List of Polish Jews

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 ), 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 somewhere between 8,000 and 20,000.

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

Historical figures

Politicians

• Menachem Begin (1913-1992), Israeli prime minister (born in Poland)
• David Ben-Gurion (1886-1973), Israeli prime minister (born in Poland)
• Jakub Berman (1901-1984), Polish communist, Secretary of PUWP (Polish United Workers' Party)
• Czeslaw Bielecki (b. 1948), Polish politician and architect
• Marek Borowski (b. 1946), Polish politician, a speaker of the Sejm
• Sala Burton (1925-1987), American politician
• Yohanan Cohen (b. 1917), Israeli politician
• Adam Czerniaków (1880-1942), Polish politician
• Herman Diamand (1860-1931), Polish politician
• Ludwik Dorn (b. 1954), Polish politician, a speaker of the Sejm
• Boleslaw Drobner (1883-1968), Polish politician, a speaker of the Sejm
• David Dubinsky (1892-1982), American politician
• Jerzy Einhorn (1925-2000), Swedish medical doctor, researcher and politician
• Abraham Foxman (b. 1940), Anti-Defamation League official
• Bronisław Geremek (1932-2008), Polish foreign affairs minister
• Abba Hushi (1898-1969), Israeli politician
• Julian Klaczko (1825-1906), Polish politician
• Herman Lieberman (1870-1941), Polish politician
• Stefan Meller, (1942-2008), Polish foreign affairs minister
• Hilary Minc (1905-1974), Polish politician, an economist and minister
• Lewis Bernstein Namier (1888-1960), British politician
• Shimon Peres (b. 1923), Israeli prime minister and president, Nobel Prize laureate (1994)
• 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 politician
• Arthur Ruppin (1876-1943), Zionist thinker and politician
• Moses Schorr (1874-1941), Polish polititian and historian
• Yitzhak Shamir (b. 1915), Israeli prime minister (born in Poland)
• Stanisław Stroński (1882-1955), Polish politician (of Jewish descent)
• Eugeniusz Szyr (1915-2000), deputy prime minister
• Samuel A. Weiss (1902-1977), American politician
• Shevah Weiss (b. 1935), Israeli politician, a speaker of the Knesset
• Szmul Zygielbojm (1895-1943), Polish Bund leader

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
• Mieczyslaw Norwid-Neugebauer (1884–1954), General of the Polish Army
• Sir John Monash Australian military commander (father from Krotoszyn)
• 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 (1915-1975), colonel, communist, spy

Others

• Wilhelm Billig, founder of Polish nuclear energy industry
• Isaac Deutscher (1907-1967), Polish-British political activist
• Dora Diamant (1898-1952), lover of Franz Kafka
• Gaspar da Gama (1444-ca.1510), traveller, interpreter
• Mieczysław Grydzewski (1894-1970), journalist, editor
• Gideon Hausner (1915-1990), Israeli jurist
• Emil Haecker (1875-1934), journalist, editor
• Sir Hersch Lauterpacht, British judge,
• Raphael Lemkin (1900-1959), human rights lawyer
• Rosa Luxemburg (1870-1919), Marxist
• Adam Michnik (b. 1946), journalist, dissident
• 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

Religious figures

• Barnett Abrahams (1831-1863), dayan, principal of Jews' College, London
• 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
• Jacob Frank (1726-1791), Jewish messianic claimant who combined Judaism and Christianity
• Christian David Ginsburg (1831-1914), Hebraist, converted to Christianity
• 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
• Isaac Hellmuth, convert to Christianity
• Ridley Haim Herschell, missionary
• Arthur Hertzberg (1921-2006), 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 (1926-2007), 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
• Israel Zolli (1881-1956), Chief Rabbi of Rome, converted to Christianity

Academics

Scientists

• Herman Auerbach, mathematician (Jewish father)
• Iuliu Barasch, physician
• Salomon Bochner, mathematician
• 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, chemist & writer, Nobel Prize (1981)
• Leonid Hurwicz, the 2007 Noble Prize in Economics
• Leopold Infeld, physicist
• Mark Kac, mathematician
• Hilary Koprowski, immunologist
• Abraham Lempel, computer scientist: LZW compression
• Adolf Lindenbaum, logician
• Henryk Makower, microbiologist
• Benoît Mandelbrot, mathematician: fractals
• Szolem Mandelbrojt, mathematician
• Albert Abraham Michelson, physicist, Nobel Prize in Physics (1907)
• Herman Müntz, mathematician
• Jakub Natanson, chemist
• Emil Leon Post, mathematician
• Mojzesz Presburger, logician
• Isidor Isaac Rabi, physicist, Nobel prize (1944)
• Tadeus Reichstein, chemist, Nobel Prize (1950)
• Moshe Ron, materials scientist
• Stanisław 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, space pioneer.
• Alfred Tarski, mathematician, logician
• Stanislaw Ulam, mathematician

Social sciences

• Solomon Asch, Gestalt psychologist
• Zygmunt Bauman, sociologist
• Ivan Bloch, military writer
• Alain Finkielkraut, French philosopher
• Henryk Grossman, economist
• Joseph Jastrow, psychologist (Jewish father)
• Michal Kalecki, economist
• Abraham Low, neuropsychiatrist
• Paul Radin, anthropologist
• Milton Rokeach, psychologist
• Manfred Sakel, neurophysiologist & psychiatrist
• Adam Schaff, philosopher
• Avraham Stern, famous Zionist
• Paweł Śpiewak, sociologist, politician
• Shemaryahu Talmon, Bible scholar
• Michel Thomas, language teacher
• Ludwik Zamenhof, ophthalmologist and inventor of Esperanto

Historians

• Szymon Aszkenazy, Polish historian
• Meir Balaban, Jewish historian
• Salo Wittmayer Baron, Austrian historian
• Szymon Datner, Jewish historian
• Isaac Deutscher, British historian
• Simon Dubnow, Jewish historian
• Artur Eisenbach, historian
• Norman Finkelstein, historian
• Jan T. Gross, American sociologist
• Marceli Handelsman, Polish historian
• Leopold Łabędź, British historian
• Rafał Mahler, historian
• Marian Malowist, historian
• Lewis Namier, British historian
• Richard Pipes, American historian
• Emanuel Ringelblum, Jewish historian
• Jacob Talmon, Israeli historian
• Adam Ulam, American historian

Cultural figures

Artists

• Jankiel Adler, painter
• Mordecai Ardon, artist
• Chim, photographer
• Irena Eichler, actress
• René Goscinny, cartoonist
• Maurycy Gottlieb, painter
• Scarlett Johansson, actress
• Ida Kaminska, actress
• Bronisław Kaper, composer
• Mayer Kirshenblatt (b. 1916), artist
• 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
• Roland Topor, illustrator, painter
• Max Weber, painter
• Esther Wertheimer, sculptor
• Samuel Willenberg, sculptor (Jewish father)
• Alfred Wolmark, painter
• Samuel Yellin, sculptor

Musicians

• Emanuel Ax, pianist
• Nelly Ben-Or, pianist
• Leonard & Phil Chess, founders of Chess Records
• Emanuel Feuermann, cellist
• Grzegorz Fitelberg, composer
• Ignaz Friedman, pianist
• Bronislav Gimpel, violinist
• Szymon Goldberg, violinist/conductor
• Ida Haendel, violinist
• Sir George Henschel, musician
• Mieczysław Horszowski, pianist
• Bronislaw Huberman, violinist
• Jan Kiepura, singer (Jewish mother)
• Józef Koffler, classic composer, music teacher, music columnist
• 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
• Eddie Rosner, jazz bandleader, trumpeter
• Arthur Rubinstein, pianist
• Heinrich Schenker, music theorist
• Artur Schnabel, pianist
• Henryk Szeryng, violinist
• 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
• Mieczyslaw Weinberg, composer
• Geddy Lee, Canadian born son of Polish Jewish holocaust survivors. Bass player, singer, keyboard player, composer for the Canadian progressive rock trio Rush.
• Henryk Wieniawski, violinist, composer

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
• Scarlett Johansson, actress
• Ida Kaminska, actress
• Boris Kaufman, cinematographer
• Mikhail Kaufman, cinematographer
• Harvey Keitel, actor
• Roman Polański, film director (born Catholic from maternal grandmother)
• Marie Rambert, ballet dancer
• Lew Rywin, film producer
• Piotr Skrzynecki, cabaret director (Jewish mother)
• Dziga Vertov, film director
• Harry, Sam & Albert Warner, film producers

Writers and poets

Polish-language

• Alicia Appleman-Jurman, writer
• Eli Barbur, writer
• Roman Brandstaetter, writer, poet
• Kazimierz Brandys, writer
• Jan Brzechwa, poet
• Ida Fink, writer of short stories
• Konstanty Gebert, writer, activist (Jewish mother)
• Zuzanna Ginczanka, poet
• Henryk Grynberg, writer
• Marian Hemar, poet
• Gustaw Herling-Grudziński, writer
• Bruno Jasieński, poet (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)
• Bolesław Leśmian, poet
• Teodor Parnicki, writer (Jewish mother)
• Artur Sandauer, writer, literature critic, and publicist
• Bruno Schulz, prose writer
• Antoni Słonimski, writer
• Arnold Słucki, poet, publicist, soldier of Red Army, member of communist party,
• Anatol Stern, poet
• Julian Stryjkowski, novelist
• Julian Tuwim, poet, song lyrics
• Leopold Tyrmand, writer
• Aleksander Wat, poet
• Bronisław Wildstein, journalist (Jewish father)
• Józef Wittlin, poet
• Stanislaw Wygodzki, writer

Yiddish-language

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

Hebrew-language

• Shmuel Yosef Agnon, writer, Nobel Prize (1966)
• Nathan Alterman, writer
• Yoram Bronowski, literary critic
• Isaac Erter, writer
• Roman Frister, journalist and author
• Naphtali Herz Imber, poet
• Uri Orlev, writer, Hans Christian Andersen Award (1996)
• Naftali Herz Tur-Sinai, writer

Other languages

• Lisa Appignanesi, English writer
• Louis Begley, American writer
• Maurice Frydman, Indian translator
• Marek Halter, French writer
• Eva Hoffman, American writer
• Jerzy Kosiński, English-language novelist, from 1965 an American citizen
• Arthur Miller, American writer
• Marcel Reich-Ranicki, German writer
• Henry Roth, American writer
• Joseph Roth, Austrian writer

Business figures

• Majer Bersohn, banker, philanthropist
• Henry & Helal Hassenfeld, founders of Hasbro
• Leopold Kronenberg, banker
• Maurycy Orgelbrand, editor
• Samuel Orgelbrand, editor
• Louis Pozez, co-founder Payless Shoesource
• 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

Sport figures

Chess players

• Izak Aloni
• Izaak Appel
• Arnold Aurbach
• Abram Blass
• Oscar Chajes
• Josef Cukierman
• Moshe Czerniak
• Arthur Dake
• Dawid Daniuszewski
• Arthur Dunkelblum
• Samuel Factor
• Alexander Flamberg
• Henryk Friedman
• Achilles Frydman
• Paulino Frydman
• Edward Gerstenfeld
• Yehuda Gruenfeld
• Izaak Grynfeld
• Roza Herman
• Dawid Janowski
• Max Judd
• Bernhard Kagan
• Hermann Keidanski
• Stanisław Kohn
• Jakub Kolski
• Abraham Kupchik
• Salo Landau
• Edward Lasker
• Paul Saladin Leonhardt
• 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
• Jean Taubenhaus
• Szymon Winawer
• Daniel Yanofsky
• Johannes Zukertort

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)

Criminals

• Bogusław Bagsik, financial hochstapler, swindler
• Julia Brystigerowa, communist Security Services
• Anatol Fejgin, Polish State Security Services,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
• Helena Wolińska-Brus, former Stalinist military prosecutor from Poland, court criminal

Fictional figures

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

See also

• History of the Jews in Poland
• List of Jews
• List of Poles
• List of Galician Jews
• Personalities from Galicia (modern period)

References

Footnotes