 100,000. Poland loses 40% of her population during The Deluge. [1]

1750 Jewish population of Poland reaches 750,000 or 8,0% of the whole population. The worldwide Jewish population is estimated at 1,200,000.

1759 The followers of Jacob Frank joined ranks of Polish szlachta of Jewish origin.

1772-1795 Partitions of Poland between Russia, Kingdom of Prussia and Austria. Old privileges of Jewish communities are denounced.

1831 Jewish militia units take part in the defence of Warsaw against Russians.

1860 - 1864 Jews are participating actively in the Polish national movement, which is followed by the January Uprising.

1862 Jews are given equal rights in the Russian partition. The privileges of some cities forbidding Jews to settle down in them are denounced.

1880 World Jewish population numbers around 7,7 million, 90% of which in Europe (mostly Eastern Europe), and around 3,5 million in the former Polish provinces.

1897 The first Russian census numbers 5,200,000 Jews plus 4,900,000 in the Pale. The Kingdom of Poland has 1,300,000 Jews or 14% of its population.

1921 Polish-Soviet peace treaty in Riga. Citizens of both sides are given rights to chose the country. Hundreds of thousands of Jews, especially shopkeepers or other professionals forbidden to work in the Soviet Union, move to Poland.

1924 2,989,000 Jews according to a census by religion in Poland (10,5% of total). Jewish youth constitutes 23% of students of high schools and 26% of university students.

1930 The world Jewry population numbers 15,000,000, of which the largest numbers live in the USA (4,000,000), Poland (3,500,000 = 11% of total), Soviet Union (2,700,000 = 2% of total), Romania (1,000,000 = 6% of total) and Palestine (175,000 = 17% of total).

1933 - 1939 German Jews attempt to emigrate, but almost all countries close borders for Jews, including United Kingdom and USA. Most Jews find a temporary asylum in Poland.

1939 - 1945 The Holocaust (Ha Shoah).

1946 The Kielce pogrom.

1948 Tens of thousands of Holocaust survivors begin leaving Poland for Israel and the United States.

1964 Jewish-Christian relations are given a new turn by the Catholic Church's Vatican II council.

1968 Communist regime-sponsored anti-Zionist campaign in Poland. Most of the remaining Jews of Poland emigrate.

Mid 1970s-present - Growing revival of Klezmer music (The folk music of European Jews). ([2], [3]) and Yiddish culture.

1989-present - Reestablishment of several Jewish communities in Poland, most notably in Warsaw, Kraków, Gdańsk and Wrocław
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On June 3, 2008 a ceremony of commemoration of the Great Rabbis of Poznan, particularly of Rabbi Akiva Eiger and his family, took place at the Jewish cemetery in Poznan. The event was organized by the Poznan branch of the Union of the Jewish Communities in Poland.

The Jewish cemetery in Poznan, where the ceremony took place, was being renovated from June 2007 on the initiative of the Poznan Jewish Community and Rabbi Eliakim Schlesinger of the Committee for the Preservation of Jewish Cemeteries in Europe. The restoration works included also the tomb of Rabbi Eiger, destroyed by Nazis during World War II.

Rabbi Akiva Eiger (1761-1837) was one of the greatest Talmudists of his times. He was the Rabbi of Miroslawiec from 1791 to 1815, and a founder of a famous Talmudic school in this town. He became the Head Rabbi of Poznan in 1815 and remained at this post until his death. He left behind many religious books.