From: dobo@cs.UAlberta.CA (W. Dobosiewicz)
Subject: Re: Nazi camps
Organization: University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 1992 17:45:29 GMT

dzk@cs.brown.edu (Danny Keren) writes:

> .... Is there also an estimate to
>the total number of Polish Jews at the time?

Poland was not like Germany - nobody was (legally) declared Jewish until
he/she stated that directly during the census. Thus, there are three ways
of counting Jews in Poland (or any non-nazi country):
- those who list Jewish/Hebrew/... as their maternal tongue
- those who say they are Jewish
- those who claim to be of Jewish faith

The last census in prewar Poland was in 1931. After that date about
200,000 Jews emigrated from Poland, while some other were born or died.
Thus, their number in 1939 was most likely about the same as in 1931,
maybe a couple of %% higher.

Tongue:	2732.6 thousand
Religion:	3113.9 thousand
(nobody asked whether a person was "Jewish", as in Polish law, such a
question made no sense - they were all Polish citizens <---> I add this
comment because of a shouting match on this very issue going on somewhere
in the net.)

Prewar Poland was a religion-oriented country, although without formal
preference given to any particular religion (note: I said "formal"). Birth
and death certificates, marriage licenses, etc., were issued by clergymen
of the appropriate denomination and not by civic officers. Thus, everyone
had to have a religion to live normally. A Jew would thus claim to be of
"Moses religion" (that was the official name then) which had little to do
with real religious zeal. I make these comments to argue that the
"religion" figures were correct, as far as perceived by the society then.

Came the Nazis and a few things changed, among them the definition of
"Jewishness". Personal opinion did not matter anymore and a number of
Christian Jews were herded into ghettos (the Warsaw ghetto had at least
two catholic parishes and a convent for Jews during the Nazi rule). How
many? Even the greatest experts can only guess, but we are talking about a
number in the range of 0-10% of the Judaist Jews.

>Is it possible that more Jews took jobs like shopowners because
>they were not allowed, or discouraged, from other types of jobs?

Numerous pseudo-historians advance just such a theory. Amazingly, there is
no truth in it, as far as I know (excluding highest offices, that is).
Let me elaborate in two parts:

1. Why in trade? Because it was more profitable than other occupations!

- source of income of Polish Jews (1931): 42.2% industry, 36.6% trade,
	4.5% transportation and communication, 4.0% agriculture,
	2.3% science+education+culture.
Note that among the overall population, 60.6% were peasants, who were on
average far poorer than the rest of the society. Nobody particularly
longed to be a peasant.
	(A comment: many Jewish historians claim that Jews were not permitted
	to farm in Poland. What a rare bullshit! Of course, they were, but
	they were sane enough to avoid it. Somehow 4% - 125000 - did get into
	it.)
2. Official discrimination against Jews in certain professions.
Which professions are we talking about?
Two of the three highest-ranking police officers were Jews
(according to the Gestapo, which disposed of them, while forcibly
retaining the rest of the police force in their service).
It was difficult for a Jew to become an army general,
but it was just as difficult for a peasant's son.
One place where Jews were openly not welcome OFFICALLY was in the
ministerial cabinet (i.e. highest ranking bureaucrats).

The above is describes OFFICIAL discrimination. Social discrimination (BUY
CHRISTIAN campaign) or bullying (BENCH GHETTO at universities) were not
government sponsored, merely tolerated forms of antisemitism. Many Jews
thought (and the survivors still do) of them as being very hard.

Actually, the BENCH GHETTO (and its offsprings) was usually condemned by
the government verbally, although nothing was done to eradicate it.
Nonetheless, the number of Jewish university students (by religion)
dropped from 9.7 thousand in 1932 to 4.8 thousand in 1937 (but still,
Jews accounted for 10% of all students and 9.8% of the population).
In year 1936/37, exactly 25% of PhD given by universities in Poland went
to people of "Moses faith".


W. Dobosiewicz
Newsgroups: soc.culture.polish