Jewish self-defense (Special Commission), like other forms of community life of Polish Jews, was a kind of sensation in Poland after World War II. It was created as a result of a wave of murders in the country, “anti-Jewish provocations, assaults on trains and the killing of Jewish passengers and, finally, the culmination of anti-Jewish activity of armed bands”, which was the Kielce pogrom of July 4, 1946. Actually, the Commission operated for a very short time, only until the end of May 1947. In total, 200 guard groups were formed consisting of 2,500 armed people (with approximately 1,000 rifles, 100 automatic weapons, over 1,000 pistols and 120 grenades), providing a round-the-clock protection of close to 390 objects of the following Jewish institutions: committees, child care homes, nursing homes, repatriate homes, schools, canteens, cooperatives, factories employing a larger number of Jews, Jewish parties, kibbutzim. The establishment of special commissions fulfilled its purpose – about 2,000 interventions, at various levels of government, were carried out throughout Poland, as a result of which attacks or provocations were thwarted and the danger |