Bread, Butter and Education: The Yiddishist Movements in Poland, 1914-1916

This chapter focus on the efforts of the three Yiddishist political parties-the Bund, Poale-Zion and the Folkspartei-that were active in the fields of welfare, education and culture in Poland during the first half of the Great War. At a time of great adversity for the civilian population, these parties attempted to improve the lives of ordinary people through welfare and civil defence activity. The German occupation brought with it a relatively liberal approach to the political activity of the national minorities which allowed these parties to expand their activities into the fields of Yiddish education and culture. This arousal of Jewish political activity led to the formation of new Jewish political communities around each party, which ultimately laid the ground for the ‘golden years’ of Jewish culture and education in inter-war Poland.