Jews in Szczecin, 1945–50: At the Crossroad between Emigration and Assimilation

Abstract: In 1946, the Polish authorities settled about 28,000 Polish-Jewish repatriates from the Soviet Union in Szczecin (Stettin). Situated on the Baltic Sea northeast of Berlin, Szczecin had been a German city until the end of the Second World War and then became Polish in July 1945 as a result of the Potsdam Agreement. The Polish government settled Jews in the “regained territories” for a range of opportunistic reasons. In the summer of 1946, Jewish life started to flourish in the city and a wide range of Jewish political and social organizations were established. However, the attempt to keep Jews in Szczecin failed. Anti-Semitism and harsh living conditions encouraged many Szczecin Jews to emigrate. The city became a hot spot of Jewish postwar emigration from Poland. The remaining Jews went through a process of “red assimilation” during the Stalinization of Poland. Most of them left the country later on, due to anti-Semitic government campaigns in 1956–57 and 1968–69.