Poland
(Europe)

After 123 years of foreign occupation, Poland regained its independence in 1918. By the 1930s, the country was still building its institutions, economy, and identity.

Roughly 35% of the population was made up of ethnic minorities. Jews totaled about 10% of the population.

Antisemitism was rampant. Though there was no specific antisemitic legislation in the country, Jews suffered boycotts, school closings, attacks, and organized pogroms.

Second Republic

Poland regained independence in 1918 after 123 years of partitioning by Russia, Prussia, and Austria. The country had an area of about 150,000 square miles (389,000 square km) and more than 27 million inhabitants. That made Poland the sixth largest country in Europe at that time. Devastated by the years under occupation, the state had to be reconstructed from parts of three separate countries. That meant wading through different political, economic, and judicial systems and traditions. More than 60% of the Polish population was dependent on agriculture. There was not enough money to industrialize. Still, Poland was able to make important economic developments in the mid-1920s. The Great Depression of the 1930s had a crippling effect on the economy but the country began to recover by the mid-1930s.

Minorities

Poland was a multi-ethnic society in the interwar period. According to estimates, Ukrainians made up 16% of the total population. Jews made up about another 10%, Belarusians approximately 6%, and Germans about 3%. However, the state was based in a single-nation ideology. The Ukrainians never fully accepted Polish rule. Some Ukrainian extremists considered Nazis their allies. The extremists engaged in terrorism, and the Poles responded to that with brutal counter-attacks they labeled "pacifications."

Antisemitism

The Jewish population was concentrated in certain areas, but also certain professions. Substantial numbers of Jews practiced law and medicine. Others were becoming leading industrialists, and employing large numbers of Jewish and non-Jewish workers. Antisemitism in the 1930’s was flourishing even though Poland never introduced explicit anti-Jewish legislation. There were boycotts of Jewish shops and companies, and militias physically attacked representatives of the Jewish community. Between 1935 and 1937, a wave of antisemitic pogroms passed through Poland.

At the end of October 1938, Germany began to deport thousands of Polish Jews to Poland. But Polish border guards refused to let the deportees enter the country. They were forced to camp on the border for several months in terrible conditions. The excuse the Germans used to deport the Polish Jews was that Polish authorities had decided to withdraw citizenship from all Poles living abroad. This decision by Poland mostly affected Jews.

Open antisemitism was often seen at universities. This was especially true in the Lviv area, and elsewhere where the nationalist right was in control. Students at universities were often more antisemitic than their professors. Some of them created government-sanctioned “ghetto benches.” This meant that Jewish students could only sit on specific benches in the back of the classrooms, and only then if there was enough room. Otherwise, they had to stand. The faculty at some universities protested against this practice, but it became common nonetheless.

Many Jewish learning institutions were being closed. The high school division of the Sofia Gurevitch school, where Beba Epstein studied, was one of them. Beba related how uncertain the future was at the time in her testimonials.