List of Polish Jews
Encyclopedia
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
until the Holocaust
The Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
, Jews comprised a significant part of the Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
population. The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was a dualistic state of Poland and Lithuania ruled by a common monarch. It was the largest and one of the most populous countries of 16th- and 17th‑century Europe with some and a multi-ethnic population of 11 million at its peak in the early 17th century...
, 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 Jews/Ashkenazi Jewry. At the start of the Second World War, Poland had the largest Jewish population in the world (over 3.3 million http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Poland.html), the vast majority of whom were killed by the Nazis
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
in the Holocaust during the German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
occupation of Poland, particularly through the implementation of the "Final Solution
Final Solution
The Final Solution was Nazi Germany's plan and execution of the systematic genocide of European Jews during World War II, resulting in the most deadly phase of the Holocaust...
" mass extermination program. Only 369,000 (11%) survived. After massive postwar emigration, the current Polish Jewish population stands at somewhere between 8,000 and 20,000.
Note that the list includes people of Jewish faith, Ashkenazi culture and/or Jewish ancestry.
Politicians
- Menachem BeginMenachem Begin' was a politician, founder of Likud and the sixth Prime Minister of the State of Israel. Before independence, he was the leader of the Zionist militant group Irgun, the Revisionist breakaway from the larger Jewish paramilitary organization Haganah. He proclaimed a revolt, on 1 February 1944,...
(1913–1992), Israeli prime minister, Nobel Laureate, 1978 (born in Poland) - David Ben-GurionDavid Ben-Gurion' was the first Prime Minister of Israel.Ben-Gurion's passion for Zionism, which began early in life, led him to become a major Zionist leader and Executive Head of the World Zionist Organization in 1946...
(1886–1973), Israeli prime minister (born in Poland) - Jakub BermanJakub BermanJakub Berman was born into a middle-class Jewish family. Berman first became a prominent communist in prewar Poland. Toward the end of World War II he joined the Politburo of the Soviet-formed Polish United Workers' Party...
(1901–1984), Polish communist, Secretary of PUWP (Polish United Workers' Party) - Czesław Bielecki (b. 1948), Polish politician and architect
- Sala BurtonSala BurtonSala Burton was a United States Representative from California. She was born Sala Galante in Białystok, Poland. She attended public schools in San Francisco and University of San Francisco. She was the associate director of the California Public Affairs Institute from 1948 to 1950...
(1925–1987), American politician - Ludwik DornLudwik DornLudwik Dorn is a Polish conservative politician, former Deputy Prime Minister and member of Sejm elected on November 5, 2007.From October 31, 2005 to February 7, 2007 he was Minister of Interior and Administration, resigned after conflict with the Prime Minister Jarosław Kaczyński...
(b. 1954), Polish politician, a speaker of the Sejm - Julian KlaczkoJulian KlaczkoJulian Klaczko was a Polish author.Born Jehuda Lejb into a wealthy Jewish family, he studied in Vilna and Königsberg. In 1847, he took PhD title...
(1825–1906), Polish politician - David MilibandDavid MilibandDavid Wright Miliband is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for South Shields since 2001, and was the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs from 2007 to 2010. He is the elder son of the late Marxist theorist Ralph Miliband...
(b. 1965), British foreign affairs minister - Lewis Bernstein NamierLewis Bernstein NamierSir Lewis Bernstein Namier was an English historian. He was born Ludwik Niemirowski in Wola Okrzejska in what was then part of the Russian Empire and is today in Poland.-Life:...
(1888–1960), British politician - Shimon PeresShimon PeresGCMG is the ninth President of the State of Israel. Peres served twice as the eighth Prime Minister of Israel and once as Interim Prime Minister, and has been a member of 12 cabinets in a political career spanning over 66 years...
(b. 1923), Israeli prime minister and president, Nobel Prize laureate (1994) - Yitzhak ShamirYitzhak Shamir' is a former Israeli politician, the seventh Prime Minister of Israel, in 1983–84 and 1986–92.-Biography:Icchak Jeziernicky was born in Ruzhany , Russian Empire . He studied at a Hebrew High School in Białystok, Poland. As a youth he joined Betar, the Revisionist Zionist youth movement...
(b. 1915), Israeli prime minister (born in Poland) - Stanisław Stroński (1882–1955), Polish politician (of Jewish descent)
- Samuel A. WeissSamuel A. WeissSamual Arthur Weiss was a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.-Biography:...
(1902–1977), American politician
Others
- Dora DiamantDora DiamantDora Diamant is best remembered as the lover of the writer Franz Kafka and the person who kept some of his last writings in her possession until they were confiscated by the Gestapo in 1933...
(1898–1952), lover of Franz KafkaFranz KafkaFranz Kafka was a culturally influential German-language author of short stories and novels. Contemporary critics and academics, including Vladimir Nabokov, regard Kafka as one of the best writers of the 20th century... - Gaspar da GamaGaspar da GamaGaspar da Gama was a merchant of Jewish origin who acted as interpreter and provided many services to the Portuguese, since he first approached Vasco da Gama fleet returning from the first travel from Europe to India. He was known to speak several East and West languages...
(1444-ca.1510), traveller, interpreter - Sir Hersch LauterpachtHersch LauterpachtSir Hersch Lauterpacht was a member of the United Nations' International Law Commission from 1952 to 1954 and a Judge of the International Court of Justice from 1955 to 1960. In the words of former ICJ President Stephen M...
, British judge,
Religious figures
- Philip FerdinandPhilip FerdinandPhilip Ferdinand was an English Hebraist.Born in Poland to Polish Jewish parents, he converted first to Roman Catholicism and then to Protestantism. He was a poor student at Oxford University, where he taught Hebrew. He matriculated at Cambridge University in 1596. He became professor of Hebrew...
, Professor of Hebrew - Christian David GinsburgChristian David GinsburgChristian David Ginsburg was a Polish-born, British Bible scholar and student of the masoretic tradition in Judaism....
(1831–1914), Hebraist, converted to Christianity - Aaron Hart (1670–1756), rabbi
- Ridley Haim HerschellRidley Haim HerschellRidley Haim Herschell was an Anglo-Polish minister who converted from Judaism to evangelical Christianity...
(1807-1864), missionary; moved to England - Romuald Jakub Weksler-Waszkinel (b. 1943), Catholic priest
Mathematicians
- Alfred TarskiAlfred TarskiAlfred Tarski was a Polish logician and mathematician. Educated at the University of Warsaw and a member of the Lwow-Warsaw School of Logic and the Warsaw School of Mathematics and philosophy, he emigrated to the USA in 1939, and taught and carried out research in mathematics at the University of...
- Stanislaw Ulam
- Benoit MandelbrotBenoît MandelbrotBenoît B. Mandelbrot was a French American mathematician. Born in Poland, he moved to France with his family when he was a child...
- Hugo SteinhausHugo SteinhausWładysław Hugo Dionizy Steinhaus was a Polish mathematician and educator. Steinhaus obtained his PhD under David Hilbert at Göttingen University in 1911 and later became a professor at the University of Lwów, where he helped establish what later became known as the Lwów School of Mathematics...
- Samuel EilenbergSamuel EilenbergSamuel Eilenberg was a Polish and American mathematician of Jewish descent. He was born in Warsaw, Russian Empire and died in New York City, USA, where he had spent much of his career as a professor at Columbia University.He earned his Ph.D. from University of Warsaw in 1936. His thesis advisor...
- Emil Leon PostEmil Leon PostEmil Leon Post was a mathematician and logician. He is best known for his work in the field that eventually became known as computability theory.-Early work:...
- Hayyim Selig SlonimskiHayyim Selig SlonimskiHayyim Selig Slonimski was a Hebrew publisher, astronomer, inventor, and science author.-Biography:Hayyim Selig Slonimski was born in Byelostok, Russian Empire March 31, 1810....
- Mark KacMark KacMark Kac was a Polish mathematician. His main interest was probability theory. His question, "Can one hear the shape of a drum?" set off research into spectral theory, with the idea of understanding the extent to which the spectrum allows one to read back the geometry. Kac completed his Ph.D...
- Leon LichtensteinLeon LichtensteinLeon Lichtenstein was a Polish-German mathematician, who made contributions to the areas of differential equations, conformal mapping, and potential theory...
- Szolem Mandelbrojt
- Nachman Aronszajn
- Juliusz SchauderJuliusz SchauderJuliusz Paweł Schauder was a Polish mathematician of Jewish origin, known for his work in functional analysis, partial differential equation and mathematical physics.Born on September 21, 1899 in Lemberg, he had to fight in World War I right after his graduation from school...
- Edward MarczewskiEdward MarczewskiEdward Marczewski was a Polish mathematician. His surname until 1940 was Szpilrajn.Marczewski was a member of the Warsaw School of Mathematics...
- Adolf LindenbaumAdolf LindenbaumAdolf Lindenbaum , was a Polish logician and mathematician.He was a student of Wacław Sierpiński, became a distinguished author of works on set theory and had served as an Assistant Professor at Warsaw University...
- Herman AuerbachHerman AuerbachHerman Auerbach was a Polish mathematician and member of the Lwów School of Mathematics.Auerbach was professor at Lwów University. During the Second World War because of his Jewish descent he was imprisoned by the Germans in the Lwów ghetto. In 1942 he was murdered at Bełżec extermination...
- Samuel Dickstein (mathematician)Samuel Dickstein (mathematician)Samuel Dickstein was a Polish mathematician of Jewish origin. He was one of the founders of the Jewish party "Zjednoczenie" , which advocated the assimilation of Polish Jews....
- Mojżesz PresburgerMojzesz PresburgerMojżesz Presburger was a Polish Jewish mathematician, logician, and philosopher. He was a student of Alfred Tarski and is known for, among other things, having invented Presburger arithmetic as a student in 1929....
- Stanislaw SaksStanislaw SaksStanisław Saks was a Polish mathematician and university tutor, known primarily for his membership in the Scottish Café circle, an extensive monograph on the Theory of Integrals, his works on measure theory and the Vitali-Hahn-Saks theorem.Stanisław Saks was born December 30, 1897 in Kalisz,...
- Salomon BochnerSalomon BochnerSalomon Bochner was an American mathematician of Austrian-Hungarian origin, known for wide-ranging work in mathematical analysis, probability theory and differential geometry.- Life :...
, mathematician
Sciences
- Leslie BrentLeslie BrentLeslie Baruch Brent , born Lothar Baruch, in Köslin, Germany , to German-Jewish parents, is a British immunologist and zoologist....
, immunologist - Georges CharpakGeorges CharpakGeorges Charpak was a French physicist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1992.-Life:Georges Charpak was born to Jewish family in the village of Dąbrowica in Poland . Charpak's family moved from Poland to Paris when he was seven years old...
, physicist, Nobel Prize (1992) - Albert Abraham MichelsonAlbert Abraham MichelsonAlbert Abraham Michelson was an American physicist known for his work on the measurement of the speed of light and especially for the Michelson-Morley experiment. In 1907 he received the Nobel Prize in Physics...
(1852-1931), physicist; immigrated to the United States Nobel Prize in PhysicsNobel Prize in PhysicsThe Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded once a year by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895 and awarded since 1901; the others are the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Peace Prize, and...
(1907) - Kasimir Fajans, physicist
- Roald HoffmannRoald HoffmannRoald Hoffmann is an American theoretical chemist who won the 1981 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He currently teaches at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.-Escape from the Holocaust:...
(1937 - ) chemist & writer, Nobel Prize winner (1981) - Leopold InfeldLeopold InfeldLeopold Infeld was a Polish physicist who worked mainly in Poland and Canada . He was a Rockefeller fellow at Cambridge University and a member of the Polish Academy of Sciences....
, physicist - Hilary KoprowskiHilary KoprowskiHilary Koprowski is a Polish virologist and immunologist, and inventor of the world's first effective live polio vaccine.-Life:...
, immunologist - Abraham LempelAbraham LempelAbraham Lempel is an Israeli computer scientist and one of the fathers of the LZ family of lossless data compression algorithms.Lempel was born on 10 February 1936 in Lwów, Poland . He studied at Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, and received a B.Sc. in 1963, M.Sc. in 1965, and D.Sc. in...
, computer scientist: LZW compression - Jakub Natanson, chemist
- Isidor Isaac RabiIsidor Isaac RabiIsidor Isaac Rabi was a Galician-born American physicist and Nobel laureate recognized in 1944 for his discovery of nuclear magnetic resonance.-Early years:...
, physicist, Nobel prize - Tadeus ReichsteinTadeus ReichsteinTadeusz Reichstein was a Polish-born Swiss chemist and Nobel laureate.Reichstein was born into a Jewish family at Włocławek, Congress Poland, and spent his early childhood at Kiev, where his father was an engineer...
, chemist, Nobel Prize (1950) - Albert SabinAlbert SabinAlbert Bruce Sabin was an American medical researcher best known for having developed an oral polio vaccine.-Life:...
, inventor of the oral Polio vaccine - Abraham Sztern (1762-1842), inventor
- Ary Sternfeld, a founder of astronautics
Artists
- Mayer KirshenblattMayer KirshenblattMayer Kirshenblatt was born in Apt / Opatów Poland. He left Poland in 1934 and settled in Toronto, Canada, where he ran a paint and wallpaper store for many years...
(b. 1916), artist - Alfred WolmarkAlfred WolmarkAlfred Wolmark was a painter and decorative artist. He was a pioneer of the New Movement in Art.Wolmark was born into a Jewish family in Warsaw...
(1887-1961), painter; immigrated to England
Musicians
- Sir George HenschelGeorge HenschelSir George Henschel , was a British baritone, pianist, conductor, and composer of German birth....
(1850-1934), musician; immigrated to England - Jan KiepuraJan KiepuraJan Wiktor Kiepura was an acclaimed Polish singer and actor.-Biography:...
(1902-1966), actor & singer; immigrated to the United States (Jewish mother) - Henryk SzeryngHenryk SzeryngHenryk Szeryng was a Polish violinist.-Early years:He was born in Żelazowa Wola, Poland on 22 September 1918 into a wealthy family....
(1918-1988), violinist; immigrated to Mexico - Henryk WarsHenryk WarsHenryk Wars was a Polish and later American pop music composer. He wrote the music for 50 films in the interwar period in Poland and sixty more in the United States...
(1902-1977), composer; immigrated to the United States
Screen and stage
- Boris KaufmanBoris KaufmanBoris Abelevich Kaufman, A.S.C. was a cinematographer. He was the younger brother of famous filmmakers Dziga Vertov and Mikhail Kaufman....
(1887-1980), cinematographer; immigrated to the United States; brother of Mikhail KaufmanMikhail KaufmanMikhail Abramovich Kaufman ; ) was a Russian cinematographer and photographer. He was the younger brother of filmmaker Dziga Vertov and the older brother of cinematographer Boris Kaufman....
and Dziga VertovDziga VertovDavid Abelevich Kaufman , better known by his pseudonym Dziga Vertov , was a Soviet pioneer documentary film, newsreel director and cinema theorist... - Mikhail KaufmanMikhail KaufmanMikhail Abramovich Kaufman ; ) was a Russian cinematographer and photographer. He was the younger brother of filmmaker Dziga Vertov and the older brother of cinematographer Boris Kaufman....
(1897-1980), cinematographer & photographer; immigrated to the Soviet Union; brother of Boris KaufmanBoris KaufmanBoris Abelevich Kaufman, A.S.C. was a cinematographer. He was the younger brother of famous filmmakers Dziga Vertov and Mikhail Kaufman....
and Dziga VertovDziga VertovDavid Abelevich Kaufman , better known by his pseudonym Dziga Vertov , was a Soviet pioneer documentary film, newsreel director and cinema theorist... - Agnieszka HollandAgnieszka HollandAgnieszka Holland is a Polish film and TV director and screenwriter. Best recognized for her highly political contributions to Polish cinema, Holland is one of Poland's most prominent filmmakers.-Personal life:...
(1948-), Film directorFilm directorA film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
& writer (Jewish father) - Marie RambertMarie RambertDame Marie Rambert DBE was a Polish-Jewish dancer and dance pedagogue who exerted a great influence on British ballet, both as a dancer and teacher.- Early years and background :...
(1888-1982), ballet dancer & teacher; immigrated to England - Piotr Skrzynecki, cabaret director (Jewish mother)
- Dziga VertovDziga VertovDavid Abelevich Kaufman , better known by his pseudonym Dziga Vertov , was a Soviet pioneer documentary film, newsreel director and cinema theorist...
, film director; immigrated to the Soviet Union; brother of Boris KaufmanBoris KaufmanBoris Abelevich Kaufman, A.S.C. was a cinematographer. He was the younger brother of famous filmmakers Dziga Vertov and Mikhail Kaufman....
and Mikhail KaufmanMikhail KaufmanMikhail Abramovich Kaufman ; ) was a Russian cinematographer and photographer. He was the younger brother of filmmaker Dziga Vertov and the older brother of cinematographer Boris Kaufman....
Polish-language
- Roman Brandstaetter, writer, poet
- Kazimierz BrandysKazimierz BrandysKazimierz Brandys was a Polish essayist and writer of film scripts.Brandys was born in Łódź. He was the brother of the writer Marian Brandys and husband of the translator Maria Zenowicz. He completed a law degree at the University of Warsaw. He was first published in 1935 as a theatrical critic,...
(1916-2000), writer - Teodor ParnickiTeodor ParnickiTeodor Parnicki was a Polish writer, notable for his historical novels. He is especially renowned for works related to the early medieval Middle East, the late Roman and the Byzantine empires....
(1908-1988), writer (Jewish mother) - Anatol SternAnatol SternAnatol Stern was a Polish poet, writer and art critic. Born October 24, 1899 to an assimilated family of Jewish ancestry, Stern studied at the Polish Studies Faculty of the University of Wilno but did not graduate...
(1899-1968), poet - Leopold TyrmandLeopold TyrmandLeopold Tyrmand was a Polish novelist and editor. He studied architecture for a year at L'Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris before the war, and during the war was a resistance fighter in Poland, a waiter in Germany , and a prisoner in a Norwegian concentration camp...
(1920-1985), writer - Aleksander WatAleksander WatAleksander Wat, was a Polish poet, writer and art theoretician, one of the precursors of Polish futurism movement in early 1920s....
(1900-1967), poet - Józef Wittlin, poet
Yiddish-language
- Abraham SutzkeverAbraham SutzkeverAbraham Sutzkever was an acclaimed Yiddish poet. The New York Times wrote that Sutzkever was "the greatest poet of the Holocaust."-Biography:...
(1913-2010), poet, immigrated to Israel http://www.cjh.org/education/essays.php?action=show&id=15
Business figures
- Majer Bersohn, banker, philanthropist
- Henry & Helal Hassenfeld, founders of HasbroHasbroHasbro is a multinational toy and boardgame company from the United States of America. It is one of the largest toy makers in the world. The corporate headquarters is located in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, United States...
- Leopold KronenbergLeopold KronenbergBaron Leopold Julian Kronenberg was a Polish banker.-Life:Kronenberg was born the son of banker and railroad tycoon Leopold Kronenberg and his wife Rozalia Leo. Both parents came from Jewish families which had converted to Protestantism—the Kronenbergs, to Calvinism...
(1849-1937), banker - Maurycy Orgelbrand, editor
- Samuel OrgelbrandSamuel OrgelbrandSamuel Orgelbrand was one of the most prominent Polish-Jewish printers and publishers of the 19th century. The person to discover the works of Józef Ignacy Kraszewski.-The monumental work - publishing the encyclopedia:...
(1810-1896), editor and painter - Szmul Zbytkower, banker, factor
Chess
- Savielly Tartakower, (1887-1956), chess master
- Akiba RubinsteinAkiba RubinsteinAkiba Kiwelowicz Rubinstein was a famous Polish chess Grandmaster at the beginning of the 20th century. He was scheduled to play a match with Emanuel Lasker for the world championship in 1914, but it was cancelled because of the outbreak of World War I...
- Gersz RotlewiGersz RotlewiGersz Rotlewi was a Polish chess master.-Biography:In 1906, Rotlewi tied for 5-6th in Lodz...
- Gersz SalweGersz SalweGersz Salwe was a Polish chess player.-Biography:Salwe was born into a Jewish family in Warsaw ....
- Johannes ZukertortJohannes ZukertortJohannes Hermann Zukertort was a leading chess master of German-Polish-Jewish origin. He was one of the leading world players for most of the 1870s and 1880s, and lost to Wilhelm Steinitz in the World Chess Championship 1886, which is generally seen as the first World Chess Championship match, he...
- Daniel YanofskyDaniel YanofskyDaniel Abraham Yanofsky, OC, QC was Canada's first chess grandmaster, an eight-time Canadian Chess Champion, a chess writer, a chess arbiter, and a lawyer.-Life in chess:...
Fencing
- Roman KantorRoman KantorRoman Józef Kantor , born in Łódź, Poland, was a Polish Olympic epee fencer.-Early life:Kantor was the son of Elchanan and Barbara Kantor. After finishing local primary school, he left for Paris in 1924 to continue his education. He played tennis, and was captain of the school soccer...
, épée, NordicNordic countriesThe Nordic countries make up a region in Northern Europe and the North Atlantic which consists of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden and their associated territories, the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Åland...
champion & Soviet champion, killed by the Nazis
Soccer (association football)
- Ludwik GintelLudwik GintelLudwik Gintel was a Polish Jewish soccer player for Cracovia, who played as a defender . He was also capped 12 times for the Poland national football team, including their first ever Olympic appearance at the 1924 Olympic Games...
, Poland national team - Józef KlotzJózef KlotzJózef Klotz , born in Kraków, was a Polish footballer of Jewish origin, who scored the first ever goal for the Poland national football team. He was connected with two clubs – Jutrzenka Kraków and Maccabi Warszawa...
, Poland national team; killed by the Nazis - Józef LustgartenJózef LustgartenJózef Lustgarten was a Polish Jewish footballer.Born in Cracow, he represented Cracovia, and was the fist manager of the Poland national football team in 1922. During World War II, he was arrested in Lviv in 1939 by NKVD and send to the Gulag, where spent 17 years...
, 17 years in the GulagGulagThe Gulag was the government agency that administered the main Soviet forced labor camp systems. While the camps housed a wide range of convicts, from petty criminals to political prisoners, large numbers were convicted by simplified procedures, such as NKVD troikas and other instruments of... - Leon SperlingLeon SperlingLeon Sperling was a Polish Olympic footballer.Sperling was born in Kraków. He was a football forward, playing on the left wing. Sperling represented Cracovia, the team he led in 1921, 1930, and 1932 to the Championship of Poland. He also played in 16 games for the Polish National Team, including...
, left wing, Poland national team; killed by the Nazis in the Lemberg Ghetto)
Swimming
- Lejzor Ilja SzrajbmanIlja SzrajbmanLejzor Ilja Szrajbman was a Polish Olympic freestyle swimmer.Szrajbman was born in Warsaw, Poland. He competed in the for Poland at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany.Ilja died in 1943 in the Majdanek concentration camp....
, Olympic 4×200-m freestyle relay; killed by the Nazis in Majdanek concentration camp
Track and field
- Irena SzewińskaIrena SzewinskaIrena Szewińska is a retired Polish Jewish sprinter who was one of the world's foremost athletes for nearly two decades, in multiple events....
, sprinter & long jumper, world records (100-m, 200-m, and 400-m); 3x Olympic champion (4x100-m, 200-m, 400-m), 2 silver (200-m & long jump), and 2 bronze 1968 (100-m & 200-m) - Jadwiga WajsJadwiga WajsJadwiga Wajs-Marcinkiewicz was a Polish athlete who mainly competed in the discus throw.-Career:...
, 2 world records (discus); Olympic silver & bronze (discus)
Weightlifting
- Ben HelfgottBen HelfgottBen Helfgott is a British Holocaust survivor and former champion weightlifter.He was a guest on the BBC Radio 4 Desert Island Discs programme on 1 April 2007...
, Polish-born British, 3x British champion (lightweight), 3x Maccabiah champion; survived Buchenwald and Theresienstadt concentration campTheresienstadt concentration campTheresienstadt concentration camp was a Nazi German ghetto during World War II. It was established by the Gestapo in the fortress and garrison city of Terezín , located in what is now the Czech Republic.-History:The fortress of Terezín was constructed between the years 1780 and 1790 by the orders...
s, as all but one other of his family were killed by the Nazis
See also
- History of the Jews in PolandHistory of the Jews in PolandThe history of the Jews in Poland dates back over a millennium. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Jewish community in the world. Poland was the centre of Jewish culture thanks to a long period of statutory religious tolerance and social autonomy. This ended with the...
- List of Jews
- List of Poles
- List of Galician Jews
- List of people from Galicia (modern period)