A City Transfigured: The Structure of the Bialystok Jewish Community after World War II

Abstract

Abstract: This article concerns the Jewish community living in Bialystok, northeastern Poland's largest city. It used to be an important center of Jewish social and cultural life, with over forty thousand Jewish residents before World War II. As a consequence of the Holocaust, the population of the community decreased to a maximum of 1,500. The research, based mainly on statistical data from Jewish social institutions, reveals further changes, mainly caused by migratory movements and the processes of acculturation and assimilation, which led to the total disappearance of that community within less than thirty years. Another subject of the analysis is the demographic and professional structure of this population in the postwar years. The research shows that the unique demographic structure was the result of varied chances of survival during the war: higher in the case of men and people of working age. The professional activity of Bialystok Jews was characterized by a low rate of regular employment, especially in industry, and a relatively high rate of work in cooperatives and craft workshops. This professional structure differed significantly from the situation before the war and also from that typical in Polish society in general during this period, but with the passage of time, the uniqueness of the Jewish community decreased.