Jews were being persecuted all over Europe, King Kazimirez the Great offered them his country as a safe place to live.
They were persecuted in Western Europe and moved eastwards to Poland, which was very tolerant in the Middle Ages and early modern times.
They were persecuted in Western Europe and moved eastwards to Poland, which was very tolerant in the Middle Ages and early modern times.
almost exclusively by train
By rail, usually in cattle-wagons.
In the Middle Ages and in the early modern period up to at least c. 1650 Poland was relatively tolerant towards the Jews. At that time it was an obvious place (and in many cases the only place) for Jews persecuted elsewhere to flee to. In many parts of Europe the Jews were accused of causing the bubonic plague, but the Black Death stopped short of Poland. The country was not affected and so this was a non-issue in Poland. There was a series of documents signed by polish kings granting Jews first safety (aprox. XII), then a certain level of autonomy (Jewish courts for inner problems, etc. - probably XIV), after that the Polish sejm ( "seym/same" - parliament) passed a universal law of religious tolerance (XVI), amongst others. The difficulties for the Polish Jews began when Russia invaded and annexed large areas of Poland.
to the south of Poland (those on the German side).
Ghettos
The place where the Jews lived in Poland (and other countries like Russia) was called a GHETTO. Each ghetto had a name too. Watch the move Defiance if you want to get a good idea about ghettos.
The Nazis started to move Jews into ghettos in Poland in November 1939.
someone is a little left back in the middle ages. The sun does NOT move.
The middle class developed in the middle ages and was formed out of baker, merchants and trades people who were allowed to own their own land. They operated businesses that sold to the peasants and were free to move around.
No, the black death did not end the middle ages. The black death caused a lot of changes, some important, such as causing members of the nobility to try to tempt serfs to move onto their land and away from the land they were bound to. But the middle ages continued for another hundred years or more.
if you are talking about the time relevant to the Holocaust, then you might count the Jews coming from Russia about fifty years beforehand, but the ones that caused the problems were the ones that came from Poland (to escape persecution) in the inter-war period.