After the May coup in 1926, there was a conviction in Jewish circles that Piłsudski would not let Jews be harmed. Is it right?
The first years of the Second Polish Republic disappointed many people. National minorities had the greatest reasons for this. Anti-Semitism, drained from the end of the previous century by the National Democracy and the Catholic Church, has borne its fruit in the form of a wave of pogroms from Kielce to Lida and Pinsk . He walked with the Polish army. Several hundred people were murdered, and several thousand were wounded. The persecution of the Jewish community did not stop, even after the state had settled down somewhat.
An increasing part of the society was already strongly discouraged from the rule of the Witos' NGOs and peasants. The murder of President Narutowicz was still vivid in my mind and the military shooting at workers in Krakow in 1923.
The more eagerly people looked towards Sulejówek, where Marshal Józef Piłsudski settled, as it seemed, during political retirement. A significant part of Poles saw him as a providential man, a righteous man, and the reviver of independent Poland. Ukrainians remembered his federation idea and the Polish-Ukrainian alliance during the Bolshevik war. Jews saw in the Marshal, unspoiled by anti-Semitism and hostile NGOs, as their defender.
May coup or a mistake?
A vision of the next government of Chjeno-Piast, led by Witos, would overflow the cup of bitterness. Then, in May 1926, Marshal Piłsudski left Sulejówek. In fact, Piłsudski and the sanatoriums had a different concept of relations with national minorities. Instead of de-nationalizing or being forced into the ghetto, they offered greater liberties - at the cost of absolute loyalty.
As for the Jewish circles, it can be said that they took the May coup with relief. Poles of Jewish origin, polonized circles and assimilationists saw in the Marshal an opportunity to treat all communities equally and to fight anti-Semitism. For veterans of the fight for independence, Piłsudski was the resurrector and builder of the country. The Zionists admired him - he was an inspiration for those fighting for their state in Palestine. On the other hand, the Orthodox perceived Piłsudski as the undisputed leader of the ruling camp. They relied on the religious command to pray for power.
Jolanta Żyndul's book “Żydzi i Piłsudski. Selection of sources for the history of Polish-Jewish relations in the interwar period ", which has just been published by the ŻIH Publishing House.
The socialist Bund was much less enthusiastic. For him, as for the PPS, support for the coup was "May's mistake". Jolanta Żyndul in the book Żydzi i Piłsudski , published by the Jewish Historical Institute, writes:
After the Sanacja took over the government a peculiar alliance was established between the Jewish religious communities and the Independent Block of Cooperation with the Government (political representation of the Sanacja - author's note) . He was supported by Agudat Israel, the Orthodox party under the influence of Abraham Mordechaj Alter, a tzaddik from Góra Kalwaria, as well as by a group of rabbis from Małopolska that opposed it, gathered around the tzadik of Bełz, Aron Rokeach.
The first elections to the new parliament were held in the spring of 1928 in an atmosphere of witch-hunt against political opponents, obstruction of the activities of opposition politicians and the use of the state apparatus in the election campaign. It did not significantly change the sympathy for the Marshal. Jewish circles also had their own (not only BBWR) representations in the Seym.
People write letters
In the interwar period, Piłsudski received several thousand letters from Jewish citizens, mainly those representing Orthodox Jews and Zionists. Jolanta Żyndul collected them in her work. Among the broadcasters are political organizations and religious schools.
After the May coup, Piłsudski appointed a personal secretary to handle letters from ordinary people. The Marshal offered this position to Kazimierz Iłłakowiczówna, an official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a poet. As the author of the aforementioned book noted, the attitude of Jews towards Piłsudski as the most important politician of the Second Polish Republic also reflected their attitude towards the Polish state .
"Dear and beloved Grandpa. Even though I am Jewish, I love you as much as your countrymen, ”wrote Niusia Waldmanówna, a student from Łódź, to the Marshal on the occasion of his name day in 1935. " Educator, Leader, Teacher "- Mordechaj Griffel, who was not admitted to medical studies in 1932 because of a numerus clausus, asked the Marshal. "You are that dear son of the nation, about whom Skarga said:'all your treasures, you will devote your whole life to your nation'.
Did Piłsudski live up to the hopes placed in him by the Jewish community? It is impossible to answer this question unequivocally. The years of post-May rule from 1926 until the Marshal's death in 1935 were based on his personal authority and it was the time of the country's gradual drift towards a dictatorship . In Poland, steeped to the core with anti-Semitism, the Sanacja (until now) created some space for cooperation. There was a conviction in Jewish circles that Piłsudski did not allow Jews to be harmed. When the Marshal was gone, anti-Semitism was in full swing. Even more so than before May 1926.
Bibliography
- Jolanta Żyndul, Jews and Piłsudski , pub. Jewish Historical Institute 2021.