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THE Polish republic, beginning in November 1918, consolidated territories that had previously formed part of Russia, Austria-Hungary, and Germany, and took over the legislation of these territories. In effect, at this time different laws, established by the previous ruling nations, were valid in different regions of the republic; uniform laws, consistent with the principles underlying the new state, were then gradually established. By the time of the Second World War this had been generally accomplished, but in some legal areas (e.g. family law) regional differences still obtained.
One of the problems that the sovereign republic had to resolve was the legal status of Jews. In Russia they were subject to various discriminatory laws; in Austria-Hungary the Yiddish and Hebrew languages were outlawed in public life. The legislation established in the Prussian partition had less significance, since there was only a small Jewish population in that area.
It was very difficult to settle the question of which Jews were Polish citizens. The present study is confined to the question of civil rights and discriminatory laws alone. It omits the very important problem of achieving uniformity in the laws that regulated the status of Jewish religious communities, and does not touch upon the quarrel concerning conceptions of national and cultural autonomy.
On 1 February 1919, in a circular sent to subordinate administrative organs, Minister of the Interior Stanislaw Wojciechowski wrote: ‘I feel compelled to remind you that the Jewish population enjoys the Polish civil rights just as the aboriginal Polish population does and must not be subjected to violence or abuse of law. In independent Poland the citizens are not divided into categories.’ This was, however, only a declaration, which could not in itself abolish various existing discriminatory regulations; nor could it a,nswer the question of who in fact had the right to be granted Polish citizenship. The legal basis for this could only be established by international treaties, by a constitution, and by bills due to be passed by the Sejm.
The peace treaties signed by Poland (with Germany on 28 June 1919, with Austria on 10 September 1919, and with the Soviet Republics on 18 March 1921) regulated civil rights according to the laws valid in these countries.
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