Poland

Overview
Once the largest Jewish community in Europe, Polish Jewry was nearly extinguished by the Nazis during World War II. Those Jews who remained after the war suffered further repression under communist rule. The country’s Jewish community numbered a mere 6,000—primarily aging Holocaust survivors—in the early 1980s. Since then, many Polish Jews have reconnected to Judaism and the Jewish community and population estimates now range from 12,000 to as high as 25,000 Jews. The 1990s ushered in a new economy that has since become one of the strongest in Eastern Europe. Yet Poland is still challenged by unemployment, an aging and inadequate infrastructure, and extreme disparities in income, social services, and community development.

Need
Poland’s Jewish community has doubled in the last 30 years, creating an increased need for critical social services and Jewish life programming. At the same time, meeting the needs of the nation’s aging Holocaust survivors and other elderly Jews remains a primary concern for JDC.

Response
JDC works with Polish Jewish organizations to provide critical basic needs and care to the elderly and to vulnerable families. It also is investing in a vibrant Jewish future through youth clubs, camps, student organizations, and leadership training.

Impact
JDC provides cash assistance for 1,200 Holocaust survivors and other needy clients in cities, towns, and villages. JDC also:

• Supports seven kosher kitchens that serve free meals to needy Jews nationwide
• Provides welfare assistance to more than 90 needy Jewish children and their families

In addition, as a result of Jewish outreach activities conducted by JDC:

• 170 children from all over Poland participate in winter and summer camps
• 2,500 people attend the weeklong Singer cultural festival held annually in Warsaw