Organization of the Religious Life of Lublin Jews in the Years 1944–1989

Abstract

The article has a microhistorical character and analyzes the organization of Jewish religious life in Lublin from 1944 to 1989. It presents the activities of Jewish religious organizations (the Jewish Religious Congregation and later the Religious Association of the Mosaic Faith in Poland) within the context of broader state policies, distinguishing three stages: the period of revival (1944–1949), a time of strict state control (1949–1968), and a decade of gradual decline (1968–1989). Documents created by or originating from the Lublin religious congregation have not survived in archives, so the attempt to reconstruct this issue primarily relied on existing documents from other Jewish organizations (CKŻP and TSKŻ) and correspondence with public administration authorities. The considerations were also supplemented with oral histories from the resources of the Grodzka Gate Centre and memoirs published in the magazine “Kol Lublin”.