7 - The Jews of Warsaw, Polish Society, and the Partitioning Powers, 1795-1861

Summary

The history, spanning almost two centuries, of the Jews of Warsaw, who represented the greatest concentration of Jews in Poland and one of the largest Jewish communities in the world, has been broadly documented. The literature is concerned mostly with the internal life of the Jewish commune (kehilla) and the economic structures of Jewish life. An important part looks at the process of legal emancipation of the Jews which took place during the 19th century together with the gradual liquidation of the feudal system. This process, as is generally known, brought the Jews concrete advantages and freed them from age-old limitations imposed by Christian society. However, the process also involved certain negative sideeffects: ‘coming out of the ghetto’ threatened the Jews with being engulfed by the indifferent environment of the capitalist world and thus with the loss of their religious and national identity.

I wish to consider this question within the narrow limits of my own field: considering mutual relations between Jewish and Christian society in Warsaw against the background of the process of emancipation and, broadly speaking, between the mid-18th century and the mid ‘60s of the following century.

Warsaw, both as a fast developing industrial and trading centre since the Enlightenment and as the seat of political power, had always attracted Jews. Here, in the centre of the Republic, they searched for advantageous conditions for economic activity, and also hoped that here they could most effectively work for improvements in their condition on a national scale: by approaching the King, Sejm or central authorities.

The Jews had further obstacles to overcome in realising these aims, beginning with overturning or evading the privilege de non tolerandis Judaeis, in operation in Warsaw from the 16th century. They wanted the right of access to the capital and the right to settle there in the unrestricted areas of the city without incurring any further penalties. These issues were related to the question of the ‘Jewish district’, or more specifically the ban on settling by Warsaw's thoroughfares and the levy enforced on Jews arriving in the city, the so-called biletowy (Tagzettel). The right to carrying out any profession came next on the agenda, followed by assurance of autonomy for the religious commune (Kahal) and, finally, the granting of full citizens’ rights.