Kształt polityki organizacji syjonistycznej we Lwowie po śmierci Leona Reicha (lata 1929–1934)

Abstract

The year 1929 ended an important ten-year period of reorganisation and consolidation of the Zionist movement in Poland for the Zionists from Galicia and other districts. Undoubtedly, these years were the time of the greatest activity and development of the Zionists. Many factors contributed to the Zionist successes at that time; the possibility of free sociopolitical activity in a reborn Poland and the political abilities of Zionist leaders such as Leon Reich, Izaak Grünbaum or Ignacy Schwarzbart. However, the political strength of these leaders also became the weakness of the Zionist movement. The ambitions, tenacity and ruthless ideological struggle between Zionists became the main cause of the internal crisis of the Zionist organisation, also contributing to the decline in Zionist activity in the late 1920s. As a result, the Zionist movement was marginalised in the political life of the Second Polish Republic in the 1930s. The death of Leon Reich, one of the most prominent Zionist activists in post-war Poland, had an undeniable impact on the position of and the decline in the Zionist movement’s activity in Galicia and across the country. The politician’s death also added another dimension. Namely, the durability of the ‘Zion-Zion agreement’ concluded in Drohobycz in 1926 and the issue of the unification of the Zionist movement in Poland was questioned.