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Demography
There are no sources that would make it
possible to determine how many Jews lived in the Polish
lands from the
Middle Ages on; these numbers can only be estimated. The
1764 poll tax,
however, makes a more precise estimate possible. Jews
arrived the Polish
lands in several waves (Jewish settlement in the Polish
lands). In the
early fourteenth century, there were fewer than a thousand
Jews in
Poland. In the second half of the fourteenth and in the
fifteenth
century, this number grew slightly. In a tax register from
around 1507,
fifty-four Communities were mentioned, though it omitted
about thirty
others. In the early fourteenth century, there were probably
about 90
Communities (some towns even had two, such as Lwow or in
Kazimierz,
outside of Krakow). They were not large, having from a few
dozen to one
hundred people; only the most significant would have had
several hundred
members. Historians estimate the number of Jews living in
the Polish
and Lithuanian lands in the early sixteenth century at about
10,000-24,000. In the late sixteenth century, the number of
Communities
throughout the Commonwealth grew to approximately 200, with
varying
populations. Documents from 1619 show that for example in
Pozna�, within
the city itself and in its suburbs, there were over 3,000
Jews. Many
Communities, particularly in the eastern areas of the
Commonwealth,
probably just had a few dozen members. According to
estimates, in the
early seventeenth century, there were from 80,000 to 100,000
Jews living
in the Commonwealth; by the end of that century, the number
could have
grown to 200,000.
This significant population growth during the course of
one century
was not only because there had been an influx of settlers
from other
European countries. Despite the high mortality rate,
disease, and
frequent Tatar attacks, the Jewish population's natural
growth rate was
higher than for the Commonwealth's population as a whole.
Many factors
contributed to this. Judaism put more emphasis on hygiene,
opposed
people remaining unmarried, and did not have religious
orders. It was
possible to marry from the age of thirteen, and Jews were
not required
to serve in the army. During the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries,
groups of Jews were moving from the western to the eastern
areas of the
Commonwealth. The percentage of Jews there grew especially
fast in the
small towns. They increasingly began to settle in the
countryside, where
they would lease pubs and mills.
Chmielnicki's uprising caused a sharp fall in the
population (even
as much as 20-25%), which involved numerous pogroms, which
spurred
Jewish emigration. The wars of the seventeenth and early
eighteenth
centuries led to the economic collapse of many cities, which
hampered
the further development of those Communities. On the other
hand, there
were also many privileges supporting Jewish settlement
issued especially
by the szlachta (nobility) during that period; these
contributed to the
growth of old Jewish Communities and the establishment of
new ones
between 1675 and 1750. From 1764-1766, a poll tax was levied
on every
Jew over one year of age. Previously, that tax had been
collected as one
lump sum. According to the surviving sources, the poll tax
was
collected from approximately 600,000 Jews. Taking into
account that some
avoided paying the tax and some were infants, we can
estimate that
there must have been from 750,000 to 900,000 Jews living in
the
Commonwealth at that time, which would have been
approximately 6% of the
total population. (H.W./CM)
As a result of the partitions, most of the Polish Jews,
approximately 500,000, found themselves under Russian rule.
From the
very start, the tsarist government implemented restrictions
on their
activities. They were removed from villages, and were
ordered to move to
towns and cities. Areas (rejony) where Jews could live were
established
(Pale of settlement).
In 1827, as many as 80.4% of the Jews in the Kingdom of
Poland lived
in the cities; in 1865, this figure rose to 90.5%. Their
demographic
growth was also high, as was their percentage of the
population as a
whole. During the years 1816-1913, the entire population of
the Kingdom
of Poland grew by 381%, while the Jewish population grew by
822%; as a
result, their percentage within the population as a whole
grew from 7.8%
do 14.9%. This was in part due to the influx of Jews into
the Kingdom
of Poland who had been expelled from other areas of the
Russian Empire,
and those in search of work. In addition, this population
had a
particularly high natural growth rate.
From 1870-1900, the Jewish population in eleven of the
Kingdom's
largest cities grew several-fold: for example, in Warsaw it
quintupled,
and in Lodz in grew by a factor of twenty. The largest
concentration of
Jews in the Kingdom-and in fact in the entire world-was in
Warsaw. The
high natural growth rate among Jews was mitigated by their
emigration to
Western Europe and America.
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Approximately 65,000 Polish Jews lived in the
Prussian Partition, most of whom were living in
Wielkopolska. In 1816,
they numbered 52,000, or 6.3% of Wielkopolska's total
population. For
the most part, these Jews lived in urban areas-the result of
legal
restrictions, as in Russia. In 1816, a whopping 96% of the
Jews in
Wielkopolska lived in towns and cities. In the late
nineteenth century,
Jews began moving to larger centers. In 1910, sixty percent
of the Jews
in Prussia lived in cities with populations over 100,000.
The largest
Community in the Prussian partition was in Poznan; there
were also large
centers in Oborniki, Szamotuly, Leszno, Ostrow, Kepno and
the Opole
province. In the late nineteenth century, a constant decline
in the
number of Jews living in the Prussian partition can be
observed, caused
by emigration to other Prussian cities and the United
States. During the
period 1824-1890, over 65,000 Jews emigrated from the Grand
Duchy of
Posen.
After 1772, according to government figures, there were
171,000
Polish Jews in the Austrian partition, while in 1795 there
were 215,000,
or 9% of the population. Their numbers continued to grow
steadily over
the coming years. In 1850, there were approximately 333,000
Jews in
Galicia; in 1869, there were 576,000 (10.6% of the total
population); by
1910, the number of Jews had already reached 871,000 (10.9%
of
Galicia's population). In the nineteenth century, Galician
Jews
comprised almost two-thirds of the Austro-Hungarian Empire's
total
Jewish population. As in the Russian and Prussian
partitions, they lived
primarily in the cities, sometimes becoming the dominant
group, as was
the case in Brody, for example, where in 1910 they comprised
71.2% of
the population; in Buczacz, this figure was 57.3%; in Rawa
Ruska, 57.2%;
and in Stanislawow, 51.3%. In the late nineteenth century,
Jewish
population growth slowed, which like in other partitions was
the result
of emigration. In 1881-1910, approximately 236,500 Jews
emigrated from
Galicia, primarily to North and South America. They also
moved to larger
Austrian cities, such as Vienna, which as a result had the
second
largest concentration of Jews in Europe, after Warsaw,
during the second
half of the nineteenth century.
The First World War brought large changes in the
distribution and
number of Jews living in Poland. The need to flee from the
war,
discrimination, pogroms in Russia and Ukraine meant enormous
shifts in
the Jewish population. The Russian commander-in-chief,
Prince Nikolai
Nikolaevich, accused the Jews of activities harmful to the
army and
ordered the Jews to be removed from all areas affected by
the war. The
evacuations intensified in central Poland and Galicia in
early 1915. The
largest group of displaced Jews was in Warsaw, where
approximately
80,000 Jews arrived from 140 cities, towns and villages. In
all, between
500,000 and 600,000 people were affected; the program was
suspended
only because of a German and Austrian counteroffensive.
In Galicia, fearing the approaching Russian army,
thousands of Jews
escaped to Hungary, Moravia, Bohemia and Vienna, where
approximately
77,000 Jewish refugees found refuge. Special camps were
created for
them, and they were provided with shelter and food. It is
estimated that
approximately half of Galicia's Jewish population left their
homes, or
about 400,000 people. In the last two years of the war, Jews
continued
to leave the Polish lands. For the most part, they moved to
German
cities outside the war-affected areas. During the first
years after
Poland regained its independence in 1918, the Jewish
population grew as
refugees returned, primarily from Russia (approximately
600,000).
Smaller groups returned from Austria and Czechoslovakia as
well. Figures
from the censuses and estimates for 1939 indicate a
systematic growth
in Poland's Jewish population. In 1921, there were 2,845,400
Jews in
Poland; in 1931 - 3,113,900, and in 1939 - 3,460,000.
Although the
numbers indicate a growth trend overall, the percentage of
Jews in
Poland's total population declined during the period in
question: from
10.5% in 1921, to 9.8% in 1931 and 9.7% on the eve of the
Second World
War. This was the result of a dwindling natural growth among
Jews (in
1921-25, it was 15.6%, in 1926-30 - 12.6%, 1931-35 - 12.3%
and in
1936-38 - 11.15%), as well as an increase in emigration,
particularly
among young people. The distribution of Poland's Jewish
population was
uneven, concentrated primarily in the cities and towns of
the eastern
regions and some of the central ones; this was the legacy of
tsarist
laws. As many as 76.4% of Jews lived in cities; only 23.6%
lived in the
countryside. The proportions for the Christian population
were reversed:
22.1% lived in urban areas, while 77.9% made their homes in
rural
areas. One in four Polish Jews lived in the five large
cities: Warsaw,
Lodz, Lwow, Krakow and Wilno, representing a total of 24.6%
of Poland's
total Jewish population. In those cities, Jews comprised
over 30% of the
population. The percentage of Jews in the eastern
voivodships and in
Warsaw was even greater: for example, in Polesie - 49.2%,
Wolyn
(Volhynia) - 49.1%, Lublin voivodship - 42.9%, Nowogrod
voivodship -
42.6%, Bialystok voivodship - 38.7%, Stanislawow voivodship
- 34.8%,
Warsaw and Tarnopol voivodships both of whose Jewish
populations were
34.7% of the total. In many towns and cities, the percentage
of Jews
represented more than half of the total population, such as
in Jedrzejow
- 73.1%, Pinsk - 63.4%, Wegrow - 60.45%, Kobryn - 55.6%,
Tomaszow
Lubelski - 54.0%, Slonim - 52.8%, Brody - 50.5%).
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In the western voivodships, the percentage of
Jews in terms of the total population was negligible; in the
Pozna� and
Pomorze voivodships they only represented 0.3% of the
population. In
October 1939, Polish territories were divided between the
occupying
forces. Some of the areas occupied by the Germans (these
included
Pomorze, northern Mazovia, the Suwalki region, Silesia and
Wielkopolska)
were annexed to the Reich along with their Jewish
populations
(approximately 600,000 people). The Generalgouvernement was
established
in the remaining territories, in which there were
approximately 1.5
million Jews.
From the very start, the German authorities took steps
to isolate
the Jewish population. Ghettos were created, where Jews were
then
concentrated (deportations). In 1941, the plan to
exterminate the Jews
was implemented. Approximately 1.2 million Polish Jews found
themselves
in the Soviet zone of occupation. In late 1939 and early
1940, when the
border between the different zones were not sealed, many
Jews (approx.
300,000) went to the Soviet zone. The authorities strove to
eliminate
Jews' cultural and religious identity in their respective
areas of
occupation. The many arrests and deportations primarily
affected Jews
who were active in the community and in politics, and people
who were
especially well-respected or recognized as "enemies of the
people", such
as merchants, industrialists, and the intelligentsia. From
February
1940 to March 1941, about one million Polish citizens were
deported, of
whom approximately 30% were Jews. Some were sent to labor
camps, others
as laborers to cities, kolkhozes and sovkhozes in the
northern districts
of the Soviet Union.
In June 1941, after the German-Soviet war broke out, the
Germans
began carrying out their plan for the Endl�sung. The
Wehrmacht and
Einsatzgruppen launched a terror campaign on an
unprecedented scale;
there were mass executions of Jews. About one million people
were killed
in the Kresy (prewar Poland's eastern territories). Those
who did
survive were put in ghettos, and then sent to death camps.
Some of
Polish Jews managed to escape, either on their own, or with
the help of
the Soviet authorities. Approximately 4,000 joined Anders'
army. The
Soviet authorities allowed tens of thousands to leave for
the Far East
(primarily to Shanghai), and one thousand were granted
permission to
emigrate to Palestine. Overall, the losses among the Jewish
population
caused by the Second World War were approximately 85-89%,
which means
just 10% of the Jewish population survived the war.
After liberation, as part of a program to help Holocaust
survivors,
Jews coming out of hiding were registered; the first
institution created
to do this, as well as other things, was the Office for Aid
to the
Jewish Population, part of the Polish Committee for National
Liberation
(PKWN). In October 1944, the list included 8,000 people. In
September
1944, PKWN and the Soviet government signed a treaty on the
repatriation
of Poles and Jews. From November 1944 to 1948, over 200,000
Jews
returned from the Soviet Union. To this number should be
added the
prisoners from the concentration camps that had been
liberated,
partisans leaving the forests, children saved by Polish
families and in
convents, as well people hiding on the "Aryan side" and on
"Aryan
papers". Their number is estimated to be 50,000. After a
short stay,
however, many of them left Poland. In June 1945, the Central
Committee
of Jews in Poland registered 74,000 Jews; by late 1946, this
number was
192,000. They were most numerous in the voivodships of Upper
and Lower
Silesia and Lodz. Repatriates were sent to the Western
Territories--at
first to Silesia, and then to Szczecin. The number of Jews
dwindled as a
result of emigration, which took place on a mass scale after
the Kielce
pogrom on July 4, 1946. By early 1947, approximately 140,000
people had
already left. In March 1947, just 93,000 Jews were
registered; two
years later, there were 95,000. In 1949-1950, there was
another wave of
emigration, this time to Israel, which reduced the number of
Jews in
Poland by half. During the 1950's, no citizens were allowed
to leave the
country, and it was only in late 1955 and early 1956 that
emigration
resumed. Approximately 30,000 people left. Jewish enclaves
disappeared
or were liquidated in Poland, and Jewish young people
assimilated.
Following the events of March 1968, the last large wave of
emigration
occurred, reducing the number of Jews living in Poland to
just a few
thousand. In 1998, this number was approximately
5,000-6,000.
(G.Z./CM)
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