A Social Analysis Of Postwar Polish Jewry

Results of a survey of Jews living in Warsaw, Łódź, and Dzierżoniów conducted in 1947-50 as part of a doctoral dissertation, not published until now. Of the 20,000 questionnaires distributed only 817 were returned, but they represent a wide range of the Polish Jewish population. Ch. 8 (pp. 125-143) deals with the effects of antisemitism on assimilated Jews. Many respondents felt that antisemitism was endemic to Poland, and expressed a desire to emigrate to Palestine. Some hoped to assimilate under a socialist regime while others felt there was no future for Jews there. They accused the Poles of a share in responsibility for the Holocaust and of widespread approval of its results. During the war and after, some Jews tried to conceal their origins but conversion was rare.