Nationalist exclusion · Poland · 1918–1939
The reborn republic contained a diverse Jewish population whom nationalist movements tried to exclude.
Explore PolandPublished by WTJPublication updated
1918–1939
Nationalist exclusion · Citizenship meets the claim of a foreign nation
The reborn republic contained a diverse Jewish population whom nationalist movements tried to exclude.
Different visions of a future
After Poland regained independence in 1918, Jewish residents participated in parties, unions, religious movements and civic life. Some favoured integration, others Zionism or socialist cultural autonomy. These competing commitments undermine the antisemitic claim that Jews formed a single political actor.
Nationalism narrows belonging
Nationalist antisemites portrayed Jews as an alien body within Poland. Economic boycotts and demands for exclusion from professions and education translated that argument into pressure on everyday life. Citizenship did not prevent opponents from inventing a second test of who supposedly belonged to the nation.
The university becomes a boundary
Anti-Jewish agitation in universities included violence and segregated seating known as ghetto benches. Students were treated as a collective problem because they were Jewish. A place meant to open professional opportunity became another institution through which nationalist exclusion could be enforced.