Aleksander Sołtysik

Constitutive Features of the Myth of the Jewish Communist Community in Poland in the years 1944–1947 – an attempt at an analysis

The myth of the “Jewish communist communities” which functioned in the inter-war Poland, revived anew in the years 1944–1947. It was a phenomenon which was seemingly paradoxical as only a small percentage of the Jews who had formerly lived on Polish territories survived the war and the unprecedented tragedy of the Jewish population should have put a definite end to the anti-Semitic stereotypes. However, after the war, over a hundred thousand Jews returned to Poland, particularly from the territories of the USSR. In the new, post-war reality, it was only the Jewish minority that had officially gained recognition and obtained permission to set up its own political parties, together with young people’s extensions, its own schooling system, economic powerbase, cooperatives, farms and kibbutzes. Moreover, a disproportionately big number of Jews obtained positions in the power apparatus, and above all in the structures of repression of the communist state. The Jews made up as much as 27% of the total number of members of the counter-intelligence service at the Ministry of Public Security; 50% of the employees of the Press Control Department and 13% of the executives in the entire Ministry of Public Security were of Jewish descent. Despite the fact that by entering the communist power system, the Jews definitely severed their ties with the Jewish religion, tradition and the identity of their ancestors, yet according to the Polish nationalist parties and many individual Polish citizens, tainted by the nationalist atmosphere of I World War, they belonged to the stereotype of the “Jewish communist community”, understood here as an element of the plot of the international Jewry which used communism as an instrument of wielding control over the world. The above view, which was corroborated by the traditional anti-Semitism of a large section of the Polish society, as well as the ignorance and prejudice of the common people, and sometimes constituted the goal of conscious provocations of the authorities – was conducive to an aversion and hatred of the Jews as well as Jewish pogroms. Taking into consideration the amount of the clandestinely published press publications and leaflets, the myth of the Jewish “conspiracy” had found its way to a considerable numbers of Poles; yet it is impossible to define precisely the number of Polish citizens who really professed it.