List of Polish Jews
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| History of Judaism in Poland |
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| Timeline of Jewish Polish history | |||
| History of the Jews in Poland | |||
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| List of Polish Jews | |||
From the Middle Ages until the Holocaust, Jews comprised a significant part of the Polish population. The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, known as a "Jewish paradise" for its religious tolerance, attracted tens thousands of Jews who fled persecution from other European countries, even though, at times, discrimination against Jews surfaced in Poland just as it did elsewhere in Europe. Poland was a major spiritual and cultural center for Ashkenazi Jews/Ashkenazi Jewry. At the start of the Second World War, Poland had the largest Jewish population in the world (over 3.3 million [1]), but the vast majority of whom were killed by the Nazis in the Holocaust during the German occupation of Poland, particularly through the implementation of the "Final Solution" mass extermination program. Only 369,000 (11%) survived. After massive postwar emigration, the current Polish Jewish population stands at somewhere between 50,000 and 200,000.
The below list includes people of Jewish faith or ancestry.
Contents |
[edit] Historical figures
[edit] Politicians
- Menachem Begin (1913–1992), Israeli prime minister, Nobel Laureate, 1978 (born in Poland)[1]
- David Ben-Gurion (1886–1973), Israeli prime minister (born in Poland)[2]
- Jakub Berman (1901–1984), Polish communist, Secretary of PUWP (Polish United Workers' Party), in charge of State Security Services (Urząd Bezpieczeństwa, UB), the largest and the most notorious secret police force in the history of the People's Republic of Poland,
- Sala Burton (1925–1987), American politician[3]
- Ludwik Dorn (b. 1954), Polish politician, a speaker of the Sejm[4]
- Shlomo Goren (1917 – 1994), Chief Rabbi of the Military Rabbinate of the IDF
- Julian Klaczko (1825–1906), Polish politician[5]
- David Miliband (b. 1965), British foreign affairs minister[6]
- Lewis Bernstein Namier (1888–1960), British politician[7]
- Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel, whose father was from Warsaw.
- Shimon Peres (b. 1923), Israeli prime minister and president, Nobel Prize laureate (1994)[8]
- Yitzhak Shamir (1915-2012), Israeli prime minister (born in Poland)[9]
- Stanisław Stroński (1882–1955), Polish politician[10] (of Jewish descent)
- Samuel A. Weiss (1902–1977), American politician[11]
[edit] Others
- Morris Cohen (adventurer), aide to Chinese leader Sun Yat-sen
- Dora Diamant (1898–1952), lover of Franz Kafka[12]
- Gaspar da Gama (1444-ca.1510), traveler, interpreter[13]
- John Monash, Australian general
- Sir Hersch Lauterpacht, British judge[14]
- Rosa Luxemburg (1871-1919), Marxist revolutionary[15]
- Walenty Potocki, the Polish count who converted to Judaism
[edit] Religious figures
- Jacob Ben Wolf Kranz, Famous preacher (meggid) from Dubno
- Philip Ferdinand, Professor of Hebrew[16]
- Christian David Ginsburg (1831–1914), Hebraist, converted to Christianity[17]
- Aaron Hart (1670–1756), rabbi[18]
- Ridley Haim Herschell (1807-1864), missionary; moved to England[19]
- Romuald Jakub Weksler-Waszkinel (b. 1943), Catholic priest[20]
- Elijah Ba'al Shem of Chelm[21] (1550-1583), co-signer of the Agunah laws; chief rabbi of Chelm</ref>
[edit] Academics
[edit] Mathematicians
- Nachman Aronszajn
- Herman Auerbach
- Salomon Bochner
- Samuel Dickstein (mathematician)
- Salo Finkelstein
- Benoit Mandelbrot
- Samuel Eilenberg
- Mark Kac
- Leon Lichtenstein
- Adolf Lindenbaum
- Szolem Mandelbrojt
- Edward Marczewski
- Emil Leon Post
- Mojżesz Presburger
- Stanislaw Saks
- Juliusz Schauder
- Hayyim Selig Slonimski
- Hugo Steinhaus
- Alfred Tarski
- Stanislaw Ulam
[edit] Sciences
- Zygmunt Bauman, sociologist
- Leslie Brent, immunologist
- Georges Charpak, physicist, Nobel Prize winner (1992)
- Kasimir Fajans, physicist
- Roald Hoffmann (born 1937), chemist and writer; Nobel Prize winner (1981)
- Leopold Infeld, physicist
- Hilary Koprowski, immunologist
- Abraham Lempel, computer scientist
- Albert Abraham Michelson[22] (1852-1931), physicist; Nobel Prize winner (1907)
- Jakub Natanson, chemist
- Isidor Isaac Rabi, physicist, Nobel prize winner.[,* Tadeus Reichstein, chemist, Nobel Prize winner (1950)
- Albert Sabin, inventor of the oral Polio vaccine
- Abraham Sztern (1762-1842), inventor
- Ary Sternfeld, founder of astronautics
[edit] Historians
- Jacob Talmon (1916-1980), historian; made aliyah to Israel[23]
[edit] Cultural figures
[edit] Artists
- Mayer Kirshenblatt (b. 1916), artist[24]
- Alfred Wolmark (1887-1961), painter; immigrated to England[19]
- Henryk Berlewi[25]
- Chaim Goldberg polish jewish artist.
Magda Orlowska
Julia Strzelczyk
Alicja Kowalczyk
[edit] Musicians
- George Henschel (1850-1934), musician; immigrated to England[26]
- Jan Kiepura (1902-1966), actor and singer; immigrated to the United States[27] (Jewish mother)
- Arthur Rubinstein, award winning pianist
- Paul Kletzki (1900 - 1973), composer and conductor
- Henryk Szeryng (1918-1988), violinist; immigrated to Mexico[28]
- Henryk Wars (1902-1977), composer; immigrated to the United States[29]
- Isaac Stern, violinst
- Jascha Heifetz, born in Wilno when it was a predominately Polish and Yiddish-speaking city.
- Władysław Szpilman, pianist and subject of the Roman Polanski film The Pianist.
- Mieczysław Horszowski, pianist, born in Lwow.
- Moriz Rosenthal, pianist, born in Lwow.
- Leopold Godowsky, pianist, born in Żośle, a town near Wilno.
- Szymon Goldberg, conductor and violinist born in Włocławek, Congress Poland.
- Arthur Balsam, violinist and pedagogue born in Warsaw and trained in Łódź.
[edit] Screen and stage
- Aleksander Ford (1908-1980) film director[30]
- Joseph Green (1900-1996) Polish-American film actor and director[31]
- Jerzy Hoffman (born 1932) film director and screenwriter[32]
- Agnieszka Holland (born 1948), Film director and writer (Jewish father)[33]
- Boris Kaufman (1887-1980), cinematographer; immigrated to the United States; brother of Mikhail Kaufman and Dziga Vertov[34]
- Mikhail Kaufman (1897-1980), cinematographer & photographer; immigrated to the Soviet Union; brother of Boris Kaufman and Dziga Vertov[35]
- Marie Rambert (1888-1982), ballet dancer and teacher; immigrated to England[36]
- Roman Polanski (born 1933), Polish - French film director[37]
- Piotr Skrzynecki, cabaret director (Jewish mother)[38]
- Jerzy Toeplitz (1909-1995) film educator, director, writer[39]
- Konrad Tom (1887–1957) actor, writer, singer and director working in theater and film[40]
- Dziga Vertov, film director; immigrated to the Soviet Union; brother of Boris Kaufman and Mikhail Kaufman[41]
- Michał Waszyński (1904-1965) film and theater director and film producer[42]
[edit] Writers and poets
[edit] Polish-language
- Roman Brandstaetter, writer and poet[43]
- Kazimierz Brandys (1916-2000), writer[44]
- Janusz Korczak, writer
- Bolesław Leśmian (1877-1937), poet (Jewish ancestry)[45]
- Teodor Parnicki (1908-1988), writer (Jewish mother)[46]
- Antoni Slonimski
- Anatol Stern (1899-1968), poet[47]
- Leopold Tyrmand (1920-1985), writer[48]
- Julian Tuwim
- Aleksander Wat (1900-1967), poet[49]
- Józef Wittlin, poet[50]
[edit] Yiddish-language
- Solomon Ettinger (1802-1856), playwright and poet[51]
- Sholem Asch (1880-1957), novelist and essayist[51]
- Isaac Leib Peretz (1852-1915), author and playwright[52]
- Isaac Bashevis Singer (1902-1991), author[51]
- Abraham Sutzkever (1913-2010), poet, immigrated to Israel[51]
- Aleksander Zederbaum (1816-1893), journalist[53]
[edit] Business figures
- Majer Bersohn, banker, philanthropist[54]
- Helal Hassenfeld, co-founder of Hasbro
- Henry Hassenfeld, co-founder of Hasbro
- Leopold Kronenberg (1849-1937), banker[55]
- Henry Orenstein (born 1925), American poker player and entrepreneur [56]
- Maurice Orgelbrand (1826-1904), publisher[57]
- Samuel Orgelbrand (1810-1896), printer and publisher[58]
- Szmul Zbytkower (1727-1801), banker[59]
[edit] Sports
[edit] Chess
- Gersz Rotlewi
- Akiba Rubinstein
- Gersz Salwe
- Savielly Tartakower[60] (1887-1956)
- Daniel Yanofsky
- Johannes Zukertort
[edit] Fencing
- Roman Kantor, épée, Nordic champion & Soviet champion; killed by the Nazis
- Myer Prinstein, Olympic long-jumper from Szczuczyn, Poland
[edit] Football
- Ludwik Gintel, Poland national team[61]
- Józef Klotz, Poland national team; killed by the Nazis[62]
- Józef Lustgarten, 17 years in the Gulag
- Leon Sperling, left wing, Polish national team; killed by the Nazis in the Lemberg Ghetto
[edit] Swimming
- Lejzor Ilja Szrajbman, Olympic 4×200-m freestyle relay; killed by the Nazis in Majdanek concentration camp[63]
[edit] Track and field
- Irena Szewińska, sprinter and long jumper; world records in 100-m, 200-m, and 400-m; 3x Olympic champion, including 4 medals
- Jadwiga Wajs, 2 world records (discus); Olympic silver & bronze (discus)
[edit] Weightlifting
- Ben Helfgott, Polish-born, 3x British champion (lightweight), 3x Maccabiah champion; survived Buchenwald and Theresienstadt; all but one family member was killed by the Nazis
[edit] Holocaust Survivors
- Yaakov Avigdor
- Nelly Ben-Or
- Tauba Biterman
- Yehiel De-Nur
- David Faber
- Leon Feldhendler
- Tuviah Friedman
- Roman Frister
- Franciszek Gajowniczek
- Rena Kornreich Gelissen
- Ben-Zion Gold
- Yekusiel Yehudah Halberstam
- Anna Heilman
- Alicia Appleman-Jurman
- Natalia Karp
- Gerda Weissmann Klein
- Jerzy Kosinski
- Józef Kowalski
- Adam Kozłowiecki
- Yisrael Lau
- Zvia Lubetkin
- Henryk Mandelbaum
- Jack Mandelbaum
- Kitty Hart-Moxon
- David Olère
- Philip Riteman
- Josef Rosensaft
- Leopold Pfefferberg
- Israel Shahak
- Sigmund Sobolewski
- Mike Staner
- Alina Szapocznikow
- Władysław Szpilman
- Emanuel Tanay
- Władysław Tatarkiewicz
- Menachem Mendel Taub
- Jack Tramiel
- Ernst Wiechert
- Meir Wilchek
[edit] See also
- History of the Jews in Poland
- List of Jews
- List of Poles
- List of Galician Jews
- List of people from Galicia (modern period)
[edit] References
- ^ Menachem Begin - Biography
- ^ David Ben-Gurion The First Prime Minister
- ^ The Political Graveyard: Index to Politicians: Burton
- ^ PRZEKRÓJ - Trzeci Kaczyński
- ^ Catholic Encyclopedia: Julian Klaczko
- ^ RP.pl: David Miliband
- ^ Factmonster: Namier
- ^ Shimon Peres - Biography
- ^ Yitzhak Shamir - Britannica Online Encyclopedia
- ^ Notes for an Autobiography
- ^ Looking for The Political Graveyard?
- ^ Canadian Jewish News
- ^ Gaspar da Gama
- ^ Tributes to Sir Hersch Lauterpacht
- ^ Annette Insdorf (1987-05-31). "Rosa Luxemburg: More Than a Revolutionary". The New York Times.
- ^ Concise Dictionary of National Biography: born in Poland of Jewish parents
- ^ British Dictionary of National Biography
- ^ Jewish Encyclopedia
- ^ a b Concise Dictionary of National Biography
- ^ Ha'aretz: Jewish Born Polish Priest Dreams of Aliyah
- ^ Jewish Encyclopedia: Elijah Ba'al Shem
- ^ Jewish Nobel Prize Winners
- ^ Encyclopaedia Judaica, Jacob Talmon
- ^ Kirshenblatt, Mayer and Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett. They called me Mayer July: Painted memories of a Jewish childhood in Poland before the Holocaust. University of California Press. Los Angeles:2007.
- ^ The Mendele Review: Yiddish Literature and Language
- ^ British Concise Dictionary of National Biography
- ^ Stars of David Audio Encyclopedia
- ^ Dia-Pozytyw: Ludzie Sylwetki Biografie
- ^ Dia-Pozytyw: Ludzie Sylwetki Biografie
- ^ http://www.yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Ford_Aleksander
- ^ Hoberman, J. "Cinema." YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe 2 August 2010.<http://www.yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Cinema>. Accessed 7 July 2012.
- ^ http://www.yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Cinema
- ^ Cohen, Roger (1993-08-08). "Holland Without a Country". The New York Times. Retrieved 2011-09-13.
- ^ Jewish Film Festival
- ^ Jewish Film Festival
- ^ Jewish Women's Archive
- ^ IMBD: Roman Polanski
- ^ Piotr Skrzynecki
- ^ "British Express Concern About Fate of Jerzy Toeplitz, Polish Film Figure." Jewish Telegraphic Agency 20 May 1968.
- ^ Hoberman, J. "Cinema." YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe 2 August 2010.<http://www.yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Cinema>. Accessed 7 July 2012.
- ^ Jewish Film Festival
- ^ Samuel Blumenfeld, L'homme qui voulait être prince: les vies imaginaires de Michal Waszynski (Paris: B. Grasset, 2006).
- ^ Dia-Pozytyw: Ludzie Sylwetki Biografie
- ^ Kazimierz Brandys - Britannica Online Encyclopedia
- ^ YIVO: Boleslaw Lesmian
- ^ List Teodora Parnickiego do Jerzego Giedroycia
- ^ Encyclopaedia Judaica, art. Stern, Anatol
- ^ David Frum on National Review Online
- ^ Aleksander Wat: Life and Art of an Iconoclast
- ^ Dia-Pozytyw: Ludzie Sylwetki Biografie
- ^ a b c d Classical Yiddish Authors
- ^ Warsaw Stories: Peretz
- ^ YIVO: Aleksander Zederbaum
- ^ Dia-Pozytyw: Ludzie Sylwetki Biografie
- ^ Dia-Pozytyw: Ludzie Sylwetki Biografie
- ^ Tom Gross Mideast Media Archive: Henry Orenstein
- ^ Dia-Pozytyw: Ludzie Sylwetki Biografie
- ^ Dia-Pozytyw: Ludzie Sylwetki Biografie
- ^ Dia-Pozytyw: Ludzie Sylwetki Biografie
- ^ Encyclopaedia Judaica; immigrated to France
- ^ Ezra Mendelsohn (2009). Jews and the Sporting Life: Studies in Contemporary Jewry XXIII. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-538291-9. Retrieved December 24, 2010.
- ^ Eldad Beck (August 9, 2010). "Anti-Semitism feared ahead of Euro 2012". European Jewish Congress. Retrieved December 24, 2010.
- ^ Tom Archdeacon (April 26, 1998). "Memories never dim from Games of Shame; Message of "Nazi Olympics'still vital". The Denver Post. Retrieved December 24, 2010.
