Central Committee of Jews in Poland
The Central Committee of Jews in Poland (CKZP)-
The political representation of Jews in Poland, created in
October 1944
as the Jews' representation to state authorities, and as
coordinator of
aid and social services for Holocaust survivors. The Central
Committee
of Jews in Poland existed from 1944 to 1950.
After Lublin was liberated, an independent Office for
Assistance to
the Jewish Population was formed under the aegis of the
Polish National
Liberation Committee. The Office was directed by a Bund
activist, a
physician holding the rank of major, S. Herszenhorn. Before
the war,
Herszenhorn had been a Lublin city council member and
well-known
community leader. He organized care for the Jews who began
reappearing
after the war, emerging from their hiding places in the
liberated
territories, or those who had snuck across the front. Among
those under
his care was a group of children who had survived the
Majdanek death
camp. At the Office's initiative, the Jewish Committee was
founded in
July 1944; its aim was to improve aid and organize self-help
programs.
Along with the emergence and legalization of parties like
the Bund,
Poale Syon and Ichud, the Lublin Committee was transformed
into a
Temporary Central Committee of Polish Jews (October 1944),
and a month
later, into the Central Committee of Jews in Poland. Its
composition was
defined according to party lines: six seats for Jewish
communists (the
Jewish Faction of the Polish Workers' Party, PPR), four
seats went to
the Bund, four went to Ichud, three for Poale Syon-Left and
the same
number for Poale Syon-Right, and one seat went to Ha-shomer
Ha-tsair. E.
Sommerstein of Ichud became its chairman; after he left for
the United
States in 1946, he was replaced by A. Berman of Poaley
Syon-Left.
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In 1949, Berman was replaced by H. Smolar, a
member of the Jewish Faction of the PPR. These same party
proportions
were applied to regional structures--in 1946, there were
nine voivodship
committees and seven district ones. The activities of the
Committee
were subsidized by Joint, and encompassed all spheres of
re-emergent
Jewish life. The following specialized Departments were
established:
Documentary (registration of survivors, searches for
families,
re-issuance of personal documents); Legal (legal assistance
for
restitution of property, return of children who had been in
hiding,
documentation of cases of collaboration, collection of
testimonies for
war crimes trials, as well as legal assistance for those who
were in
trouble with the law and assistance for prisoners); Social
Services
(distribution of food and clothing packages, monetary
assistance and
stipends); Health (cooperation with the Society for the
Healthcare for
the Jewish Population); Child Care (primarily organizing
orphanages,
youth dormitories and sanatoria, as well as summer camps and
sports
clubs); Schools (setting up Jewish schools, curriculum and
textbook
development); Culture and Propaganda (assisting artistic
associations,
theaters, and amateur groups; the preparation of Yiddish
radio programs;
publishing and filmmaking, and the publishing of a daily
informational
bulletin by the Jewish Press Agency and other publications);
"Productivization" (in conjunction with ORT, creating and
equipping
production cooperatives and private crafts workshops,
assistance in
finding a job); "Landsmannschaft" (coordinating aid from
foreign Jewish
organizations having ties to specific areas in Poland, and
from private
individuals); and Emigration (assistance in legal emigration
to the West
and to Palestine).
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In 1945-1946, the Repatriation Department was
also active, which ran the program to resettle Jews from the
Soviet
Union. Moreover, a Central Jewish Historical Commission was
created,
which strove to rescue what remained of Jewish culture and
to document
the Holocaust; in 1947, it was renamed the Jewish Historical
Institute.
The Society for Culture and Art, for artists and others
active in the
arts, was closely tied to the Committee. In addition, there
was also the
Union of Jewish Writers and Journalists and the Jewish
Society for the
Promotion of the Fine Arts. In 1948, the Commission for Aid
to the Poles
was founded. It assisted individuals who had helped Jews
during the
German occupation and had been cared for earlier by the
Legal and Social
Services departments. At the same time, and often in
opposition to
Committee, there were religious parties, such as the
Mizrachi
organization, which was legal; and the illegal Agudas Isroel
party,
whose members included a large number of Zionist
revisionists. They
organized religious life, but were engaged in social
services and
religious education.
In 1948-1949, Jewish communists dominated the
Committee's
structures. With the slogan "broadening the social base",
they changed
the principles according to which members were chosen for
the presidium,
eliminating political party influences. They attacked
Zionists,
accusing them of nationalism. Against the will of many its
members, the
Bund was taken over by the Polish United Workers' Party. In
1949, the
authorities dissolved Zionist parties and nationalized or
liquidated
Jewish schools, sanatoria, healthcare facilities, theaters
and
cooperatives. Religious congregations were subordinated to
the
Committee, and party influences were eliminated; their
activities were
limited to the religious sphere. Joint activities, the
Society for
Health Services and ORP were accused of spying and expelled
from the
country. The process of liquidating Jewish organizational
independence
concluded on October 29, 1950, when CKZP united with the
Jewish Cultural
Society, creating the Social and Cultural Society of Jews in
Poland. In
place of the Jewish religious congregations, the Religious
Union of the
Jewish Faith (Zwiazek Religijny Wyznania Mojzeszowego) was
founded,
which had no independence, and played no role until 1956.
(A.C./CM)
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