No Way Out: The Politics of Polish Jewry 1935-1939

Emanuel Melzer. No Way Out: The Politics of Polish Jewry 19351939. Monographs of the Hebrew Union College, Number 19. Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College Press, distributed by Wayne State University Press, 1997. xii, 235 pp. Notes. Bibliography. Index. $39.95, cloth.

Emanuel Melzer's study No Way Out is an important addition to the literature on the history of the Jewish community in Poland in the critical years preceding the outbreak of World War II. First published in Hebrew under the title Ma'avak medini be-malkodet (The Political Struggle in a Trap), in 1982 by the Diaspora Research Institute of Tel-Aviv University, it is a condensed English translation of the original and updated with previously unavailable sources. Melzer based his work on the Polish-Jewish and Polish press as well as on materials drawn from archives in Europe, Israel and the United States. Included are also excerpts from debates held in the Sejm and the Senate and laws concerning the status of the Jewish community.

The slim volume of 165 pages of text is augmented by 49 pages of notes, a thing that would satisfy the American historian Gertrude Himmelfarb, who in her work On Looking into the Abyss: Untimely Thoughts on Culture and Society, bemoaned the disappearance of footnotes in the now "politically correct" writing of history. Himself a survivor, Melzer makes a commendable effort to write sine ira et studio. He postulates that at the outbreak of World War II Polish Jews, having failed to unite in the face of common danger and deprived of a charismatic leader were left "to face the Nazi onslaught virtually alone" (p. 165).

The work covers the four years beginning with the death of Jozef Pilsudski and ending with the outbreak of the war, a period regarded as a turning point in the history of interwar Poland. Pilsudski's death had an important impact on the situation of Polish Jews. His idea of the superiority of the state over the nation in a multinational state where minorities, Ukrainians, Jews, Germans and Belarusians constituted one third of the population, would have allowed for the participation of non-Poles in the affairs of state. Pilsudski's party, the Sanacja, went along with this idea as long as he was alive. The situation changed under his successors. Roman Dmowski, an opponent and enemy of Pilsudski, envisioned Poland to be a state where sovereignty would be borne by Poles to the exclusion of the minorities. His party, the Endecja, was virulently antisemitic and determined to solve the Jewish Question first through exclusion and then elimination to be achieved through mass emigration.

Melzer mentions two more important developments that were to affect the position of Polish Jews. One was the Polish government's unilateral declaration renouncing its obligations as stipulated in the Minorities Treaty that was signed in June 1919 at Versailles and aimed at the protection of minorities. Following in 1934 came the non-aggression pact between Nazi Germany and Poland and with it the rise of antisemitism latent in the government and people. The Roman Catholic Church, under the leadership of Cardinal Augustyn Hlond, was no friend of the Jews. The primate accused the Jews of "spreading atheism and revolutionary Bolshevism... [and] contributing to the decline of Polish morals" (p. 22). The lower clergy collaborated with the Endecja in spreading anti-Jewish propaganda.

Measures taken to destroy the Jewish community are discussed by Melzer in great detail. First came the economic boycott that resulted in one-third of the Jewish population being on one or another form of social assistance, financed internally by charitable organizations and funds received from Jews in Western Europe and the United States with the Joint Distribution Committee being the most active. Further developments in the fight against the Jews were the anti-Jewish riots, pogroms in the towns and cities that spilled over onto the university campuses, and the so-called infamous "ghetto-benches" designed for Jewish students. In describing the excesses perpetrated, Melzer emphasizes the lack of united leadership in the Jewish community. He gives credit to the Jewish local organizations and the grass root response to the events and to the stand made by Jewish students against the violence they faced from fellow students and/or faculty. Melzer does mention the attempts by members of the Polish left, in particular the PPS (Polish Socialist Party), to show solidarity with the Jews. Also some faculty members openly denounced the excesses as did the Prime Minister but this was of no avail. Melzer singles out one member of the faculty of Warsaw University, Professor Zygmunt Szymanowski who denounced the "ghetto benches" as relics of the Middle Ages (p. 75). However, no steps were taken by the authorities against the perpetrators. The leaders of the Ukrainian minority did express their sympathy with the plight of the Jews but not much help came from that group. The goal of the Ukrainian nationalist party, UNO, was now the establishment of independent Ukraine, and it considered Nazi Germany as its ally.

In face of all that was happening, the Jewish leadership failed in giving guidance and organization to the people. To explain that phenomenon, Melzer discusses in great detail the parties, their programmes, and their leaders. The Jewish political parties were divided into three camps. The largest was the Zionist camp and its aim was emigration to Palestine and the establishment there of a homeland for the Jews. The second was the Agudas Isroel camp of the Orthodox Jews who hoped against hope that there would be a place for the Jews in Poland and advocated working with the government. The last was the Bund that based its hopes on the solidarity of the working class and socialist ideology as a way of resolving the Jewish question. There were some smaller groups, among whom were the assimilationists who saw their future within Polish society. There were also Jewish members in the KPP (Polish Communist Party), but during the period under discussion that party was in decline. The lack of unity and collaboration among the parties was noted by the authorities and a report of the Ministry of the Interior stated that the Jewish political parties were "suffering from the absence of recognized authoritative leaders" (p. 13).

Melzer mentions attempts made on the part of two leaders whom he singles out as ones who well understood the plight of their compatriots. One was Vladimir (Zeev) Zhabotinsky, the leader of the Revisionist Party's New Zionist Organization who advocated emigration as a solution to the problem not only of the Polish Jews, but also of Jews from Eastern and East Central Europe. His idea of mass emigration was one that the majority of Polish Jews refused to accept. The other leader came from the General Zionists' camp. He was Moshe Kleinbaum who in 1937 warned the Jews that they were subjected to a policy of "secret extermination" and called for unity among the parties. With that in mind, he planned to organize a Congress of Polish Jews to speak for all segments of Polish Jewry. The Congress was to convene on March 13, 1938. In the end, the "Congress idea foundered on the rock of internal Jewish disunity" (p. 101).

Melzer ends his detailed discussion of Polish Jews in the crucial period of the years 1935 to 1939 maintaining that the failure to unite in the face of common danger and the lack of charismatic leadership was disastrous. Perhaps he should have also elaborated on the "Why." Melzer's work deserves to be included in readings assigned for courses on Polish history, Jewish history, and East European history. It will be of interest to the general reader.

[Author Affiliation]

T. Yedlin, University of Alberta