PREFACE

LUCJAN DOBROSZYCKI

Jewish elections and the work of Jewish deputies of the state, municipal, and self-governing elective bodies in the Second Polish Republic undoubtedly comprise one of the most intrinsically important chapters in Polish Jewish history. Yet there is no comprehensive study of the various kinds of elections in which Jews took part, both as citizens and as members of a distinct ethnic group, in the years 1919-39. During that period Jews were able to capture about a hundred seats in the five parliamentary elections, in addition to a much greater number of seats in the cities and towns throughout Poland. The way Jewish representatives were elected and the role they were to play in the general elective bodies differed drastically from the well-known

The following abbreviations are used in the references

pattern in the United States and most west European countries. In Poland, Jewish representatives were elected by Jews according to lists put out by Jewish political parties, organizations, and groups, with a clear mandate to serve the overall interest of the state and to defend the Jewish minority and its legal and actual rights. This, of course, was not the case for the few Polish Jews who saw themselves as Poles of Jewish descent; nor is it true to say that Jews qua Jews never voted for a non-Jew. They often did so, either because of the candidate's personality or simply in order to stop another, less desirable, non-Jew. As a rule, this was the case when a Jewish voter was confronted, on one side by a candidate from one of the antisemitic parties like the National Democrats or Christian Democrats, and on the other by a person affiliated with the Polish Socialist Party or Pilsudski's Non-party Bloc. The latter two were usually more sympathetic to the needs of the Jewish constituency.