My grandmother’s relatives left Poland in 1967 or 1968 and settled in Israel. I knew of the communist government’s purges of Jews. They were the casualties. That part of my family today live in Israel.
Today I live in DC. Our next mayor is a member of the Democratic Socialists. I expect history to repeat itself…again.
Melissa, so good to see you writing for Future of Jewish !! For those who know of your extremely well researched articles and excellent writing this is another work on a topic most know little or nothing about, but so relevant to Jews today. Yesher Koach! Gmar Chasima Tova to you and to your family.
This is my also story. When Israel won the six-day war in 1967 and the young Jews of Poland openly celebrated for the first time ever, the Communist Party was infuriated. Poland was ruled by Russia. Soviet tanks were found in the desert. Israel defeated not only Egypt but also Russia. The Polish party took 'this Jewish pride' and went on offensive, that in Poland, a 'Zionist conspiracy' was growing against the government. Mass media and the secret police used the words Jews and Zionists interchangeably. Civil rights demonstrations held by students and 'intellectuals' the government, turned into propaganda. An Antisemitic undertone followed, and Jews were singled out. The targeting of Jewish students, professors, and professionals followed. The result was that most Polish Jews lost their jobs and about 40,000 were forced out of Poland. Of the over 3 million Jews who lived in Poland before the war, about 100,000 Jews remained at the end of World War II. By 1958, 50,000 left, to Israel and other parts of the world, the rest like my parents chose to stay, and ten years later they were being forced to leave once again. By the time communism fell in Poland in 1989, only 5,000–10,000 Jews remained in the country. Most of them were the old or those who concealed their Jewish identity.
My grandmother’s relatives left Poland in 1967 or 1968 and settled in Israel. I knew of the communist government’s purges of Jews. They were the casualties. That part of my family today live in Israel.
Today I live in DC. Our next mayor is a member of the Democratic Socialists. I expect history to repeat itself…again.
Think Good & It Will Be Good ! The Rebbe
Expect history will be good for Jews and that the sins of the past will not be repeated!
Melissa, so good to see you writing for Future of Jewish !! For those who know of your extremely well researched articles and excellent writing this is another work on a topic most know little or nothing about, but so relevant to Jews today. Yesher Koach! Gmar Chasima Tova to you and to your family.
This is my also story. When Israel won the six-day war in 1967 and the young Jews of Poland openly celebrated for the first time ever, the Communist Party was infuriated. Poland was ruled by Russia. Soviet tanks were found in the desert. Israel defeated not only Egypt but also Russia. The Polish party took 'this Jewish pride' and went on offensive, that in Poland, a 'Zionist conspiracy' was growing against the government. Mass media and the secret police used the words Jews and Zionists interchangeably. Civil rights demonstrations held by students and 'intellectuals' the government, turned into propaganda. An Antisemitic undertone followed, and Jews were singled out. The targeting of Jewish students, professors, and professionals followed. The result was that most Polish Jews lost their jobs and about 40,000 were forced out of Poland. Of the over 3 million Jews who lived in Poland before the war, about 100,000 Jews remained at the end of World War II. By 1958, 50,000 left, to Israel and other parts of the world, the rest like my parents chose to stay, and ten years later they were being forced to leave once again. By the time communism fell in Poland in 1989, only 5,000–10,000 Jews remained in the country. Most of them were the old or those who concealed their Jewish identity.
As the aftermath of March 1968, Poland, my home country, lost its most precious treasure -- its Jews...
By the way, Adam Michnik and Henryk Szlajfer are Jewish. Adam Mickiewicz, our greatest poet, may have also been Jewish by maternal line