Polish-Jewish Relations

in the Kingdom of Poland During the First World War [ARTICLE]

ISBN: 1025-9996
Liczba stron: pages 269 – 282
Rok wydania: 2008
Wydania: 1 (BRILL - European Journal of Jewish Studies, Volume 2, Issue 2, pages 269 – 282)

Konrad Zieliński

The First World War, and particularly the occupation by the Central States, had a great impact upon the relations of the Jews with the Poles. During this period, Polish-Jewish relations deteriorated. The growing economic problems as well as the rise of the nationalistic mood accompanying the approaching independence supported this tendency. At the same time, the new social and political situation, the relative liberalism of the occupying forces, the free elections, the activities of self-government, and the emergence of the Polish autonomous institutions created new possibilities for Polish-Jewish cooperation. Yet more often they actually multiplied the areas of conflict. In the autumn of 1918 there had been pogroms in the Kingdom of Poland: Polish-Jewish relations apparently worsened in big cities as well as in the small towns and the countryside, which earlier had been relatively free from anti-Semitism.