Ghetto benches

Ghetto ławkowe (literal translation from Polish: "desk ghetto", or classroom "ghetto benches", "bench ghetto") was a form of segregation and discrimination regarding the seating of students, primarily Jewish students, introduced in Poland's universities beginning in 1935, first at Lwow Polytechnic. By 1937, most rectors at other higher education institutions had adopted this form of segregation. Under ghetto ławkowe system mostly Jewish university students (but also Ukrainian students) at Polish universities were forced to sit on benches reserved exclusively for them.

The institution of the ghetto ławkowe marked the peak of antisemitism in Poland. "It antagonized not only Jews, but also many Poles." "Jewish students protested these policies, along with a few Poles supporting them...". The segregation was not terminated by the Polish authorities but lasted until the invasion of Poland early in World War II when the entire system of Polish education collapsed when Poland was occupied by the Nazis, having been shut down by the Nazis.

Background

Discrimination in education against Jews in Poland continued a practice of the Russian Empire's numerus clausus policy, implemented during Poland's partition; numerus clausus restricted the participation of Jews in public life by quotas. By the time of Poland's independence (1918), Polish universities had become strongholds of the nationalist and anti-Semitic National Democracy (endecja) movement.

Poland's Jewish population was urbanized. Proportionally, the Jewish university student population was higher in comparison to Catholic Poles during the interwar period; Jews constituted over one-third of the students attending Polish universities in the early 1920s. The proposal to restrict the Jewish enrolment to 10% of the student body (roughly the percentage of Jews living in Poland) were made as early as 1923. However, as this would violate the Versailles Minority Treaty, the proposal was rejected. Various means of limiting the number of Jewish students were adopted, ultimately seeking to reduce the Jewish role in Poland's economic and social life. The situation of Jews improved under the rule of Józef Piłsudski, but after his death, the endecja faction regained much of its power and the status of Jewish students deteriorated further. As the intellectual classes were heavily hit by unemployment during the economic recession of the 1930s, agitation against Jewish students intensified. There were growing demands to decrease the number of Jews in science and business so that Poles would also be able to fill their positions. In November 1931, violence accompanied demands to reduce the number of Jewish students in several Polish universities. The universities' autonomous status contributed to such actions as university rectors tended not to invite police to protect Jewish students from the attacks on the campuses and no action was taken against students involved in anti-Jewish violence.

Attempts to legalize segregated seating

In 1935 students associated with Endecja and the National Radical Camp, influenced by the Nazi Nuremberg Laws, demanded segregation of Jews into separate sections in the classrooms, known as "ghetto benches". The majority of Jewish students refused to accept this system of seating, considering it to be a violation of their civil rights. Facing the refusal to obey the new system, Polish students attempted to move Jews to the ghetto benches by physical force in some universities.

In 1935 anti-Jewish riots broke out at the University of Warsaw and the Warsaw Polytechnic. From the campuses violence spread to the streets of Warsaw. Subsequently violence broke out at other universities in Poland as well. An uninterrupted wave of anti-Jewish violence eventually led to the temporary closure of all of Warsaw's institutions of higher education in November 1935. The nationalist Endek press put the blame for the riots on Jews, refusing to comply with special seating arrangements set by Polish students.

Introduction of ghetto benches

Demonstration of Polish students demanding implementation of ghetto benches in Lwów Polytechnic (1937)

For the first time, ghetto benches were officially sanctioned in December 1935 at the Lwów Polytechnic. Following several violent attacks against Jewish students, school officials ordered that they sit in separate sections, under threat of expulsion. Various penalties were imposed on those who stayed away from the classes in protest against segregated seating. The move to legalise ghetto benches was contested by the Jewish community, seeing it as a dangerous precedent. Ghetto benches were criticised by Jewish delegates to the Sejm (Polish parliament). In January 1936 a delegation of representatives of the Jewish community of Lwów (Lviv) met Poland's Education Minister, who promised to discuss the issue with school administrations, and in February 1936 the ghetto bench order was cancelled by the Academic Senate of Lwów Polytechnic.

This setback for the segregationist cause did not stop attempts to establish ghetto benches in Polish universities. Demands for segregated seating were again raised by the OZON-led Union of Young Poland (Polish: Związek Młodej Polski), the endecja All-Polish Youth and other nationalist youth organizations. The Ministry of Education in Warsaw was opposed to the ghetto benches, declaring numerus clausus a violation of the constitution, and another one stated that: "Student ghettos would not be introduced at the Polish Universities". However in light of the continuing serious riots at the university, which the Ministry condemned as "zoological patriotism", the Ministry slowly gave in and decided to withdrew its opposition, hoping that the introduction of the ghetto's would end the riots. The ethno-nationalists finally won their campaign for ghetto benches in 1937 when by Ministry decision universities were granted the right to regulate the seating of Polish and Jewish students. On October 5 1937 the Rector of Warsaw Polytechnic ordered the establishment of the institution of ghetto benches in the lecture halls. Within few days similar orders were given in other universities of Poland Over 50 notable Polish professors (for example, Marceli Handelsman, Stanisław Ossowski, Tadeusz Kotarbiński, Manfred Kridl) criticized the introduction of the ghetto benches and declined to enforce either a quota or the ghetto bench system, but their voices were ignored; together with a few Polish students that objected to the ghettos, they would protest by standing in class, refusing to sit down. The only rector that refused to establish ghetto benches in his university was Prof. Stanisław Kulczyński of Lwów University. Facing the decision to sign the order introducing segregated seating, Prof. Kulczyński resigned from his position. Nevertheless the instruction ordering special "mandatory seats" for all Jewish students still was issued by the vice-rector of Lwów University the next morning. The only faculty in Poland that did not have ghetto benches introduced was that of the Children's Clinic in the Piłsudski University of Warsaw led by Professor Mieczysław Michałowicz, who refused to obey to the Rector's order.

The introduction of ghetto benches was criticized internationally. Over 300 British professors signed an anti-ghetto bench manifesto. The International League for Academic Freedom in New York published an open letter signed by 202 professors condemning ghetto benches as "alien to the spirit of academic freedom."

Despite the arguments by Sanacja government that introduction of ghetto benches would stop the disturbances, anti-Jewish violence continued, resulting in clashes between Jewish and Polish students organisations which even resulted in two fatalities among the Jewish students and assaults or even assassination attempts on Polish professors critical of the segregation policies.

The practice of segregated seating for the Jewish students in Poland ended with the demise of the Polish state in the beginning of the Second World War after which most of the Polish education was shut down (see Education in Poland during World War II). Many Jews perished in the Holocaust in Poland.

According to professor Zbysław Popławski, a graduate of the Lwów's Polytechnic and a member of the Polish Academy of Sciences during the Soviet occupation professor Eberman, as well as engineers Jerzy Wegierski and Zbigniew Budzianowski were fired because, Jewish students singled them out as being activists of ghetto benches system.

Further reading

• Template:Pl icon Monika Natkowska, "Numerus clausus", "ghetto ławkowe", "numerus nullus": Antisemityzm na uniwersytecie Warszawskim 1931–39 ("Numerus clauses", "ghetto benches", "numerus nullus": Antisemitism in Warsaw University" 1931–39), Warsaw, 1999.
• Template:Pl icon Zbysław Popławski, "Dzieje Politechniki Lwowskiej 1844-1945", Wrocław 1992.