Poland’s Chief Rabbi on antisemitism: “About five years ago, things became less good”

Rabbi Michael Schudrich, Poland’s current, and longest-serving, Chief Rabbi, appeared on the most recent episode of Podcast Against Antisemitism where he discussed the revival of the Polish Jewish community and the way in which the country dealt with antisemitism following the Holocaust.

Outlining the devastating effects of the Holocaust on Polish Jewry, Rabbi Schudrich said: “September 1st, 1939. The beginning of World War Two. At that point, there are 3.5 million Jews living in Poland. The heart, the soul of the Ashkenazi world. Only five years later, ninety percent are no longer alive having been murdered by Germans and accomplices,” before adding: “That statement is so horrific, most people don’t think how many survive. Ten percent survived, that’s 350,000 Polish Jews.

“The question is, ‘Where are they?’ The vast majority of the survivors leave Poland in the 25 years after World War Two. If you want to feel safe saying the statement ‘I am a Jew,’ it made good sense to leave post-Holocaust, Soviet-occupied Communist Poland, and so most of the Jews left. But not all the Jews left and those that stayed, most of them agreed with those that left; Stay Jewish, leave Communist Poland. Stay in Communist Poland, stop being Jewish, to the extent that you often didn’t even tell your children or grandchildren.

“And so while a couple hundred thousand left, some tens of thousands stayed. Most gave up their Jewish identity, keeping the deep, dark secret of who their real identity was for fifty years…from 1939 to 1989, the fall of communism, and at that point, there was a new phenomenon; people were starting to tell their children and grandchildren, friends, colleagues neighbours, that they’re really Jewish. Since 1989, thousands of Poles have rediscovered their real Jewish roots. That’s the Jewish community of Poland today.”

Speaking on the existence of antisemitism in Poland before and after the Holocaust, he said: “It was not socially unacceptable to be an antisemite before the war. The Holocaust changed that. The only thing was, after the Holocaust, many Jews left Poland so quickly and the other ones were hiding, [Poland] never had a chance to deal with what it means to be an antisemite after the Holocaust. And so with the fall of communism in 1989, people could start to look and say ‘What role should antisemitism play in Poland today?’ 

“After 1989, with Poland once again being democratic, they were challenged with recreating the old, new Poland, meaning they kept some values from before the war and they rejected others. So out went communism, out went fascism, and for many, also, it meant rejecting antisemitism. It represented something from the bad, old Poland. It doesn’t mean everyone rejected antisemitism, it doesn’t mean there’s no antisemitism today, but it does mean that there’s less than what people expect.”

However, while Rabbi Schudrich celebrated how far the country’s Jewish community has come, and indeed, how far the country has come in accepting it, he acknowledged that antisemitism has begun to creep up again.

“Unfortunately, about five years ago, things became less good than they were before since 1989. What happened? We have to look at it within a Western world context, meaning Europe and the United States. Something happened five or six years ago where it became more acceptable, more respectable, to say antisemitic things than it was since the Holocaust. And this is something that happened very sadly not only in Poland but throughout Europe and the United States.”

Throughout the interview, Rabbi Schudrich touched upon a variety of other issues including antisemitism in Japan, where he served as the rabbi of the country’s Jewish community, as well as detailing the incidents of an antisemitic attack in which he was involved.

The podcast with Rabbi Schudrich can be listened to here, or watched here.

Podcast Against Antisemitism, produced by Campaign Against Antisemitism, talks to a different guest about antisemitism each week. It streams every Thursday and is available through all major podcast apps and YouTube. You can also subscribe to have new episodes sent straight to your inbox.

Previous guests have included comedian David Baddiel, television personality Robert Rinder, writer Eve Barlow, Grammy-Award-winning singer-songwriter Autumn Rowe, and actor Eddie Marsan.