Pluralism to a Fault: Jewish Political Organizations in Interwar Poland

Abstract

ABSTRACTJews, unlike Belarusians, Ukrainians, and Germans, did not pose a direct, irredentist threat to interwar Polish territorial integrity. They were not a territorially concentrated group with border revision claims against the Polish state, nor was a neighboring government prepared to intervene on their behalf. In this sense, Jews presented the least tangible threat to Polish national security. Yet this article will illustrate that, despite the fundamental difference between Jews and other minorities, the Polish Ministry of Interior still pursued a divide and rule scenario with respect to Jewish political organizations – an insight overlooked in existing literature. By combining the theoretical insights and systematic research design of social scientific work with the empirical reality of historical research, this article examines a new facet of interwar minority politics, and contributes to the political science literature on state management of minority opposition.