List of Polish Jews

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This page is a list of Jews.
For more on who is considered Jewish, see Who is a Jew?.

Graves of Polish Jews among the fallen soldiers of the Polish Defensive War of 1939; Powazki Cemetery, Warsaw

From the Middle Ages until the Holocaust, Jews comprised a significant part of the Polish population. The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, known as a "Jewish paradise" for its religious tolerance, attracted numerous Jews who fled persecution from other European countries, even though, at times, discrimination against Jews surfaced as it did elsewhere in Europe. Poland was a major spiritual and cultural center for Ashkenazi Jewry, and Polish Jews made major contributions to Polish cultural, economic, and political life. At the start of the Second World War, Poland had the largest Jewish population in the world (over 3 million[11]), the vast majority of whom were killed by the Nazis in the Holocaust during the German occupation of Poland, particularly through the implementation of the "Final Solution" mass extermination program. Only 369,000 (11%) survived. After massive postwar emigration, the current Polish Jewish population stands at approximately 8,000.

Note that the list includes people of Jewish faith, Ashkenazi culture and/or Jewish ancestry.

[edit] Historical figures

[edit] Politicians

• Menachem Begin (1913-1992), Israeli prime minister (born in Poland) ^[1]
• David Ben-Gurion (1886-1973), Israeli prime minister (born in Poland) ^[2]
• Jakub Berman (1901-1984), Secretary of PUWP (Polish United Workers' Party)
• Czeslaw Bielecki (b. 1948), Polish politician and architect^[3]
• Marek Borowski (b. 1946), Speaker of the Sejm
• Sala Burton (1925-1987), American politician^[4]
• Yohanan Cohen (b. 1917), Israeli politician
• Adam Czerniaków (1880-1942), Polish-Jewish politician
• Herman Diamand (1860-1931), Polish politician
• Ludwik Dorn (b. 1954), Polish deputy prime minister^[5]
• Boleslaw Drobner (1883-1968), Speaker of the Sejm
• David Dubinsky (1892-1982), American politician
• Jerzy Einhorn (1925-2000), Swedish politician
• Abraham Foxman (b. 1940), American-Jewish politician
• Bronisław Geremek (b. 1932), Polish foreign affairs minister
• Michael Goldwater (1821-1903), American politician^[6]
• Abba Hushi (1898-1969), Israeli politician
• Julian Klaczko (1825-1906), Polish politician^[7]
• Herman Lieberman (1870-1941), Polish politician
• Stefan Meller, (b. 1942), Polish foreign affairs minister
• Hilary Minc (1905-1974), economist, minister
• Lewis Bernstein Namier (1888-1960), British politician ^[8]
• Shimon Peres (b. 1923), Israeli prime minister, Nobel Prize laureate (1994) (born in Poland) ^[9]
• Feliks Perl (1871-1927), Polish politician
• Karl Radek (1885-1939), Bolshevik politician
• Adam Rotfeld (b. 1938), Polish foreign affairs minister
• Mordechai Chaim Rumkowski (1877-1944), Polish-Jewish politician
• Yitzhak Shamir (b. 1915), Israeli prime minister (born in Poland) ^[10]
• Stanisław Stroński (1882-1955), Polish politician^[11] (of Jewish descent)
• Eugeniusz Szyr (1915-2000), deputy prime minister
• Samuel A. Weiss (1902-1977), American politician^[12]
• Shevah Weiss (b. 1935), Israeli politician, a speaker of the Knesset
• Szmul Zygielbojm (1895-1943), Polish-Jewish leader

[edit] Soldiers and fighters

• Mordechaj Anielewicz (1919-1943), leader of Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
• Yitzhak Arad (b. 1926), partisan combat, historian, Israeli general
• David Ben-Gurion (1886-1973), Jewish Legion
• Marek Edelman (b. 1922), last living leader of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
• Berek Joselewicz (1764-1809), colonel during Kościuszko Uprising and Napoleonic wars
• Izydor Modelski (1889–1962), General of the Polish Army and deputy minister of war affairs
• Mieczysław Norwid-Neugebauer (1884–1954), General of the Polish Army
• Hyman Rickover (1900-1986), US Navy Admiral
• Krystyna Skarbek (1915-1952), WW2 spy (Jewish mother)
• Avraham Stern (1907-1942), the founder and leader of the Zionist underground organization Lehi
• Józef Światło, Lieutenant Colonel, spy

[edit] Others

• Wilhelm Billig, founder of Polish nuclear energy industry
• Julia Brystigerowa, politician
• Isaac Deutscher (1907-1967), Polish-British political activist
• Dora Diamant (1898-1952), lover of Franz Kafka^[13]
• Gaspar da Gama (1444-ca.1510), traveller, interpreter^[14]
• Mieczysław Grydzewski (1894-1970), journalist, editor
• Gideon Hausner (1915-1990), Israeli jurist
• Emil Haecker (1875-1934), journalist, editor
• Sir Hersch Lauterpacht, British judge^[15],
• Raphael Lemkin (1900-1959), human rights lawyer
• Rosa Luxembourg (1870-1919), Marxist
• Adam Michnik (b. 1946), journalist, dissident
• Henry Morgentaler (b. 1923), abortion activist
• Daniel Passent (b. 1938), journalist
• Ludwik Rajchman (1881-1965), founder of UNICEF
• Ernestine Rose (1810-1892), feminist
• Joseph Rotblat (1908-2005), founder of Pugwash, Nobel Prize (1995)
• Leon Rubinstein, Operative Technology and records
• Kazimiera Szczuka feminist (Jewish mother)
• Jerzy Urban (b. 1933), journalist, commentator, writer and politician
• Saul Wahl (1541-1617), according to tradition, temporary King of Poland in 1586
• Simon Wiesenthal (1908-2005), hunter of Nazis
• Helena Wolinska-Brus, former Stalinist military prosecutor from Poland

[edit] Religious figures

• Yitzchak Meir Alter (1798-1866), Hassidic first Rebbe of Ger
• Dov Ber of Mezeritch (d. 1772), Hassidic rabbi
• Israel ben Eliezer (the Baal Shem Tov) (ca 1700-1760), Hassidic rabbi
• Elimelech of Lizhensk (1717-1786), Hassidic rabbi
• Philip Ferdinand, Professor of Hebrew ^[16]
• Jacob Frank (1726-1791), Jewish messianic claimant who combined Judaism and Christianity
• Christian David Ginsburg (1831-1914), Hebraist, converted to Christianity^[17]
• Kalonymus Haberkasten (16th c.), rabbi
• Chaim Halberstam (1793-1876), Hassidic rabbi
• Naftali Tzvi Halberstam (1931-2005), Hassidic Rebbe of Bobov
• Aaron Hart (1670-1756), rabbi ^[18]
• Ridley Haim Herschell, missionary ^[19]
• Arthur Hertzberg (b. 1921), rabbi
• Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog (1889-1959), Chief Rabbi of Ireland
• Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972), theologian
• Zevi Hirsch Kalischer (1795-1874), rabbi & Zionist pioneer
• Tzvi Hirsh of Zidichov (1763-1831), Hassidic rabbi
• Moses Isserles (1530-1572), rabbi
• Israel Meir Lau (b. 1937), the Israeli Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi (1993-2003)
• Solomon Luria (1510-1574), rabbi
• Jean-Marie Lustiger (b. 1926), French Roman-Catholic cardinal
• Walenty Potocki, count, converted to Judaism (Avrohom ben Avrohom), the Ger Tzedek of Vilna, (d. 1749)
• Samuel Judah Löb Rapoport (1790-1867), Orthodox rabbi, scholar
• Shalom Rokeach (1779-1855), Hassidic rabbi (first Belzer Rebbe)
• Aharon Rokeach (1877-1957), Hassidic rabbi (fourth Belzer Rebbe)
• Michael Schudrich (b. 1955), Chief Rabbi of Poland
• Meir Shapiro (1887-1933), Hasidic rabbi and rosh yeshiva
• Naftoli Shapiro (1906-1981), rabbi and rosh yeshiva
• Joseph Soloveitchik (1903-1993), Orthodox rabbi, philosopher
• Yaakov Yitzchak of Lublin (1745-1815), Hassidic rabbi
• Romuald Jakub Weksler-Waszkinel (b. 1943), Catholic priest^[20]
• Israel Zolli (1881-1956), Chief Rabbi of Rome, converted to Christianity

[edit] Academics

[edit] Scientists

• Herman Auerbach, mathematician (Jewish father)
• Salomon Bochner, mathematician
• Baruch Brent (now Leslie Brent), immunologist
• Jacob Bronowski, scientist & broadcaster, works: algebraic geometry
• Georges Charpak, physicist, Nobel Prize (1992)
• Samuel Eilenberg, mathematician: category theory
• Kasimir Fajans, physicist
• Salo Finkelstein, mental calculator
• Roald Hoffmann (1937 - ) chemist & writer, Nobel Prize winner (1981)^[21]
• Leopold Infeld, physicist
• Mark Kac, mathematician
• Hilary Koprowski, immunologist
• Abraham Lempel, computer scientist: LZW compression
• Adolf Lindenbaum, logician
• Benoît Mandelbrot, mathematician: fractals
• Szolem Mandelbrojt, mathematician
• Albert Abraham Michelson, physicist,^[22] Nobel Prize in Physics
• Herman Müntz, mathematician
• Jakub Natanson, chemist
• Emil Leon Post, mathematician
• Mojzesz Presburger, logician
• Alfred Pringsheim, mathematician
• Isidor Isaac Rabi, physicist, Nobel prize
• Tadeus Reichstein, chemist, Nobel Prize (1950)
• Stanislaw Saks, mathematician
• Albert Sabin, inventor of the oral Polio vaccine
• Andrew V. Schally, endocrinologist, Nobel Prize (1977) (Jewish father)
• Juliusz Schauder, mathematician
• Hugo Steinhaus, mathematician
• Abraham Sztern (1762-1842), inventor, he made important contributions to the construction of mechanical calculators
• Ary Sternfeld, a founder of astronautics
• Alfred Tarski, mathematician, logician
• Stanislaw Ulam, mathematician

[edit] Social sciences

• Solomon Asch, Gestalt psychologist
• Szymon Aszkenazy, historian
• Salo Wittmayer Baron, historian
• Zygmunt Bauman, sociologist
• Ivan Bloch, military writer
• Szymon Datner, historian
• Isaac Deutscher, historian
• Simon Dubnow, historian
• Artur Eisenbach, historian
• Alain Finkielkraut, French philosopher
• Jan T. Gross, historian
• Henryk Grossman, economist
• Marceli Handelsman, historian
• Joseph Jastrow, psychologist (Jewish father)
• Michal Kalecki, economist
• Leopold Łabędź, historian
• Henryk Lipszyc, specialist in Japanese culture, translator^{[citation needed]}
• Rafał Mahler, historian
• Lewis Namier, British historian
• Richard Pipes, historian
• Paul Radin, anthropologist
• Emanuel Ringelblum, historian
• Milton Rokeach, psychologist
• Manfred Sakel, neurophysiologist & psychiatrist
• Adam Schaff, philosopher
• Avraham Stern, famous Zionist
• Paweł Śpiewak, sociologist, politician
• Michel Thomas, language teacher
• Ludwik Zamenhof, ophthalmologist and inventor of Esperanto

[edit] Cultural figures

[edit] Artists

• Jankiel Adler, painter
• Mordecai Ardon, artist
• Chim, photographer
• Irena Eichler, actress
• René Goscinny, cartoonist
• Maurycy Gottlieb, painter
• Marek Holzman, photographer^{[citation needed]}
• Ida Kaminska, actress
• Bronisław Kaper, composer^{[citation needed]}
• Moise Kisling, painter
• Roman Kramsztyk, painter
• Joe Kubert, comic book artist
• Tamara de Lempicka, painter (Jewish mother)
• Daniel Libeskind, architect
• Louis Marcoussis, painter
• Elie Nadelman, sculptor
• Maria Orska, actress
• Erna Rosenstein, painter, poet
• Moshe Rynecki, painter
• Arthur Szyk, political cartoonist
• Max Weber, painter
• Esther Wertheimer, sculptor
• Samuel Willenberg, sculptor (Jewish father)
• Alfred Wolmark, painter^[23]
• Samuel Yellin, sculptor

[edit] Musicians

• Emanuel Ax, pianist
• Leonard & Phil Chess, founders of Chess Records
• Grzegorz Fitelberg, composer
• Ignaz Friedman, pianist
• Bronislav Gimpel, violinist
• Szymon Goldberg, violinist/conductor
• Ida Haendel, violinist
• Sir George Henschel, musician ^[24]
• Mieczysław Horszowski, pianist
• Bronislaw Huberman, violinist
• Jan Kiepura, singer^[25] (Jewish mother)
• Leopold Kozlowski, composer, arranger, director, pianist (from the famous Brandwein family)
• Wanda Landowska, harpsichordist (Jewish mother)
• Szymon Laks, composer
• René Leibowitz, composer
• Jerzy Petersburski, composer, pianist (of Jewish ancestry)
• Sława Przybylska, singer
• Moriz Rosenthal, pianist
• Arthur Rubinstein, pianist
• Heinrich Schenker, music theorist
• Artur Schnabel, pianist
• Henryk Szeryng, violinist^[26]
• Władysław Szpilman pianist, author of The Pianist memoir
• Alexandre Tansman, composer, pianist
• Carl Tausig, composer, pianist
• Golda Tencer, singer
• Ignaz Tiegerman, pianist (Jewish father)
• Ignatz Waghalter, composer
• Henryk Wars, composer^[27]
• Mieczyslaw Weinberg, composer
• Henryk Wieniawski, violinist, composer

[edit] Screen and stage

• Artur Brauner, film producer
• Aleksander Ford, film director
• Jakub Goldberg, film screenwriter
• Samuel Goldwyn, film producer
• Joseph Green (Yoysef Grinberg), Yiddish actor
• Anna Held, stage actress
• Aleksander Hertz, film pioneer and director
• Jerzy Hoffman, film director
• Agnieszka Holland, film director, screenwriter (Jewish father)
• Moses Horowitz, Yiddish playwright
• Wanda Jakubowska, film director
• Boris Kaufman, cinematographer
• Mikhail Kaufman, cinematographer
• Andrzej Munk, film director (Jewish ancestry)
• Roman Polański, film director (father and maternal grandparent were Jewish, Polish catholic mother)
• Marie Rambert, ballet dancer ^[28]
• Lew Rywin, film producer
• Piotr Skrzynecki, cabaret director (Jewish mother)^[29]
• Dziga Vertov, film director^[30]
• Harry, Sam & Albert Warner, film producers

[edit] Writers and poets

[edit] Polish-language

• Alicia Appleman-Jurman, writer
• Krzysztof Kamil Baczyński, poet (Jewish mother}^[31]
• Roman Brandstaetter, writer, poet^[32]
• Kazimierz Brandys, writer^[33]
• Jan Brzechwa, poet
• Ida Fink, writer of short stories
• Gustaw Herling-Grudziński, writer
• Konstanty Gebert, writer, activist (Jewish mother)
• Henryk Grynberg, writer
• Marian Hemar, poet
• Bruno Jasieński, poet ^[34] (Jewish father)
• Mieczysław Jastrun, poet
• Janusz Korczak, pediatrician, children's writer, pedagogue and educator
• Hanna Krall, author
• Stanisław Jerzy Lec, poet
• Stanisław Lem, writer (Jewish father) ^[35]
• Bolesław Leśmian, poet
• Teodor Parnicki, writer (Jewish mother)^[36]
• Artur Sandauer, writer, literature critic, and publicist
• Bruno Schulz, prose writer
• Antoni Słonimski, writer
• Arnold Słucki, poet
• Anatol Stern, poet ^[37]
• Julian Stryjkowski, novelist
• Julian Tuwim, poet, song lyrics
• Leopold Tyrmand, writer^[38]
• Aleksander Wat, poet^[39]
• Bronisław Wildstein, journalist (Jewish father)
• Józef Wittlin, poet^[40]
• Stanislaw Wygodzki, writer

[edit] Yiddish-language

• Sholem Asch, writer
• Mordechai Gebirtig, poet-songwriter
• Itche Goldberg, writer
• Yitzhak Katzenelson, poet
• Salcia Landmann, Yiddish writer
• I. L. Peretz, writer
• Morris Rosenfeld, proletariat writer
• Isaac Bashevis Singer, writer, Nobel Prize (1978)
• Israel Joshua Singer, novelist

[edit] Other languages

• Shmuel Yosef Agnon, Hebrew writer, Nobel Prize (1966)
• Lisa Appignanesi, English writer
• Louis Begley, American writer
• Yoram Bronowski, Israeli literary critic
• Roman Frister, Israeli journalist and author
• Maurice Frydman, Indian translator
• Marek Halter, French writer
• Naphtali Herz Imber, Hebrew poet
• Jerzy Kosiński, English-language novelist, from 1965 an American citizen
• Uri Orlev, Hebrew writer, Hans Christian Andersen Award (1996)
• Marcel Reich-Ranicki, German writer
• Naftali Herz Tur-Sinai, Hebrew writer

[edit] Business figures

• Majer Bersohn, banker, philanthropist^[41]
• Henry & Helal Hassenfeld, founders of Hasbro
• Leopold Kronenberg, banker^[42]
• Maurycy Orgelbrand, editor^[43]
• Samuel Orgelbrand, editor^[44]
• Izrael Poznański, textile magnate, philanthropist
• Helena Rubinstein, cosmetics industrialist
• Jack Tramiel, founder of Commodore
• Hipolit Wawelberg, banker, philanthropist
• Felix Zandman, founder of Vishay
• Szmul Zbytkower, banker, factor^[45]

[edit] Sport figures

[edit] Chess players

• Izak Aloni
• Izaak Appel
• Abram Blass
• Agnieszka Brustman
• Oscar Chajes
• Josef Cukierman
• Moshe Czerniak
• Dawid Daniuszewski
• Arthur Dunkelblum
• Samuel Factor
• Alexander Flamberg
• Henryk Friedman
• Achilles Frydman
• Paulino Frydman
• Edward Gerstenfeld
• Yehuda Gruenfeld
• Izaak Grynfeld
• Roza Herman
• Dawid Janowski ^[46]
• Max Judd
• Stanisław Kohn
• Jakub Kolski
• Abraham Kupchik
• Salo Landau
• Grigory Levenfish
• Jerzy Lewi
• Moishe Lowtzky
• Miguel Najdorf
• Menachem Oren
• Julius Perlis
• Dawid Przepiórka
• Samuel Rosenthal
• Gersz Rotlewi
• Akiba Rubinstein
• Samuel Reshevsky
• Gersz Salwe
• Leon Schwartzmann
• Stanislaus Sittenfeld
• Gedali Szapiro
• Savielly Tartakower ^[47]
• Jean Taubenhaus ^[48]
• Szymon Winawer
• Daniel Yanofsky
• Johannes Zukertort

[edit] Others

• Ludwik Gintel, footballer (soccer)
• Charley Goldman, boxing trainer (International Boxing Hall of Fame)
• Roman Kantor, fencer
• Józef Klotz, footballer (soccer)
• Józef Lustgarten, footballer (soccer)
• Myer Prinstein, long- and triple-jumper (4 Olympic golds)
• Leon Sperling, footballer (soccer)
• Irena Kirszenstein-Szewińska, sprinter (7 medals over 4 Olympics)^[49]

[edit] Criminals

• Bogusław Bagsik, hochstapler, swindler
• Anatol Fejgin , Polish State Security Services, very cruel communist criminal
• Maria Gurowska or Berger, Polish State Security, Services communist criminal
• Wiktor Herer, Polish State Security Services, communist criminal
• Adam Humer, Polish State Security Services, communist criminal
• Aaron Kosminski, UK Jack the Ripper suspect
• Meyer Lansky, US gangster
• Salomon Morel, Polish State Security Services, communist criminal
• Julian Polan-Haraschin, chairperson of the military tribunal in Cracow
• Roman Romkowski, 1st vice-minister of MPS
• Józef Różański, head of the Department of Investigations

[edit] Fictional figures

• Jankiel from Pan Tadeusz
• The Jew from Wesele
• Magneto, Marvel comics mutant

[edit] See also

• History of the Jews in Poland
• List of Jews
• List of Poles
• List of Galician Jews
• List of people of Polish Jewish descent

[edit] References

[edit] Footnotes