Why did the Jewish combatants need Union of Jews Participants of Combat for Polish Independence in the Second Polish Republic?

Abstract

This article attempts to provide an answer as to why the Jewish combatants founded the Union of Jews Participants of Combat for Polish Independence (Związek Żydów Uczestników Walk o Niepodległość Polski), which operated in the period of 1929–1939. It was the only combatant organization in the Second Polish Republic that represented a national minority. The focus of this article is on the origin of the Union, its aims, goals and activities, as well as its developed organizational structure. Taken into consideration were also the Union’s fundamental activities such as supporting self-help organizations, participating in annual events concerned with Polish history, spreading the knowledge of Jewish combatants’ involvement in the fight for Poland’s independence as well as the Union’s protest against anti-Semitism in the 1930s and the Union’s activities abroad. The Union was needed, because it allowed the Jewish combatants to take an active role in building up the Polish state, which had been erased from the maps for 123 years, influence its activities and at the same time supporting it and helping protect the interests of the whole Jewish community, in Poland and abroad. Members of the Union, the Jewish combatants who fought for Poland’s independence, felt themselves entitled to, as well as morally obliged, protect their interests as well as those of the community they represented. They vied for respect and tolerance for their community and for the equal treatment of all Polish citizens, including Jews.