Galitsia

Flag of Galitsia

17.4% Ukrainian

5.6% Belarusian

3% Lithuanian

1% German

22.3% Roman Catholicism

2% Irreligious

1% Protestantism

**Galitsia** (Yiddish: גאַליציע‎, *Galitsiye* [ɡəˈlɪt.si.ə]), officially the **Republic of Galitsia** (Yiddish: רעפּובליק פון גאַליציע, *Republik Fun Galitsiye*, [ʁepuˈbliːk fʊn ɡəˈlɪt.si.ə]), is a unitary sovereign state in Eastern Europe bordering Prussia, Belarus, Ukraine, Slovakia and Poland. It is divided into eight administrative subdivisions (3 Shtatn, 3 Frayshtatn, 1 Fraygegnt and 1 Kapitalshtat) covering an area of 74,123.19 square kilometers (28,618.96 sq miles) with a mostly temperate climate. Due to an agreement between Galitsia and Prussia, Galitsia controls a small exclave on the Prussian coast granting Galitsia access to the Baltic Sea. With a population of around 14.3 million people, Galitsia is the eleventh most populous  country in Europe. Galitsia's capital and largest city is Lublin. Other major cities include Byalistok, Grodne, Brisk, Lemberg, Rayshe and Nay Yerusholayem. While relatively young when compared to other European nations, Galitsia's history as a predominantly Jewish nation is intertwined with the history of the Ashkenazi Jews of Central and Eastern Europe.

Jews have lived in the region of Galitsia since the 10th century with Jews being descended from the Radhanite merchants who traveled across Europe. The region of Galitsia was initially inhabited by Eastern European tribes before being settled by Poles, Russians, Belarusians, Ukrainians, Germans and Jews alike. The region of Galitsia spent most of its history as a constituent part of Poland since the Piast Dynasty of the 10th century however it remained a relatively neglected region in favor of western Polish land. Following the First Crusade of 1098, Jews in Western Europe fled eastward eventually settling in Poland. Over the following centuries, Jewish life in Poland would prosper despite its isolation from the Catholic Polish majority. However, antisemitism surged in Poland following the Partitions of Poland as many blamed the Jews for the supposed weakening of the Polish state.

During the Versailles War of 1939 to 1940, Jews suffered extreme antisemitism from Nazi Germans and Huzarzy Poles and as such following the war many Jews rallied for cultural and political autonomy and as such the Galician Worker’s Republic, later named the Galitsian Worker's Republic (Yiddish: גאַליציאַניש ארבעטערעפּובליק, *Galitsyanish Arbeterepublik*) was formed from Polish concessions in the Eastern Bloc as a Soviet Satellite State. Decades later in reaction to the Jerusalem War of the 1960's and the Krakow Crisis, Galitsia was one of the first Eastern Bloc nations to rise up during the so-called Soviet Spring as many Eastern Bloc nations vied for independence from Soviet control. Establishing itself as a democratic state, it was renamed the Republic of Galitsia.

Galitsia is a developed market and regional power. Nicknamed the "Switzerland of Eastern Europe" it has one of the most dynamic economies in Eastern Europe, simultaneously achieving a very high rank on the Human Development Index. Additionally, the Galitsian Stock Exchange in Lublin is the largest and most important in Eastern Europe. Galitsia is a developed and democratic country, which maintains a high-income economy along with very high standards of living, life quality, safety, education and economic freedom. According to the World Bank, Galitsia has a leading school educational system in Europe. The country provides free university education, state-funded social security and a universal health care system for all citizens. Having an extensive history, Galitsia has developed a rich cultural heritage, including numerous historical monuments.

## Etymology

The origin of the name *Galitsia* derives from the a Latinised version of the Slavic name of Halych. The Ukrainian name *Halych* (Галич) (*Halicz* in Polish, *Галич* in Russian, *Galic* in Latin) comes from the Khwalis or Kaliz who occupied the area from the time of the Magyars. Modern Slavists generally agree that "Halych" is an adjective derived from the East Slavic word for "jackdaw," "*halka".* The oldest record of Galicia as a political entity dates back to the 12th century with the Kingdom of Galicia-Volhynia. Upon the foundation of the Galitsian Worker’s Republic in 1940 there was great debate amongst Western European nations on what name to refer to Galitsia with as many already attributed the name Galicia to the Spanish region of Galicia, to avoid confusion many began referring to the Galician Worker's Republic as Yiddish Galicia or Soviet Galicia which later morphed into Galitsia adopting the Yiddish pronunciation albeit with an anglicized spelling. Ironically, Galitsia only encompasses a fraction of the historical region of Galicia, as such many refer to the southern regions of Galitsia (which exist in the historical Galicia region) as *Alte Galitsiye* (Yiddish: אַלטע גאַליציע, *Old Galicia*) while referring to all land north of it as *Nay Galitsiye* (Yiddish: נייַ גאַליציע, *New Galicia*).

## History

### **Early History and Piast Period**

The first Jews arrived in the territory of modern Poland in the 10th century. By travelling along the trade routes leading eastwards to Kiev and Bukhara, Jewish merchants, known as Radhanites, crossed the areas of Silesia. One of them, a diplomat and merchant from the Moorish town of Tortosa in Spanish Al-Andalus, known under his Arabic name of Ibrahim ibn Jakub, was the first chronicler to mention the Polish state under the rule of prince Mieszko I. In the summer of 965 or 966 Jacob made a trade and diplomatic journey from his native Toledo in Muslim Spain to the Holy Roman Empire and Slavonic countries. The first actual mention of Jews in Polish chronicles occurs in the 11th century. It appears that Jews were then living in Gniezno, at that time the capital of the Polish kingdom of the Piast dynasty. Among the first Jews to arrive in Poland (in 1097 or 1098) were those banished from Prague. The first permanent Jewish community is mentioned in 1085 by a Jewish scholar Jehuda ha-Kohen in the city of Przemyśl.

The first extensive Jewish emigration from Western Europe to Poland occurred at the time of the First Crusade in 1098. Under Bolesław III (1102–1139), the Jews, encouraged by the tolerant regime of this ruler, settled throughout Poland, including over the border in Lithuanian territory as far as Kiev. Bolesław III recognized the utility of Jews in the development of the commercial interests of his country. Jews came to form the backbone of the Polish economy. Mieszko III employed Jews in his mint as engravers and technical supervisors, and the coins minted during that period even bear Hebraic markings. Jews worked on commission for the mints of other contemporary Polish princes, including Casimir the Just, Bolesław I the Tall and Władysław III Spindleshanks. Jews enjoyed undisturbed peace and prosperity in the many principalities into which the country was then divided; they formed the middle class in a country where the general population consisted of landlords (developing into *szlachta*, the unique Polish nobility) and peasants, and they were instrumental in promoting the commercial interests of the land.

The tolerant situation was gradually altered by the Roman Catholic Church on the one hand, and by the neighboring German states on the other. There were, however, among the reigning princes some determined protectors of the Jewish inhabitants, who considered the presence of the latter most desirable as far as the economic development of the country was concerned. Prominent among such rulers was Bolesław the Pious of Kalisz, Prince of Great Poland. With the consent of the class representatives and higher officials, in 1264 he issued a General Charter of Jewish Liberties, the Statute of Kalisz, which granted all Jews the freedom of worship, trade and travel.

### **Early Jagiellon Period**

As a result of the marriage of Wladislaus II (Jagiełło) to Jadwiga, daughter of Louis I of Hungary, Lithuania was united with the kingdom of Poland. In 1388–1389, broad privileges were extended to Lithuanian Jews including freedom of religion and commerce on equal terms with the Christians. Under the rule of Wladislaus II, Polish Jews had increased in numbers and attained prosperity. However, religious persecution gradually increased, as the dogmatic clergy pushed for less official tolerance, pressured by the Synod of Constance. In 1349 pogroms took place in many towns in Silesia. There were accusations of blood libel by the priests, and new riots against the Jews in Poznań in 1399. Accusations of blood libel by another fanatic priest led to the riots in Kraków in 1407, although the royal guard hastened to the rescue. Hysteria caused by Black Death led to additional 14th-century outbreaks of violence against the Jews in Kalisz, Kraków and Bochnia. Traders and artisans jealous of Jewish prosperity, and fearing their rivalry, supported the harassment. In 1423 the statute of Warka forbade Jews the granting of loans against letters of credit or mortgage and limited their operations exclusively to loans made on security of moveable property. However until the end of the 15th century agriculture as a source of income played only a minor role among Jewish families. More important were crafts for the needs of both their fellow Jews and the Christian population (fur making, tanning, tailoring).

In 1454 anti-Jewish riots flared up in Wrocław and other Silesian cities, inspired by a Franciscan friar, John of Capistrano, who accused Jews of profaning the Christian religion. As a result, Jews were banished from Lower Silesia. Zbigniew Olesnicki then invited John to conduct a similar campaign in Kraków and several other cities, to lesser effect. In 1495, Jews were ordered out of the center of Kraków and allowed to settle in the "Jewish town" of Kazimierz. In the same year, Alexander Jagiellon, following the example of Spanish rulers, banished the Jews from Lithuania. For several years they took shelter in Poland until they were allowed back to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1503.

### **Sigismund Period**

Poland became more tolerant just as the Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492, as well as from Austria, Hungary and Germany, thus stimulating Jewish immigration to the much more accessible Poland. Indeed, with the expulsion of the Jews from Spain, Poland became the recognized haven for exiles from Western Europe; and the resulting accession to the ranks of Polish Jewry made it the cultural and spiritual center of the Jewish people.

The most prosperous period for Polish Jews began following this new influx of Jews with the reign of Sigismund I the Old (1506–1548), who protected the Jews in his realm. His son, Sigismund II Augustus (1548–1572), mainly followed in the tolerant policy of his father and also granted autonomy to the Jews in the matter of communal administration and laid the foundation for the power of the *Qahal*, or autonomous Jewish community. This period led to the creation of a proverb about Poland being a "heaven for the Jews". According to some sources, about three-quarters of all Jews lived in Poland by the middle of the 16th century. In the middle of the 16th century, Poland welcomed the Jewish newcomers from Italy and Turkey, mostly of Sephardi origin. However, some of the immigrants from the Ottoman Empire are still considered Mizrahim. Jewish religious life thrived in many Polish communities. In 1503, the Polish monarchy appointed Rabbi Jacob Pollak, the official Rabbi of Poland, marking the emergence of the Chief Rabbinate. By 1551, Jews were given permission to choose their own Chief Rabbi. The Chief Rabbinate held power over law and finance, appointing judges and other officials. Some power was shared with local councils. The Polish government permitted the Rabbinate to grow in power, to use it for tax collection purposes. Only 30% of the money raised by the Rabbinate served Jewish causes, the rest went to the Crown for protection. In this period Poland-Lithuania became the main center for Ashkenazi Jewry and its *yeshivot* achieved fame from the early 16th century.

It was also during this period when many Galitsian scholars claim the earliest form of the Galitsian state emerged with the creation of the Council of Four Lands in the 16th century. The Council of Four Lands acted as a central body of Jewish authority in Poland from the second half of the 16th century to 1764. The first known regulation for the Council is dated by 1580. Seventy delegates from local *kehillot* met to discuss taxation and other issues important to the Jewish community. The "four lands" were Greater Poland, Little Poland, Ruthenia and Volhynia. However, the Council of Four Lands was primarily confined to urban centers and as such functioned as somewhat of a "national archipelago" with Jewish towns dotting the Polish nation.

### **Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth**

After the childless death of Sigismund II Augustus, the last king of the Jagiellon dynasty, Polish and Lithuanian nobles (szlachta) gathered at Warsaw in 1573 and signed a document in which representatives of all major religions pledged mutual support and tolerance. The following eight or nine decades of material prosperity and relative security experienced by Polish Jews witnessed the appearance of "a virtual galaxy of sparkling intellectual figures." Jewish academies were established all across Poland. Poland-Lithuania was the only country in Europe where the Jews cultivated their own farmer's fields. During this period Yeshivas flourished as well as Jewish thought and practice was welcomed throughout the community.

### **Pale of Settlement**

Following the Second Partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1793, Catherine the Great of Russia greatly expanded upon the Pale of Settlement. At its height, the Pale, including the new Polish and Lithuanian territories, had a Jewish population of over five million, and represented the largest component (40 percent) of the world Jewish population at that time. Jews were forbidden to live in agricultural communities, or certain cities, and were forced to move to small provincial towns, thus fostering the rise of the *shtetls.*

However, Yiddish culture managed to flourish in the shtetls due to political and cultural isolation and led to the Jewish Enlightenment or Haskalah. The Haskalah latched onto other political movements of the time leading to the foundation of the early Zionist movement (which was notably anti-diaspora and pro-Hebrew) and which formed the early Aheym movement (Yiddish: אַהיים) (which was pro-diaspora and pro-Yiddish). Overall many Galitsian scholars cite the Pale of Settlement as a prototype and *national inspiration* for Galitsia. However following the rise of violent Pogroms against Jews, many Jews turned towards Zionism or the ideology to found a Jewish nation-state in Palestine. The early Aheym movement started to take root in the late 19th century with Diaspora Nationalists and Yiddishists like Chaim Zhitlovsky and Sholem Aleichem. The Aheym movement advocated for the creation of a "shtat fun yidn" (state of Jews) rather than a "yidish shtat" (Jewish state) as a counter to what they deemed bourgeoisie Zionists. Many early Aheymists stated that after living in Eastern Europe for over 1000 years it was just as much their homeland as Palestine was and that the culture of the diaspora should be embraced.

The goals of the Aheymist movement include the creation of a secular Yiddish speaking nation, the proliferation and protection of Yiddish culture and defense against antisemitism and assimilationism in the Diaspora. Many Jews view Aheymism as the culmination of the Haskalah or Jewish Enlightenment as it drew from famous Jewish thinkers such as Israel Zangwill, Otto Bauer, Chaim Zhitlovsky , Vladimir Medem and Simon Dubnow. Aheymism was first coined by Yidishe Bafreyung Farband leader, Yitzhak Zuckerman.

### **Interwar Period**

Compared to the Versailles War, the Great War of 1914 was relatively uneventful for the Jews of Eastern Europe as many Jews served in the German Army and Russian Army alike. Following the establishment of the Second Polish Republic, many Jews were targeted in pogroms by Poles who viewed them as supporters of Germany or the newly-formed Soviet Union.

Despite this, the number of Jews immigrating to Poland from Ukraine and Soviet Russia during the interwar period grew rapidly. Jewish population in the area of former Congress of Poland increased sevenfold between 1816 and 1921, from around 213,000 to roughly 1,500,000. According to the Polish national census of 1921, there were 2,845,364 Jews living in the Second Polish Republic; but, by late 1938 that number had grown by over 16% to approximately 3,310,000. The average rate of permanent settlement was about 30,000 per annum. At the same time, every year around 100,000 Jews were passing through Poland in unofficial emigration overseas. Between the end of the Polish–Soviet War and late 1938, the Jewish population of the Republic had grown by over 464,000. The newly independent Second Polish Republic had a large and vibrant Jewish minority. By the time the Versailles War began, Poland had the largest concentration of Jews in Europe although many Polish Jews had a separate culture and ethnic identity from Catholic Poles. Some authors have stated that only about 10% of Polish Jews during the interwar period could be considered "assimilated" while more than 80% could be readily recognized as Jews.

According to the 1931 National Census there were 3,130,581 Polish Jews measured by the declaration of their religion. Estimating the population increase and the emigration from Poland between 1931 and 1939, there were probably 3,474,000 Jews in Poland as of September 1, 1939 (approximately 10% of the total population) primarily centered in large and smaller cities: 77% lived in cities and 23% in the villages. They made up about 50%, and in some cases even 70% of the population of smaller towns, especially in Eastern Poland. Prior to the Versailles War, the Jewish population of Łódź numbered about 233,000, roughly one-third of the city’s population. The city of Lwów had the third largest Jewish population in Poland, numbering 110,000 in 1939 (42%). Wilno (now in Lithuania) had a Jewish community of nearly 100,000, about 45% of the city's total. In 1938, Kraków's Jewish population numbered over 60,000, or about 25% of the city's total population. In 1939 there were 375,000 Jews in Warsaw or one third of the city's population. Only New York City had more Jewish residents than Warsaw. The major industries in which Polish Jews were employed were manufacturing and commerce. Many Jews also worked as shoemakers and tailors, as well as in the liberal professions; doctors (56% of all doctors in Poland), teachers (43%), journalists (22%) and lawyers (33%).

Jews such as Bruno Schulz were entering the mainstream of Polish society, though many thought of themselves as a separate nationality within Poland. Most children were enrolled in Jewish religious schools, which used to limit their ability to speak Polish. As a result, according to the 1931 census, 79% of the Jews declared Yiddish as their first language, and only 12% listed Polish, with the remaining 9% being Hebrew. In contrast, the overwhelming majority of German-born Jews of this period spoke German as their first language.

### **Growing Antisemitism**

An ever-increasing proportion of Jews in interwar Poland lived separate lives from the Polish majority. In 1921, 74.2% of Polish Jews listed Yiddish or Hebrew as their native language; the number rose to 87% by 1931, contributing to growing tensions between Jews and Poles. Jews were often not identified as Polish nationals, a problem caused not only by the reversal of assimilation shown in national censuses between 1921 and 1931, but also by the influx of Russian Jews escaping persecution—especially in Ukraine, where up to 2,000 pogroms took place during the Civil War, an estimated 30,000 Jews were massacred directly, and a total of 150,000 died. A large number of Russian Jews emigrated to Poland, as they were entitled by the Peace treaty of Riga to choose the country they preferred. Several hundred thousand refugees joined the already numerous Jewish minority of the Polish Second Republic. The resulting economic instability was mirrored by anti-Jewish sentiment in some of the media; discrimination, exclusion, and violence at the universities; and the appearance of "anti-Jewish squads" associated with some of the right-wing political parties. These developments contributed to a greater support among the Jewish community for Zionist and socialist ideas, coupled with attempts at further migration, curtailed only by the British government. Notably, the "campaign for Jewish emigration was predicated not on antisemitism but on objective social and economic factors". However, regardless of these changing economic and social conditions, the increase in antisemitic activity in prewar Poland was also typical of antisemitism found in other parts of Europe at that time, developing within a broader, continent-wide pattern with counterparts in every other European country.

With the influence of the Endecja party growing, antisemitism gathered new momentum in Poland and was most felt in smaller towns and in spheres in which Jews came into direct contact with Poles, such as in Polish schools or on the sports field. Further academic harassment, such as the introduction of ghetto benches, which forced Jewish students to sit in sections of the lecture halls reserved exclusively for them, anti-Jewish riots, and semi-official or unofficial quotas (*Numerus clausus*) introduced in 1937 in some universities, halved the number of Jews in Polish universities between independence (1918) and the late 1930's. The restrictions were so inclusive that – while the Jews made up 20.4% of the student body in 1928 – by 1937 their share was down to only 7.5%, out of the total population of 9.75% Jews in the country according to 1931 census.

Although many Jews were educated, they were excluded from most of the government bureaucracy. A good number therefore turned to the liberal professions, particularly medicine and law. In 1937 the Catholic trade unions of Polish doctors and lawyers restricted their new members to Christian Poles (in a similar manner the Jewish trade unions excluded non-Jewish professionals from their ranks after 1918). The bulk of Jewish workers were organized in the Jewish trade unions under the influence of the Jewish socialists who split in 1923 to join the Communist Party of Poland and the Second International.

Complex and long history shaped Polish attitudes towards the Jews and Jewish attitudes towards the Poles, but the anti-Jewish sentiment in Poland had reached its zenith in the years leading to the Versailles War.  Between 1935 and 1937 seventy-nine Jews were killed and 500 injured in anti-Jewish incidents. National policy was such that the Jews who largely worked at home and in small shops were excluded from welfare benefits according to American commentators. Nevertheless, the impact of right-wing extremism would have been hard to substantiate in towns with percentage of Jews equal or even higher than that of the non-Jewish Poles. In the provincial capital of Łuck Jews constituted 48.5% of the diverse multicultural population of 35,550 Poles, Ukrainians, Belarusians and others. Łuck had the largest Jewish community in the voivodeship. In the capital of Brześć in 1936 Jews constituted 41.3% of general population and some 80.3% of private enterprises were owned by Jews. The 32% of Jewish inhabitants of Radom enjoyed considerable prominence also, with 90% of small businesses in the city owned and operated by the Jews including tinsmiths, locksmiths, jewelers, tailors, hat makers, hairdressers, carpenters, house painters and wallpaper installers, shoemakers, as well as most of the artisan bakers and clock repairers. In Lubartów, 53.6% of the town's population were Jewish also along with most of its economy. In a town of Luboml, 3,807 Jews lived among its 4,169 inhabitants, constituting the essence of its social and political life. Despite many antisemitic myths, Jews fulfilled multiple blue collar as well as white collar jobs throughout Poland.

The national boycott of Jewish businesses and advocacy for their confiscation was promoted by the Endecja party, which introduced the term "Christian shop". A national movement to prevent the Jews from kosher slaughter of animals, with animal rights as the stated motivation, was also organized. Violence was also frequently aimed at Jewish stores, and many of them were looted. At the same time, persistent economic boycotts and harassment, including property-destroying riots, combined with the effects of the Clutch Plague that had been very severe on agricultural countries like Poland, reduced the standard of living of Poles and Polish Jews alike to the extent that by the end of the 1930's, a substantial portion of Polish Jews lived in grinding poverty. As a result, on the eve of the Versailles War, the Jewish community in Poland was large and vibrant internally, yet (with the exception of a few professionals) also substantially poorer and less integrated than the Jews in most of Western Europe.

The main strain of antisemitism in Poland during this time was motivated by Catholic religious beliefs and centuries-old myths such as the blood libel. This religious-based antisemitism was sometimes joined with an ultra-nationalistic stereotype of Jews as disloyal to the Polish nation. On the eve of the Versailles War, many typical Polish Christians believed that there were far too many Jews in the country and the Polish government became increasingly concerned with the "Jewish Question". Some politicians were in favor of mass Jewish emigration from Poland.

By the time of the German invasion in 1939, antisemitism was escalating, and hostility towards Jews was a mainstay of the right-wing political forces post-Piłsudski regime and also the Catholic Church. Discrimination and violence against Jews had rendered the Polish Jewish population increasingly destitute, as was the case throughout much of Central and Eastern Europe. Despite the impending threat to the Polish Republic from Nazi Germany, there was little effort seen in the way of reconciliation with Poland's Jewish population. Escalating hostility towards Polish Jews and an official Polish government desire to remove Jews from Poland continued until the German invasion of Poland. These tensions would eventually culminate into the formation of the highly antisemitic fascist Huzarzy Poland movement.

### **Versailles War**

The number of Jews in Poland on September 1, 1939 amounted to about 3,474,000 people. One hundred thirty thousand soldiers of Jewish descent served in the Polish Army at the outbreak of the Versailles War, thus being among the first to launch armed resistance against Nazi Germany. It is estimated that during the entirety of the Versailles War as many as 32,216 Polish-Jewish soldiers and officers died and 61,000 were taken prisoner by the Germans; the majority did not survive. The soldiers and non-commissioned officers who were released ultimately found themselves in the Nazi ghettos and labor camps and suffered the same fate as other Jewish civilians in the ensuing Tseshterung (Yiddish: צעשטערונג‎ "destruction"), in Poland.

Following the death of Chairman Stalin of the Soviet Union, Hitler signs the Danzig Pact with Pro-German Polish Politician Władysław Studnicki alongside General Edward Rydz-Śmigły creating the German Puppet State of Huzarzy Poland. The Danzig Pact was a peace treaty and treaty of mutual assistance between Poland and Germany, citing their common goal of “Jewish removal”, expansionism and anti-communism. In exchange for withdrawing all claims to Poland (except for the Polish Corridor and Posen Province), Germany would supply Poland with arms to fight the Soviet Union with and push back the “Judeo-Bolshevik forces”. Hitler also ceded the Cieszyn Silesia or Zaolzie region of the Czech Republic to Poland as a concession. Studnicki is joined Bolesław Piasecki (a Polish fascist who becomes known as the “Himmler of Poland”) and Adam Ignacy Koc. Piasecki establishes the Huzarzy Party (Poland during this time is known as Huzarzy Poland). Hitler reluctantly declares that since Poles are the ancestors of the Wendish People/Wends like other West Slavic people they are considered partially Germanic due to contact between Western Slavs and Germanic tribes over the centuries. The Western Slavs are described as native peoples who were corrupted by Eastern Slavic influence over the centuries as well. However, the Eastern Slavs remain non-German as such were treated as a lesser race than Western Slavs and Germans. While not equal to Aryan Germans, Western Slavs were above Jews, Roma and Eastern Slavs (Ukrainians, Russians, Belarussians).

While Hitler had
capitulated to some Poles out of necessity this was a blow to his pride and he
would then order Alfred Rosenberg to implement the *Nisko und Lublin Plan,* the plan to systematically deport and confine the Jewish population of the Axis Powers to a large but highly contained ghetto or Jewish "reservation" (*Judenreservat*) known as the Lublin Reservation. Rosenberg begins Operation Schäfer, the forceful rounding up of Jews from villages and cities around the Axis, seizing their property and assets and deporting them at gunpoint to the Lublin Reservation. This would become known to the Jews as the Mizrekh Martz (Yiddish: מזרח מאַרץ, *East*
March) in Yiddish as the Jews were forced in a death march to the Lublin
Reservation with many dying from marching for days or due to the sheer brutality and violence committed by the Nazis and Huzarzys.

Ironically, just like the Pale of Settlement, the Lublin Reservation had the unintended consequence of creating a territorial concentration of Jews in eastern Poland. Tuvia Bielski (who would in later years be elected the first Prime Minister of the Republic of Galitsia) rallied many Jews who had been targeted by the Nazis and formed the Yidishe Bafreyung Farband (Yiddish: ייִדישע באַפרייונג פאַרבאַנד‎ "Jewish Liberation Union") with support from the Soviets as the first Jewish Paramilitary Defense Force. The Yidishe Bafreyund Farband also known as the YBF sought to unite all Jewish partisans under one flag in a coordinated effort
against the Axis. The Yidishe Bafreyung Farband was essential in planning, arming and initiating the 1940 Lublin Uprising in the Lublin Reservation. The Lublin Uprising allowed the Soviets to break the Huzarzy-Nazi Line and liberate Poland.

### **Post-War Period**

Following the end of the Versailles War in 1940, many Jews who had survived the Tseshterung felt a stronger sense of belonging to their diaspora lands as well as a sense of unity and nationalism. As such the flow of Jewish settlers to Palestine slowed to a near stop as the Aheymist Movement of diaspora nationalism mixed with communist ideologies took hold within the Jewish population.

Despite new territory being added to the Polish Democratic Republic
after the war extremely high tensions remains between the Soviets and the
Polish due to the Soviet destruction of Warsaw and harsh reparations against
the Polish people (the Soviet Union did not differentiate between the Polish
communists of East Poland and the Polish fascists of West Poland). The Polish
Kresy (which it had gained during the Polish-Soviet War of 1919) was ceded back
to the Soviet Union and its territory split between the Ukrainian Soviet
Socialist Republic, Belarussian Soviet Socialist Republic and Lithuanian Soviet
Socialist Republic. This caused many issues as many Poles lived in these
territories causing riots and skirmishes to pop up between Poland and Ukraine
despite them both being Soviet Satellite States (or constituent states).
Kalinin suggests the creation of an ethnically neutral buffer zone between the
Polish Democratic Republic and the USSR. Kalinin tasks Sergei Kruglov with
developing this idea. Many Ukrainians and Belarussians felt uncomfortable
having the Poles who just massacred them months early only a couple miles
across the border and as such many were willing to cede land as a buffer zone.

Sergei Kruglov decided on a buffer zone between latitudes 24° E
(known as the Lviv Line) and 22° E (known as the Rzeszow Line) inside the
borders of the Second Polish Republic. The problem being the region was very
ethnically mixed with Poles, Lithuanians, Ukrainians, Belarusians and Jews as
such it could not fulfill its purpose as an ethnically neutral buffer state. Soviet Foreign Minister Maxim Litvinov suggests this region as a Yiddish Soviet
Satellite State, aiming to resettle the millions of homeless Jews after the war
while providing a buffer between the Soviet Union and Poland, he argued that by
collectively settling the Jews in one place it could help them develop a
national identity and as such adapt to socialism better. He reasoned that while
Jews are a minority they are more likely to be insular but while in a community
of Jews they are more receptive to other ideas. He also sought to secularize
and modernize the Jewish community of the Soviet Union and help them become an
secular nationality no different than a Ukrainian or Pole. This new state would become known as the Galician Worker’s Republic, later named the Galitsian Worker's Republic (Yiddish: גאַליציאַניש ארבעטערעפּובליק, *Galitsyanish Arbeterepublik*) known to the Western World as Soviet Galicia or Yiddish Galicia (to differentiate it from Spanish Galicia) as an allusion to the short-lived Galician Soviet Socialist Republic, despite the territory only encompassing a fraction of the traditional region of Galicia. The agreement between Kruglov, Kalinin and Litvinov becomes known as the Lviv-Rzeszów Agreement (Yiddish: העסקעם ‎ריישע-לעמבערג *Rayshe-Lemberg Heskem*). This new buffer state would be defined as the land between
the Lviv Line (24.03° East) and the Rzeszów Line (21.5° East) inside of the borders of the Second Polish Republic with its capital of Lublin. This specifically included the Bialystok, Lublin and Lviv Voivodeships of the Second Polish Republic. East of the Lviv Line would be annexed by the Soviet Union and west of Rzeszów Line is considered the Polish Democratic Republic.

### **Galitsyanish Arbeterepublik**

On December 1st, 1940, Mikhail Kalinin signed the Lviv-Rzeszow Agreement into law. Poles in
the Polish Democratic Republic are outraged by the Lviv-Rzeszow Agreement and
riot across the country, burning down multiple synagogues. Many Poles felt
legitimized in their fear of a “Judeopolonia” as such many ethnic Poles flee
the Galitsyanish Arbeterepublik for the Polish Democratic Republic. However,
many Poles remained living in rural regions all throughout Galitsia especially
in the northwestern regions. Many Polish communists felt betrayed by
the USSR. This would become known as the Pęknięcie or “Fracture” within the
Polish community as people felt as though they were being ripped away from
their homes when in fact much of their fear was antisemitic propaganda from
Polish nationalists. Poles who fled the region or who remained begin
identifying as Kresowiaks (or Kresowians). Soviet officials begin the massive
population transfer of ethnic Poles, Ukrainians, Lithuanians and Belarussians
between the Polish Democratic Republic and the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist
Republic, Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic and the Belarussian Soviet
Socialist Republic however as per Litvinov’s agreement, no official expulsions
occurred in Galitsia but many fled fearing living under a “Jewish State”.
Litvinov forms the “Komunist Partey fun Galitsye” (Communist Party of Galitsia)
as the governing body of Galitsia as well as the Galitsyanish Council of Ethnicities
with elected representatives of the ethnicities of Galitsia including Jews,
Poles, Lithuanians, Ukrainians and Belarusians. For any major law to be passed
in Galitsia it would need the support from majority of the council. Frayshtats
(Free States) are created for the different ethnicities with the Masovia
Frayshtat for Poles, Suvalki Frayshtat for Lithuanians, Polesia Frayshtat for
Belarusians and the Volhynia Frayshtat for Ukrainians.

Jews in the Soviet Union and from Eastern Bloc countries begin
migrating to the new Galitsyanish Arbeterepublik. Maxim Litvinov is elected the
General Secretary of the Komunist Partey fun Galitsye (better known as just the
Galitsiyebund), Henryk Ehrlich is elected as President of Galitsia while Victor
Alter is elected as Prime Minister of Galitsia. Litvinov begins using his birth
name Meir Henoch Wallach-Finkelstein to show his solidarity with other
socialist Jews. Many of the Jews who survived the Versailles War felt a feeling
of shared experience with their kindred and as such many migrated to Galitsia
rather than to the US or Palestine. While many had advocated for the members of
the YBF taking political leadership, many members of the YBF were in fact very
young and had little to no political experience but they remained as cultural
leaders and influential politicians throughout Galitsia. Many of the YBF members supported Aheymism as an alternative to socialism and were often at odds with the Galitsyebund given their nationalist tendencies.

In total around
3,000,000 Jews immigrated to Galitsia between 1940 and 1945 much more than the immigrants to the US or Palestine given the ease of land travel versus water or air. The
Galitsyanish Arbeterepublik also had representatives from each ethnic minority
group living in Galitsia: Poles, Ukrainians, Lithuanians and Belarusians. Finkelstein begins the transference of Jews from all over the Eastern Bloc and the Jewish Autonomous Oblast to Galitsia. Following the November 5th, 1940 US election of known antisemite, Charles Lindbergh, many American Jews fled the United States for Galitsia.

Following the conversion of Mandatory Palestine into a British Commonwealth Nation (Commonwealth of Palestine) in 1947, many Jews viewed Zionism as a lost cause and as such emigrated to Galitsia. These Jews along with later
Palestinian Jewish emigres would become known as the Shavim (Hebrew: שָׁבים, "returners"). They would however, continue speaking Hebrew and make up a large religious population. The Shavim would later establish the city of Nay Yerushalayim (New Jerusalem) on the
strip of land (Pulmo, Ukraine) between Lake Yankev (Svitiaz Lake) and Lake
Eysev (Pulemetske Lake). It is near the city of Shatsk. Nay Yerushalayim
quickly becomes a hub for religious Jews alongside Hebrew speaking Jews. Nay
Yerushalayim is one of the only places in Galitsia where both Yiddish and
Hebrew are used equally.

On September 11th, 1950, the eve of Rosh Hashanah, multiple masked individuals storm Borough Park, Brooklyn in what would become known as the “Burning of the Borough”,
multiple synagogues are burnt down, and Jews are shot and beaten. Around 20
Jews were killed and at least 100 were injured. This is one of the only
Antisemitic Pogroms to take place on the American continent. Thousands of Jews
fled the US to Canada, Mexico and Galitsia. American Jews who settled in
Galitsia became known as the Nayvelters (Yiddish: נייעוועלטער, *New World'ers*) due to their creole of Yiddish and English. General Secretary Malenkov of the Soviet Union is
skeptical of the Jews fleeing to Galitsia as he did not trust Jews, but he
hoped they would weaken the US and be indebted to the Soviets.

On December 31st, 1951, General
Secretary Meir Finkelstein (previously known as Maxim Litvinov) of
the Galitsyanish Arbeterepublik passes away due to a heart attack. This is
greatly mourned throughout the Galitsia as well as the Soviet Union who
recognized Litvinov for his skilled diplomacy during the Versailles War. General
Secretary Konrad Hoffman of the Prussian Democratic Republic honors him with a
speech. Michal Shuldenfrei is elected as the new General
Secretary of the Galitsyanish Arbeterepublik only days later. Shuldrenfrei is notable for his tolerance of many nationalist Aheymists within Galitsia.

On the 13th anniversary of the German invasion of
Poland, new General Secretary of the Galitsyanish Arbeterepublik, Michal Shuldenfrei, meets with General Secretary Konrad
Hoffman of the Prussian Democratic Republic to discuss the antisemitic violence
enacted against Jews during the Versailles War and the Tseshterung. Hoffman
gives a public speech apologizing for the actions of Nazi Germany (which the
German Republic hadn’t released any official apologies let alone reparations)
he also recognizes the Prussian Democratic Republic’s future as Prussians and
not Germans. He also calls for a reconciliation between Prussians and Jews. As
a form of reparations, he cedes a tiny coastal exclave near Rauschen (OTL Svetlogorsk)
to Galitsia giving them access to the Baltic Sea and thus the ocean. This
exclave is known in Yiddish as Yidishbreg (Yiddish for the “Yiddish Coast”) and
Rauschen is renamed Finklshteyn in honor of the passed Meir Finkelstein. The
settlements of Shayna (Yiddish for “Beautiful”) and Kleyntaytshland (Yiddish
for “Small Old-German Land”) are founded in Yidishbreg and are settled by
Galitsian Jews, mainly German Jews who enjoyed being near other Germans. The
town of Hakhof (Hebrew for “The Beach”) would be founded years later in
Yidishbreg and would become an extremely popular resort town for Prussians and
Galitsians alike.

Following the December 31st, 1958 uprising in the Polish city of Krakow, Galitsia is forced by Malenkov to deploy ballistic missiles to its western border with Poland during the Krakow Crisis. Discussions concerning Poland had grown heated. The
Soviets wanted to partition Poland into Eastern Poland and Western Poland with
Eastern Poland remaining communist and Western Poland becoming democratic. The
Poles in turn wanted a fully democratic Poland with the inclusion of the
Galitsyanish Arbeterepublik. Poland argued for the independence of Kresowia,
containing the territories of the originally Polish Kresy. They cited the Kresy
as a land of cultural, linguistic and religious equality that had been
destroyed by the Soviets and Jewish colonization of Galitsia. They cited the Kresowiaks/Kresowians
as an independent culture that represented a fusion of Eastern Slavs and
Western Slavs and deserved their own independent nation. Other Poles cited this
as false and called for the total annexation of Galitsia and the Kresy region. Then on a January 11th, the Polish Democratic Republic was dissolved and the Republic of Poland was founded.

In response to the Polish declaration of independence, riots break out in the Masovian Frayshtat among Poles who wanted
the region to be annexed to the newly democratic Poland. They are violently put
down by the Galitsian government. This leads to many Poles fleeing the Galitsyanish Arbeterepublik. In
response the Polish government creates the Kresowian Liberation Organization
which supports a unique Kresowian identity and highlights the history of the
Kresy and violence towards the Kresowians. They begin funding propaganda to
support the liberation of the Kresowian People who lived under the thumb of
Jewish and Soviet tyranny.

In response to the June 10th, 1961, Yom Shel Dimot (Hebrew: יום של דמעות, *Day of Tears*) Massacre during the Jerusalem War in which Jews were slaughter by Mashriq forces in the city of Tel Aviv, many Jews in Galitsia begin joining Volunteer forces in Palestine
to support the United Canaanite Army, Communist Party of the Levant and the
Maccabean Army.

However, Malenkov who had already been wary of Galitsia, is outraged to hears of the Jewish defectors from the Galitsyanish
Arbeterepublik. He proceeds to give an antisemitic speech deriding Galitsia for its
bourgeois and Zionist sympathies. He cites these Jews as disloyal to the socialist
cause and as a traitor to the Soviet Union. To prevent further defectors, he has the Galitsyanish Secret Police known as the Kamitet fun Shtat Zikherhayt
(Yiddish: קאמיטעט פון שטאַט זיכערהייַט, *Committee of State Security*) to begin heavily policing religious Jewish
communities. He also employs Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian and Lithuanian spies
within Galitsia. Followers of Shlomo Shleifer (nicknamed the Shleiferniks), a
well-known anti-Soviet Rabbi who lived in Galitsia (he passed away in 1957) are
constantly targeted and often interrogated and arrested. Malenkov has General
Secretary Michal Shuldenfrei replaced with Jakub Berman. Berman had been an ardent
supporter of Stalin and has Natan Grünspan-Kikiel replace Abba Kovner as head
of the Kamitet fun Shtat Zikherhayt. Berman was an ardent pro-Soviet communist
who worked alongside Malenkov to repress religious Jews and anti-Soviet
protests. Michal Shuldenfrei begins working alongside the Jewish Labor Bund, a
socialist group that stood against Soviet authoritarianism.

### **Shtreimel Rebellion**

On September 20th, 1962, the eve of Yom Kippur, a notable Galitsian Rabbi is
arrested by a member of the Kamitet fun Shtat Zikherhayt leading
to public outrage from the Jewish community. This is known as the Shtreimel Rebellion, named for the fact most religious Jews wore Shtreimels whereas
irreligious or socialist Jews wore the traditional Soviet Ushankas. Shtreimel quickly became the nickname for religious or pro-democracy Jews while Ushanka
became a pejorative term for irreligious or socialist Jews. Many pro-democracy
Jews favored the Shtreimels as they supported a free capitalist democracy in
contrast to the Soviet backed Ushankas. The Shtreimels also received support
from more moderate socialists including the Labor Bund as well as socialist
Jews who opposed Malenkov and the Soviets. Ex-Yidishe Bafreyung Farband
commander, Tuvia Bielski quickly became a figurehead for the Shtreimels
alongside other members of the Yidishe Bafreyung Farband and the Jewish
religious community. Riots continue to break out in Lublin, Rayshe, Byalistok
and Lemberg. Many Aheymists supported the Shtreimels as well due to their support of a secular Yiddish democracy.

On the first night of Hanukkah (December 21st, 1962), an
alliance of Socialist Bundists, Religious Jews, Aheymists, YBF members and Galitsian
Nationalists known collectively as the Shtreimels stage a coup against Jakub Berman and the Soviet-aligned Galitsiyebund
government of the Galitsyanish Arbeterepublik. They are aided by anti-Soviet Ukrainian and Lithuanian minorities in Galitsia. The riots and fighting would continue until December 29th, 1962, in what would become known as the
Second Hanukkah Miracle, Shtreimel forces take the capital of Lublin on the
eighth night of Hanukkah. The Galitsyebund is overthrown and the democratically
elected government of the Republic of Galitsia is established. Tuvia Bielski is
elected as the first Prime Minister of the Republic of Galitsia, Michal
Shuldenfrei who had helped lead the Bundists against Jakub Berman, was elected as the first President
of the Republic of Galitsia. Jakub Berman
and Natan Grünspan-Kikiel would later be arrested and put on trial for corruption and
treason.

### **Republic of Galitsia**

On January 20th, 1963, Prime Minister
Bielski establishes the Galitsian Kehilla, a parliament like system for the new
government. Representatives from all Galitsian political parties as well as
representatives for Poles, Lithuanians, Ukrainians and Belarussians are elected
to the Kehilla.

On October 30th, 1963, riots break out in Baghdad, the capital city of the Kingdom of Iraq, against the Jewish population. Iraqi Prime Minister Rashid Ali al-Gaylani had paid agitators accuse the Jews of stealing
or being communists in league with the Kurds. Around 2,000 Jews were injured
and 500 were killed. There is a massive exodus of Jews fleeing Iraq to
Kurdistan, Canaan and to Galitsia. Many go east to join the Persian Jews in
Iran. Almost immediately, Bielski orders the Republic of Galitsia to dispatch aid workers to Iraq, Iran, Kurdistan and Canaan to aid in bringing Jewish
refugees to Galitsia. Iraqi Jewish refugees found the town of Arikha (named
after Abba Arika, the famous Babylonian Jewish scholar) in southern Galitsia. They
are allowed general autonomy to go about their traditional way of life as close
as possible given the difference in climates between the Middle East and
Eastern Europe.

In response to the antisemitic
riots in Iraq, Prime Minister Bielski creates the International Jewish Congress (IJC) to function as a global organization meant to protect Jews living all
around the world. They establish branches in France, Germany, UK, Iran, Canaan,
Spain, the Soviet Union, the United States and Canada. Each branch elects an
official that acts as the representative of the Jewish community of that
country. They then meet in the IJC headquarters in Bialystok to discuss issues
effecting the Jewish community world-wide.

**Soviet Spring**

**Polish-Galitsian War**

**Present-day**

## Politics

### **Administrative Divisions**

Galitsia is divided into three main administrative subdivisions known as Shtatn: Tsofnshtat, Hoyftshtat and Doremshtat. The capital city of Lublin is its own autonomous Shtat known as Kapitalshtat. There are three autonomous ethnic regions: Volin Frayshtat (Ukrainians), Suvalki Frayshtat (Lithuanians) and Polesiye Frayshtat (Belorussians). There is one Fraygegnt, Yidishbreg Fraygegnt being an autonomous exclave on the Prussian Coast. There used to be a fourth ethnic Frayshtat, Masoviye Frayshtat (Poles), but it is considered defunct following the Polish-Galitsian War.

* Tsofnshtat (Yiddish: צפונשטאַט, *North State*): Capital is Byalistok
* Mitlshtat (Yiddish: מיטלשטאַט, *Middle State*): Capital is Khelm
* Doremshtat (Yiddish: דרומשטאַט, *South State*): Capital is Rayshe
* Kapitalshtat (Yiddish: קאַפּיטאַלשטאַט, *Capital State*): Capital is Lublin
* Volin Frayshtat (Yiddish: װאָלין פֿרייַשטאַט. Ukrainian: Волинь Вільне Oбласть, *Volýn Vilʹne Oblast*): Capital is Lemberg (Ukrainian: Львів, *Lviv*)
* Polesiye Frayshtat (Yiddish: פּאָלעסיע פֿרייַשטאַט. Belarusian: Палессе Bольны Bо́бласць, *Paliessie Voĺny Vobłasć*): Capital is Brisk (Belarusian: Брэст, *Brest*)
* Suvalki Frayshtat (Yiddish: סואוואַלקי פֿרייַשטאַט. Lithuanian: Suvalkija Laisva Valstybe): Capital is Suvalk (Lithuanian: Suvalkai)
* Masoviye Frayshtat (Yiddish: מאַסאָוויע פֿרייַשטאַט. Polish: Mazowsze Wolna Prowincja): Capital is Shedlits (Polish: Siedlce). This Frayshtat is considered defunct following the Polish-Galitsian War.
* Yidishbreg Fraygegnt (Yiddish: ייִדישברעג פֿרייַגעגנט, *Yiddish Coast Free-Region*): Capital is Finkelshteyn.

## Culture

Baseball is extremely popular in Galitsia as it was brought to Galitsia by American Jewish refugees. The Galitsian Baseball League was formed in 1950.

## Flags and Coat of Arms

The current flag of the Republic of Galitsia is a horizontal tricolor of blue, red and yellow with a white six pointed star in the center. It has the proportions of two to three. The colors have four separate meanings. First of all the are the colors of the flag of the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, Galitsia's namesake. Secondly prior to the Polish-Galitsian War, the Blue symbolized Ruthenians (Ukrainians and Belarusians), the Red symbolized Poles, the Yellow symbolized Lithuanians and the White symbolized Israelis or ethnic Jews. Following the Polish-Galitsian War and the annexation of the Masoviye Frayshtat, the Blue represented Ukrainians, the Red represented Belarusians, the Yellow represented Lithuanians and the White represented ethnic Jews or Israelis. Lastly the colors represent the three main religions of Galitsia: Blue is Judaism, Red is Eastern Orthodox and Yellow is Roman Catholicism. The central six-pointed star is the Star of David highlighting the predominant Jewish population of the country and its Yiddish background.

The flag of the Galitsyanish Arbeterepublik was fairly similar to that of the modern Republic of Galitsia but instead of a six pointed star it had a red star (a common symbol of socialism) outlined in white which is itself outlined in blue. This represents the star of Communism uniting the ethnic groups of Galitsia.