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[edit] Poland

According to the Polish national census of 1931 there were 3,130,581 Polish Jews measured by the declaration of their religion (roughly 10% of the entire population). Roughly 79% of them reported Yiddish as their first language (with 12% declaring Polish and remaining 9% declaring Hebrew, Russian and German). Large part (77%) of the Jewish community was based in cities like Vilna (then Wilno, now Vilnius, Lithuania) or Warsaw, in 1939 there were 375,000 Jews in Warsaw or one third of the city's population. Only New York City had more Jewish residents than Warsaw. Jews enjoyed full cultural and religious autonomy, which proved a perfect soil for the Yiddish language culture to flourish.

During the school year of 1937–1938 there were 226 elementary schools^[1] and twelve high schools as well as fourteen vocational schools with either Yiddish or Hebrew as the instructional language. In addition to that, the YIVO (Jidiszer Wissenszaftlecher Institute; a Jewish national academy-without-a-state) was based in Wilno at the time.

The Jewish cultural scene^[2]was particularly vibrant and blossomed in pre-World War II Poland. There were many Jewish publications and over 116 periodicals, most of which were published in Yiddish. Among the most popular all-national daily newspapers were Der Moment (Moment; with readership reaching 150,000), Hajnt, tabloid Unzer Ekspres (Our Express), Bundist Fołks Cajtung (People's Daily), Dos Fołk (The People) and orthodox Jidisze Togbłat (Jewish Daily)^[3][4]. In addition to that, there were many weekly and monthly journals, some of which include the Jidisze Szriftn (scientific), Literarisze Bleter literary quarterly and the Bleter far Geszichte historical monthly.

Yiddish authors, most notably Isaac Bashevis Singer, went on to achieve international acclaim as classic Jewish writers, and in Singer's case, win the 1978 Nobel Prize. Other Jewish authors of the period, like Janusz Korczak, Bruno Schulz, Julian Tuwim, Jan Brzechwa (a favorite poet of Polish children) and Bolesław Leśmian were less well-known internationally, but made important contributions to Polish literature. Singer Jan Kiepura was one of the most popular artist of that era and pre-war songs of Jewish composers like Henryk Wars or Jerzy Petersburski are still widely known in Poland today. Scientist Leopold Infeld, mathematician Stanislaw Ulam or professor Adam Ulam contributed to the world of science. Others are Moses Schorr, Ludwik Zamenhof - the creator of Esperanto, Georges Charpak, Samuel Eilenberg, Emanuel Ringelblum, Arthur Rubinstein just to name a few from the long list of Polish Jews who are known internationally. The term "genocide" was coined by Raphael Lemkin (1900-1959), a Polish-Jewish legal scholar. Leonid Hurwicz was awarded the 2007 Nobel Prize in Economics. The Main Judaic Library and the Institute of Judaic Studies were located in Warsaw, religious centers had at their disposal Talmudic Schools (Jeszybots), as well as synagogues, many of which were architecturally outstanding. Yiddish theatre also flourished; Poland had fifteen Yiddish theatres and theatrical groups. Warsaw was home to the most important Yiddish theater troupe of the time, the Vilna Troupe, which staged the first performance of The Dybbuk in 1920 at the Elyseum Theatre.

Some future Israeli leaders studied at University of Warsaw - Menachem Begin, Yitzhak Shamir.

[edit] Notes and references