LAW ENFORCEMENT STRUCTURES AS A PART OF NATIONAL POLICY CONCERNING JEWISH POPULATION IN GALICIA IN INTERWAR POLAND

Анотація

Using the documents of police and attorney departments the author of the article tried to make general analysis of state national policy in Galicia concerning Jewish population of Poland between the two world wars and the participation of law enforcement agencies in this policy. Of all the territories of interwar Poland, Galicia had the largest Jewish population. In 1921, there were 736,000 Jews recorded there, and in the Lviv region there were 313,206 people, and in Lviv in 1921 there were 78,854 Jews, most of all from the cities of Galicia. Before the war, Jews ranked second in terms of population in this city, only being less than the Poles.

The Jewish side of the national policy of the Second Polish Republic had its differences in comparison with the relations of the Polish authorities and other peoples who lived in this state. Very often, law enforcement agencies tried not only to limit some anti-Polish sides of the Jewish movement, but also to block anti-Jewish phenomena, which often occurred in this controversial society.

After the war, the Jews received some positive acts from the Polish authorities. In response some of the Jewish leaders called on the Jewish population of Poland to move to neutrality, or to support the actions of the authorities. Among the intellectuals in postwar Poland was a large stratum of Jews, also they were among the large and middle bourgeoisie, bankers and financiers, who sponsored significant part of Jewish organized life, including the departure to the historical homeland of Palestine. At the same time, the Lviv Police Department of the State Police actively supervised and observed the activities of all Jewish organizations. Political and social actions of Jews were often banned, and criminal cases against their organizers were opened.

As evidenced by archival documents, all Jewish political parties, national-cultural, religious communities and their leaders, in particular, were under the watchful eye of the Polish State Police. In addition, there are a lot of documents in the funds of the State Archives of Lviv Region concerning the persecution of Jews by Polish political groups and organizations. However, law enforcement agencies have often acted against such groups, protecting the Jewish population.