żydowskie domy dziecka po wojnie

Jewish orphanages after the war: at the founding meeting of Central Committee of Jews (Centralny Komitet Żydów) in Poland, Wydział Opieki nad Dzieckiem was set up, which organised Jewish orphanages. The orphanage in Lublin (later in Petrolesie in the Lower Silesia) existed from the summer of 1944 and was inhabited by 140 children. In 1945, 8 orphanages were set up for healthy children (in Otwock, Helenówek near Łódź, Chorzów, Bielsko, Zatrzebie, Częstochowa, Cracow and Przemyśl) and 3 therapeutic and educational centres (in Rabka, Zakopane and Szczyrk). Approximately, 1,000 children resided in those orphanages. Not only orphans were accepted in orphanages, but also children of poor parents, who could not afford to support them. In relation to the repatriation process of Polish citizens from the USSR, new orphanages were set up in 1946 in Śródborów, Świder, Niemcza and Legnica. Zionist organisations, such as Ichud, He-Halutz, Ha-Shomer ha-Tsair, also established orphanages, where they prepared children to live in Palestine by teaching them Hebrew and bringing them up in national spirit. Such institutions were in Łódź, Warsaw, Szczecin, Sosnowiec, Zabrze, Wrocław and Wałbrzych. Zionist activists, who were the members of Central Committee of Jews in Poland, tried to incorporate Zionist ideology elements while teaching in the institutions governed by the Committee. This caused conflicts with Bund members and communists, who were active in the Committee. According to the Committee directives, youth was to be brought up in the spirit of socialism and the attachment to Poland. Zionists made orphans take part in the illegal emigration actions to Palestine through Czechoslovakia, the so-called Bricha. As a result 10,000 Jewish children left Poland. During the 1948-1950 years, the Committee was gradually dissolved and joined with Polish institutions.

The term was created within the framework of the project Zapisywanie świata żydowskiego w Polsce [recording the Jewish environment in Poland], whose author is Anka Grupińska, a well-known Polish journalist and writer, specializing in the modern history of the Polish Jews. The project, initiated in 2006 by the Museum of the History of Polish Jews, consists in recording interviews with Polish Jews from all generations.
Print
In order to properly print this page, please use dedicated print button.