Jews & Poland - 1968

As I was reading yesterday about the history of Jews in Poland and Polish anti-Semitism, I came across the story of the expulsion of some 15,000 Jews from Poland in 1968.  This is an event that I had not learned about in any of my studying on Polish Jewry.

Here is an article from 2008:

Jews Expelled From Poland In 1968 To Have Citizenship Restored

Read more: http://digitaljournal.com/article/251401#ixzz2Mg16KzOz

Polish president Lech Kaczynski has said that he wanted to atone for the 1968 event he deemed “shameful” where at least 15,000 Jews were kicked out by the regime installed by the Soviet Union.

Kaczynski had called the event in 1968 as shameful where at least 15,000 Jews were kicked out of Poland when it was under the rule from the Communists that were backed up by the Soviet Union.

The purge followed student protests throughout the nation of Poland after a patriotic play was closed by the government.

The play was made by Poland's national poet, Adam Mickiewicz. This was during a time where Poland was relatively a new comunist country. The government had made the decision to close down a patriotic play.

Students had protested at Warsaw University. Through violence, the police had broken up the protests. However, most of the student protesters and professors were Jewish.

Like the Nazis in Germany, the communist controlled government had made the Jewish community of Poland as the scapegoats. They were blamed and then stripped of their citizenship. The Communist Party of Poland used this as a means to blame Jews and kick them out of the country.

Jews in the thousands were expelled from the country of Poland. Most of the Jews in Poland had survived the Holocaust back in World War II. In short, the government had ejected half of the nation’s population from the country.

At the anniversary on Saturday, President Kaczynski has made the promise to restore the citizenship of the at least 15,000 Jews that were kicked out of the country. Kaczynski said that this was the start for atoning for what the communist controlled government had did back in 1968.

Michal Sobelman, one of those that were ejected had attended the ceremony.

“We left because we couldn’t be Poles and we couldn’t live here as Jews,” Sobelman had explained.

“The Poland of those times did not want us,” he added.

In terms of giving back citizenship to those kicked out of Poland, Kaczynski said: “I treat this as my personal contribution to reversing the consequences of those said, shameful events. Never more.”

Read more: http://digitaljournal.com/article/251401#ixzz2Mg16KzOz