Subject Area
History
Description
The interwar period from 1918 to 1939 saw Poland and the United States contend with major international and domestic questions regarding Jewish emigration. In a matter of twenty years, Polish policy developed from protecting its Jewish minority to actively persecuting it in political, economic, and social spheres with radical antisemitism. In the United States, immigration was limited post-1924 because of a nationality-based quota system introduced by the Immigration Act of 1924. Despite diplomats arguing for increased numbers, American officials’ position remained strong on limiting immigration, continuing unchanged as an understanding of Polish-Jewish plight became clear in the 1930s. The Polish government’s treatment of Polish Jews aimed to push emigration with economic boycotts as a solution to the nation’s “Jewish Question.” As those boycotts devolved into violence, divisions within the Polish-Jewish community ultimately hindered their ability to resist the many forces working against them. These circumstances in Poland and America, I argue, worked opposite of one another and failed to solve the “Jewish Question” before it was too late. To explain how some three million Polish-Jews were unable to emigrate among these circumstances, I portray the story of my great-grandfather, Israel Drucker, to describe the impacts that both Polish and American policies had on real people alongside the development of Polish and American foreign and domestic policies.
Publisher
Providence College
Academic Year
2025-2026
Date
Spring 2026
Type
Thesis
Format
Text
.pdf (text under image)
Language
English
Start Date
3-21-2026 2:45 PM
