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List of Polish Jews

From the Middle Ages until the Holocaust, Jews were a significant part of the Polish population. The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, known for its religious tolerance as a "Jewish paradise", attracted numerous Jews who fled persecution from other European countries. By the Second World War Poland had the largest Jewish population in the world (about 3 million), most of whom were then killed by the Nazis. Poland was therefore a major spiritual and cultural center for the Ashkenazi Jewry for many centuries, and many of Europe's famous Jews were born in Poland.

Many Polish Jews contributed to Jewish culture and religious teaching. There were also many who assimilated with Poles and made great contributions to Polish cultural, economic and political life, including Jews who were ardent Polish patriots. The following is a list of some prominent Polish Jews.

Historical Figures

Politicians

• David Ben-Gurion (1886-1973), Israeli prime minister
• Menachem Begin (1913-1992), Israeli prime minister, Nobel Prize (1978)
• Jakub Berman (?), Polish security minister
• Bronisław Geremek (b. 1932), Polish foreign minister
• Shimon Peres (b. 1923), Israeli prime minister, Nobel prize (1994)
• Yitzhak Shamir (b. 1915), Israeli prime minister
• Saul Wahl (1541-1617), according to a legend temporary King of Poland-Lithuania (rex pro tempore) in 1586
• Szmul Zygielbojm (1895-1943), Polish Jewish leader

Soldiers & Fighters

• Mordechaj Anielewicz (1919-1943), leader of Warsaw ghetto uprising
• Berek Joselewicz (1764-1809), Colonel during the Kościuszko Uprising and the Napoleonic-era wars
• Hyman Rickover (1900-1986), US Navy Admiral
• Krystyna Skarbek (1915-1952), WW2 spy

Activists

• Joseph Rotblat (b. 1908), anti-nuclear campaigner
• Raphael Lemkin (1900-1959), human rights lawyer
• Rosa Luxembourg (1870-1919), Marxist
• Adam Michnik (b. 1946), dissident
• Ernestine Rose (1810-1892), feminist

Religious Figures

• Israel ben Eliezer (the Baal Shem Tov) (ca 1700-1760), Hasiddic rabbi
• Jacob Frank (1726-1791), messiah claimant
• Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972), theologian
• Elimelech of Leżajsk (1717-1786), Hasiddic rabbi
• Dovber of Mezeritch (d. 1772), Hasiddic rabbi

Academics

Sciences

• Solomon Asch, Gestalt psychologist
• packet switching
• Jacob Bronowski, scientist & broadcaster
• Georges Charpak, physicist, Nobel prize (1992)
• Samuel Eilenberg, mathematician: category theory
• Kasimir Fajans, physicist
• Casimir Funk, biochemist: vitamins
• Roald Hoffmann, chemist and writer, Nobel prize (1981)
• Witold Hurewicz, mathematician
• LZW compression
• Benoit Mandelbrot, mathematician: fractals
• Emil Leon Post, mathematician
• Tadeus Reichstein, chemist, Nobel prize (1950)
• Albert Sabin, inventor of the oral Polio vaccine
• Andrew V. Schally, endocrinologist, Nobel prize (1977)
• Alfred Tarski, logician
• Stanislaw Ulam, mathematician

Humanities

• Szymon Aszkenazy, historian
• Ivan Bloch, military writer
• Isaac Deutscher, historian
• Lewis Namier, historian
• Paul Radin, anthropologist
• Ludwik Zamenhof, doctor and inventor of esperanto

Cultural Figures

Artists

• Balthus, painter (half Jewish)
• Chim, photographer
• Tamara de Lempicka, painter (half Jewish)
• Moise Kisling, painter
• Daniel Libeskind, architect
• Helena Rubinstein, fashion designer

Musicians

• Emanuel Ax, pianist
• Walter Damrosch, conductor
• Ignaz Friedman, pianist
• Szymon Goldberg, violinist/conductor
• Ida Haendel, violinist
• George Henschel, singer/conductor
• Bronislaw Huberman, violinist
• Wanda Landowska, harpsichordist
• Geddy Lee, vocalist in Rush (Polish parents)
• Artur Rodzinski, conductor
• Arthur Rubinstein, pianist
• Artur Schnabel, pianist
• Henryk Szeryng, violinist
• Władysław Szpilman pianist, author of The Pianist memoir
• Henryk Wieniawski, composer/violinist

Screen & Stage

• Samuel Goldwyn, film producer
• Anna Held, stage actress
• Roman Polański (b. 1933), film director
• Lew Rywin (b. 1945), film producer
• Warner Brothers, film producers

Writers & Poets

Polish-language

• Jan Brzechwa (Jan Lesman) (1900-1966), Polish poet
• Janusz Korczak (1878-1942), pediatrician, children's writer and pedagogist
• Jan Lechoń (1899-1956)
• Bruno Schulz (1892-1942), one of the greatest Polish prose stylists of the 20th century
• Antoni Słonimski (1895-1976), Polish poet
• Julian Tuwim (1894-1953), Polish poet

Yiddish-language

• Sholem Asch (1880-1957)
• Isaac Bashevis Singer (1904-1991), Nobel prize (1978)
• Israel Joshua Singer (1893-1944)

Other Writers

• Shmuel Yosef Agnon, Hebrew writer, Nobel prize (1966)
• Anna Langfus, French writer, Prix Goncourt (1962)
• Osip Mandelstam, Russian poet
• Marcel Reich-Ranicki, German literary critic

Business Figures

• Henry & Helal Hassenfeld, founders of Hasbro
• Jack Tramiel, founder of Commodore

Sport Figures

• Miguel Najdorf, chess player
• Akiba Rubinstein, chess player
• Myer Prinstein, long- and triple-jumper (4 Olympic golds)
• Irena Kirszenstein Szewinska, sprinter (7 medals over 4 Olympics)

Miscellaneous

• Meyer Lansky, US gangster

See also: History of the Jews in Poland, List of Jews, List of Poles