'More Jews in Poland than previously thought'

There may be many more Jews in Poland than has been assumed, the Polish chief rabbi has claimed

Reuters | Published: 07.31.06, 12:23

According to official figures, the Polish Jewish community numbers few thousands people.

However, Chief Rabbi Michael Shudrich last week said he believes there are many more Jews in the eastern European country, as many Jews who did not emigrate at the end of WWII and during Communism simply hid their Jewish identity.

Shudrich’s comments came during a lecture for the Changing Jewish Communities series at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, an Israel-based research and policy center.

The chief rabbi spoke about groups of people who have visited him in his office and Synagogue in Warsaw in recent years telling him that they knew or thought they had Jewish roots.

Examples the Rabbi gave included a dying mother who told her son that their family were Jews and even some skinheads who had told him that they too had just found out they were Jewish.

'Jews don’t know if they want to be Jewish'

When asked how many Jews there are in Poland, Shudrich replied "I don’t know, there is no way of knowing. The Jews don’t know if they want to be Jewish."

Shudrich referred to the climate of fear that reigned during the years immediately after Nazism and then the decades under Communism. Shudrich said that it has only been since the mid-1990s that Poles have begun to explore their roots.

"Fear doesn’t go away the day totalitarianism ceases," Shudrich said.

On a more positive note, Shudrich also spoke about a Jewish revival in Poland. He said there are many Jewish activities in a variety of towns and cities across Poland including Synagogue services in towns that have not seen one for decades.