Polish Jewish Expellees from Germany (1938-1939) Receiving JDC Aid

This indexed list includes names of Polish Jews expelled by the Nazi government into this Polish border town, who received assistance from the JDC in 1938-39. The list contains more than 3,000 names, and includes the names, birth dates, birth places, professions and former addresses of the Polish expellees. It also contains the names, addresses and marital status of U.S. relatives who are being contacted by JDC. The Names Database can be searched here.

The entire 127-page list, which is divided into six sections, can be accessed here as the first entry under the “List from the Nazi Period And Its Aftermath” category.

Background:

In October of 1938, Nazi Germany expelled from Germany Jews of Polish nationality who did not hold German citizenship.. Of the 16,000 Jews in Germany with Polish ancestry, half were expelled into the Polish border town of Zbaszyn on the night of October 27, 1938. The Poles refused to allow the Jews to enter the Polish interior, and thus they were concentrated in border towns.

5,500 Jewish refugees were detained in Zbaszyn, greatly augmenting the size of the tiny Jewish population before October 1938. Polish authorities and locals did attempt to provide aid to the Jews who were in limbo, but the needs were great. The JDC Warsaw office made an emergency grant of $250,000 to provide the expellees with shelter and food. JDC also organized a Central Refugee Aid Committee to raise additional funds locally.

Eyewitness reports and correspondence from this period can be viewed here.