Polish Jews In 1945-46 By Robert Cohn
Eastern Europe, a region buffeted, battered and beaten by wartime chaos, was host in the post-war period to large groups of displaced Jews and holocaust survivors in need of assistance with many aiming to repatriate or migrate. Multiple historians seek to analyze the predicaments of these individuals, attempting to discern whether conditions improved for Jews in the latter half of the 1940s - examining resettlement and migration patterns enabling a stronger understanding of the diurnal complications of Jewish life in the postwar period. Robert Cohn examines the brief window in time between 1945-46 where some Polish Jews had not yet been defeated by despair and aimed to return to their previous homeland - through this narrative he illuminates
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how the physical decimation of their previous homes, deftly eviscerated Jewish spirit, pushing those who dreamt of repatriating out of Poland in the postwar period. Furthermore, Cohn’s utilization of three Polish-American observers who were unimpeded by diurnal duties of reconstruction,, enables a more thorough depiction of the complexity of the suffering of Polish Jews in the latter half of the 1940s (pg. 320). Departing from Cohn’s focus on the physical and societal impediments to Jewish repatriation, historian Jeffrey Veidlinger illuminates the migration choices available to Jews in European Displaced Persons camps. Utilizing transcripts of interviews of Holocaust survivors in 1946, conducted by psychologist David Boder, Veidlinger argues that due to international Jewish philanthropic aid organizations, many displaced persons were not entirely thrust into chaos. Moreover in direct contention with Robert Cohn, he argues that Jewish hopes were not slowly eroded by post-war realities - instead he stresses the migration opportunities Jews did have, with many “establishing long-term strategies for their postwar lives by 1946.” (pg. 241) Contending with Veidlinger’s theory of self-determination of Jewish individuals, historian Simo Muir argues that the various interests of larger communities and organizations were the central drivers of resettlement and migration patterns in the immediate post-war. Moreover, through an thorough analysis of the Finnish case study, Muir successfully illuminates the role of various institutions and communities in discouraging, facilitating, impeding and encouraging the immigration of Jewish youth - serving to showcase Jews at the mercy of the decisions of larger institutions. These interpretations of the post-war Jewish experience not only serve to illuminate the differing opinions on the most salient characteristics regarding post-war Jewish migration but elucidate the daily realities of Jewish survivors in the post-war period,. Finally, these differing analyses of Jewish experience in the latter half of the 1940s, are contextualized by Yitzhak Berman’s statistical analysis of Jewish migration to Israel in the post-war period. Robert Cohn explains how the gradual realization of the physical decimation of their previous homes in tandem with vehement anti-semitism, deftly eviscerated Jewish spirit in postwar Poland, pushing those who dreamt of repatriating, out of Poland in the postwar period.
Utilizing the primary accounts of three educated Polish-American outsiders unimpeded by needs to reconstruct their homes like a majority of Poles - Cohn depicts the grim reality for Jews attempting repatriation. In the post-war period, underground terrorist groups such as the Polish Nationalist Armed Forces(NSZ), an organization originally constructed to oppose Soviet influence, brutally murdered Jews believing them to be the “agents of the detested communists” (pg. 319). Although Cohn’s utilization of the NSZ is without a source, Polish-American sociologist Tadeusz Piotrowski further corroborated this assertion, stating that attacks against Soviets by the NSZ, quickly became more “focused on individual Jews who were placed in highly visible positions of authority” suggesting an additive and vehement hatred for Jews specifically, not merely Soviets, in positions of power in Poland (pg. 97). Cohn explains how these physical attacks committed by radical Polish nationalists were the fringe in violent action, but their unwavering anti-semitism was indicative of the wider Polish “rejection” of Jewish repatriation to Poland, visible in their vocalization of diurnal threats towards Jews returning to their pre-war property (pg. 318-19). The Polish population at large widely engaged in daily “hissing” that there are too many Jews in government (pg. 327). This meant that repatriating Polish Jews not only sensed broader antisemitism sonically, but the anti-Jewish sentiment increasingly materialized in violent attacks and massacres in Poland, and those who successfully returned to their homes, were met with aggression by their non-Jewish neighbors. Jacob Pat, the executive secretary of the Jewish Labor
Committee, whose primary account Cohn widely draws from, described Jewish homes in post-war Warsaw in ruin, as “a heaving sea of wreckage, its waves frozen in death, there is nothing left to recognize” (pg. 323). The sheer destruction of Jewish homes and ghettos, meant repatriation was difficult even had one removed the antisemitic components lying in the Polish underbelly - this is largely reflected in the attitudes of Polish Jews observed by journalist S.L. Schneiderman. Through Schneiderman’s account, Cohn argues that the hopes of reconstruction and repatriation by some Polish Jews, were quickly eclipsed by a vast majority of Jews who were applying for visas, trying to leave the ruins of Poland, a landscape where destruction was so total that “only the sky remained unchanged,” where Jewish individuals simply longed for visas, making “chairs and benches [by day]…but sit[ting] on suitcases” by night (pg. 326). Through the detailed primary accounts, the rampant antisemitism and physical destruction of Jewish life in Poland comes to the forefront as the most salient issues for Jewish wartime survivors in Poland - Cohn depicts Polish migrants devoid of direction, with a dangerous lack of housing, facing vehement opposition from antisemites surrounding them.
how the physical decimation of their previous homes, deftly eviscerated Jewish spirit, pushing those who dreamt of repatriating out of Poland in the postwar period. Furthermore, Cohn’s utilization of three Polish-American observers who were unimpeded by diurnal duties of reconstruction,, enables a more thorough depiction of the complexity of the suffering of Polish Jews in the latter half of the 1940s (pg. 320). Departing from Cohn’s focus on the physical and societal impediments to Jewish repatriation, historian Jeffrey Veidlinger illuminates the migration choices available to Jews in European Displaced Persons camps. Utilizing transcripts of interviews of Holocaust survivors in 1946, conducted by psychologist David Boder, Veidlinger argues that due to international Jewish philanthropic aid organizations, many displaced persons were not entirely thrust into chaos. Moreover in direct contention with Robert Cohn, he argues that Jewish hopes were not slowly eroded by post-war realities - instead he stresses the migration opportunities Jews did have, with many “establishing long-term strategies for their postwar lives by 1946.” (pg. 241) Contending with Veidlinger’s theory of self-determination of Jewish individuals, historian Simo Muir argues that the various interests of larger communities and organizations were the central drivers of resettlement and migration patterns in the immediate post-war. Moreover, through an thorough analysis of the Finnish case study, Muir successfully illuminates the role of various institutions and communities in discouraging, facilitating, impeding and encouraging the immigration of Jewish youth - serving to showcase Jews at the mercy of the decisions of larger institutions. These interpretations of the post-war Jewish experience not only serve to illuminate the differing opinions on the most salient characteristics regarding post-war Jewish migration but elucidate the daily realities of Jewish survivors in the post-war period,. Finally, these differing analyses of Jewish experience in the latter half of the 1940s, are contextualized by Yitzhak Berman’s statistical analysis of Jewish migration to Israel in the post-war period. Robert Cohn explains how the gradual realization of the physical decimation of their previous homes in tandem with vehement anti-semitism, deftly eviscerated Jewish spirit in postwar Poland, pushing those who dreamt of repatriating, out of Poland in the postwar period.
Utilizing the primary accounts of three educated Polish-American outsiders unimpeded by needs to reconstruct their homes like a majority of Poles - Cohn depicts the grim reality for Jews attempting repatriation. In the post-war period, underground terrorist groups such as the Polish Nationalist Armed Forces(NSZ), an organization originally constructed to oppose Soviet influence, brutally murdered Jews believing them to be the “agents of the detested communists” (pg. 319). Although Cohn’s utilization of the NSZ is without a source, Polish-American sociologist Tadeusz Piotrowski further corroborated this assertion, stating that attacks against Soviets by the NSZ, quickly became more “focused on individual Jews who were placed in highly visible positions of authority” suggesting an additive and vehement hatred for Jews specifically, not merely Soviets, in positions of power in Poland (pg. 97). Cohn explains how these physical attacks committed by radical Polish nationalists were the fringe in violent action, but their unwavering anti-semitism was indicative of the wider Polish “rejection” of Jewish repatriation to Poland, visible in their vocalization of diurnal threats towards Jews returning to their pre-war property (pg. 318-19). The Polish population at large widely engaged in daily “hissing” that there are too many Jews in government (pg. 327). This meant that repatriating Polish Jews not only sensed broader antisemitism sonically, but the anti-Jewish sentiment increasingly materialized in violent attacks and massacres in Poland, and those who successfully returned to their homes, were met with aggression by their non-Jewish neighbors. Jacob Pat, the executive secretary of the Jewish Labor
Committee, whose primary account Cohn widely draws from, described Jewish homes in post-war Warsaw in ruin, as “a heaving sea of wreckage, its waves frozen in death, there is nothing left to recognize” (pg. 323). The sheer destruction of Jewish homes and ghettos, meant repatriation was difficult even had one removed the antisemitic components lying in the Polish underbelly - this is largely reflected in the attitudes of Polish Jews observed by journalist S.L. Schneiderman. Through Schneiderman’s account, Cohn argues that the hopes of reconstruction and repatriation by some Polish Jews, were quickly eclipsed by a vast majority of Jews who were applying for visas, trying to leave the ruins of Poland, a landscape where destruction was so total that “only the sky remained unchanged,” where Jewish individuals simply longed for visas, making “chairs and benches [by day]…but sit[ting] on suitcases” by night (pg. 326). Through the detailed primary accounts, the rampant antisemitism and physical destruction of Jewish life in Poland comes to the forefront as the most salient issues for Jewish wartime survivors in Poland - Cohn depicts Polish migrants devoid of direction, with a dangerous lack of housing, facing vehement opposition from antisemites surrounding them.