Ghetto benches

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Ghetto benches
Wilno University
Period1935–1939
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Ghetto benches (known in Polish as getto ławkowe)

ONR
(outlawed after three months in 1934).

The seating in benches marked a peak of

invasion of Poland in World War II. Poland's occupation by Nazi Germany suppressed the entire Polish educational system. In the eastern half of Poland annexed by the Soviet Union, such discriminatory policies in education were lifted.[7]

Background

Further information: History of the Jews in 20th-century Poland

The percentage of Poland's Jewish population increased greatly during the

Interbellum, contributed to a backlash.[14]

Proposals to reinstitute the

Jews in education in Poland continued the practice of the Russian Empire's numerus clausus policy, implemented by the Empire during Poland's partitions, which restricted, by means of quotas, the participation of Jews in public life.[5] Issues that had earlier been resolved by the Russian Empire were now decided locally, uniting the Poles while dividing the nation as a whole.[17]

Various means of limiting the number of Jewish students were adopted, seeking to reduce the Jewish role in Poland's economic and social life.[18] The situation of Jews improved under Józef Piłsudski,[15][19] but after his death in 1935 the National Democrats regained much of their power and the status of Jewish students deteriorated. A student "Green Ribbon" League was organized in 1931; its members distributed anti-semitic material and called for the boycott of Jewish businesses and the enforcement of the numerus clausus.[20][21] In 1934 a group of rabbis petitioned the Archbishop of Warsaw, Aleksander Kakowski, to stop the "youthful outbursts"; Kakowski responded that the incidents were regrettable, but also claimed that Jewish newspapers were "infecting public culture with atheism."[15]

Agitation against Jewish students intensified during the economic recession of the 1930s and afterwards, as unemployment began to affect the Polish intellectual strata.[18] There were growing demands to decrease the number of Jews in science and business so that Christian Poles could fill their positions.[16] In November 1931, violence accompanied demands to reduce the number of Jewish students at several Polish universities.[18] The universities' autonomous status contributed to this,[11][18] as university rectors tended not to call in police to protect Jewish students from attacks on the campuses,[18] and no action was taken against students involved in anti-Jewish violence.[22][23]

Attempts to legalize segregated seating

In 1935, students associated with

civil rights.[24] At some universities Polish students even attempted to forcibly move Jews to the ghetto benches.[22][24]

Following

Warsaw Polytechnic. The violence spread from the campuses to the streets of Warsaw.[22] Subsequently, violence broke out at other universities in Poland as well.[22] The student riots and violence were however mutual. Especially Jewish students from Academic Zionist Association "Kadimah" (Akademicki Związek Syjonistyczny "Kadimah") were involved in violence against Polish students.[25] 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 National Democracy press put the blame for the riots on Jews refusing to comply with special seating arrangements set by Polish students.[22]

Introduction of ghetto benches

Lwów Polytechnic
in 1930s.

While the Polish government initially opposed the segregation policies, the universities enjoyed significant level of autonomy and were able to impose their local regulations. Ghetto benches were officially sanctioned for the first time in December 1935 at the

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 Lwów Polytechnic's academic senate.[23]

This setback for the segregationist cause did not stop attempts to establish ghetto benches in other Polish universities. Demands for segregated seating were again raised by the

Warsaw Polytechnic ordered the establishment of the institution of ghetto benches in the lecture halls.[11] Within a few days, similar orders were given in other universities of Poland.[27]

Over 50 notable Polish professors (including

Jan Dembowski; psychologist Władysław Witwicki; physicist Konstanty Zakrzewski; as well as historians Seweryn Wysłouch and Tadeusz Manteuffel.[30]

The introduction of ghetto benches was criticized internationally by the Anglophonic nations. Over 300 British professors signed an anti-ghetto bench manifesto. In New York, the League for Academic Freedom published an open letter signed by 202 professors condemning ghetto benches as "alien to the spirit of academic freedom."[11]

Despite the arguments by

Sanacja government that introduction of ghetto benches would stop the disturbances, the clashes between Jewish and gentile youth resulted in two fatalities among the Jewish students,[16][24] and further assaults, or even an assassination attempt on Polish professor Konrad Górski critical of the segregation policies.[30][16]

Aftermath

The ghetto bench system and other anti-Semitic demonstrations of the segment of student youth inspired vengeance among some Jewish students of

Soviet invasion of Poland.[31]

The practice of segregated seating for the Jewish students in Poland ended with the

Holocaust
.

See also

References

  1. ^ Anti-Defamation League of Bnai b'rith. Poland: Democracy and the Challenge of Extremism. Archived 2008-10-01 at the Wayback Machine A special report by the Anti-Defamation League, 2006
  2. ^ Litman Mor (Muravchick): The war for life. Chapter 5: A BA. In Anti-Semitism (1935-1940):"In Polish slang, we called it "Ghetto Lawkowe" (Ghetto of Benches).."
  3. ISBN 978-0-8014-8969-3
    . The first to submit to the segregationist demands of nationalist students were the Engineering and Mechanical Department faculty councils of the Lwow Polytechnical Institute, which on December 8, 1935, adopted the appropriate resolutions; these were quickly imitated elsewhere.
  4. ^ Analysis of Hans-Wilhelm Steinfeld’s remarks on Polish-Jewish relations in Lviv
  5. ^
    ISBN 0-313-26007-9, Google Print, p.22
  6. ^ a b (in Polish) Getto ławkowe Archived 2007-03-11 at the Wayback Machine, based on Alina Cała, Hanna Węgrzynek and Gabriela Zalewska, Historia i kultura Żydów polskich. Słownik, WSiP
  7. ISBN 9783039118830
    .
  8. ^ Sharman Kadish, Bolsheviks and British Jews: The Anglo-Jewish Community, Britain, and the Russian Revolution. Published by Routledge, pg. 87 [1]
  9. ^ A History of the Jews by Paul Johnson, London, 1987, p.527, see also: History of the Jews in Russia
  10. ISBN 0-8143-2494-0
  11. ^
    JSTOR 1453795
    .
  12. ISBN 0-8091-4324-0, Google Print. p.200
  13. ISBN 0-300-10586-X
    .
  14. ^ Anna Jaskóła, University of Wrocław (2010). "Sytuacja prawna mniejszosci żydowskiej w Drugiej Rzeczypospolitej" [The legal status of the Jewish minority in the Second Republic] (PDF). Chapter 3: Szkolnictwo żydowskie. Wrocław: Wydział Prawa, Administracji i Ekonomii. Instytut Historii Państwa i Prawa (Faculty of Law, Administration and Economy). pp. 65–66 (20/38 in PDF) – via direct download from BibliotekaCyfrowa.pl.
  15. ^ a b c Cieplinski, Feigue (2002-09-18). "Poles and Jews: the Quest for Self-Determination, 1919–1934". Binghamton Journal of History (Fall 2002). Archived from the original on 2002-09-18. Retrieved 2 June 2006.
  16. ^ a b c d (in Polish) Antysemityzm lat 30-tych, Dia-pozytyw. Serwis informacyjny.
  17. ISBN 978-0-8143-2494-3
    .
  18. ^
    ISBN 978-0-87820-418-2
    – via books.google.com, no preview.
  19. ISBN 0-300-09546-5, Internet Archive, p. 37
  20. ^ Joanna B. Michlic. Poland's Threatening Other: The Image of the Jew from 1880 to the Present. University of Nebraska Press, 2006. Page 113
  21. ^ Emanuel Melzer. No Way Out: The Politics of Polish Jewry, 1935-1939. Hebrew Union College Press, 1997. Page 6.
  22. ^ a b c d e f g h Melzer, p. 72
  23. ^ a b c Melzer, p. 73
  24. ^
    Joanna Beata Michlic Poland's Threatening Other: The Image of the Jew from 1880 to the Present, University of Nebraska Press
    , 2006 pp. 113–114
  25. ISBN 83-85827-56-0
    .
  26. ^ Melzer, p.74
  27. ^ a b c Melzer, p.76
  28. ISBN 0-7818-0673-9
    , p. 363
  29. ISBN 978-83-87893-52-1
    . Retrieved 11 March 2011.
  30. ^
    ISBN 0-8078-4865-4
    .
  31. ISBN 83-7085-058-8. Editorial Committee: Jan Boberski, Stanisław Marian Brzozowski, Konrad Dyba, Zbysław Popławski, Jerzy Schroeder, Robert Szewalski (editor-in-chief), Jerzy Węgierski "Excerpt online". Archived from the original on June 9, 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-09.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link
    )

Further reading

External links

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