Not Just Witnesses: The Efforts of Polish Jewish Survivors and Organizations to Achieve Justice after the Holocaust

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The article explores the role of Polish Jewish organizations in investigations and trials of Holocaust perpetrators. It contributes a study of Jewish survivors’ agency in pursuing justice, their relationships with non-Jewish institutions and authorities, and the role of the international networks in these processes. At the center of the article are the Jewish national institutions operating in Poland in the 1940s, which represented the survivors and served as intermediaries between them and the authorities. In the conditions of anti-Jewish hatred, mass displacement, and the strengthening of communism in Poland, Jews treated collecting evidence and pursuing justice as a national mission, and perceived Jewish institutions, in this case the Central Committee of Polish Jews, as representatives of the victims and the Jewish people. The exchange of information between survivors, domestic and foreign Jewish communities, and lobby with national and international authorities, have provided a chance to supply lacking documentation and witness accounts, potentially increase the rate of punishment for perpetrators in Holocaust-related trials, and allow survivors to fulfill their moral obligation.