Short Chronology of the History of Jews in Poland

860 - first mention of Polish lands in the diaries of Spanish Jews;

10th century - first settlements in Silesia and Wielkopolska (Great Poland);

1096 - first large immigration wave into Poland after pogroms in Western Europe;

1264 - privileges of Boleslaw Pobozny (Calisian prince) - granted to Jews in Wielkopolska (Calisian Statute);

1334 - King Kazimierz Wielki (Casimir the Great) extends the Calisian Statute to all Jews in Poland;

1388 - privileges granted to Lithuanian Jews;

1551 - leaders of Jewish communities gain wide ranging juridical and administrative rights;

1648-1649 - Jewish pogroms by Chmielnicki's Cossacks;

1760 - death of the Baal Shem Tov, development of the Hassidic movement;

1794 - Berek Joselewicz leads a Jewish regiment during the Kosciuszko Insurection;

1807 - the Duchy of Warsaw constitution granted Jews (at least in theory) equality of citizens rights;

1897 - first Jewish workers party, BUND, is founded;

1912 - Agudas Israel, religions party, comes into existence;

1921 - the March Constitution gives Jews the same legal rights as other citizens and guarantees them religious tolerance;

1940 - first ghettos are designated by Nazis;

1941 - extermination camp is built in Chelmno on the Ner River;

1942 - extermination camps appear in Sobibor, Belzec, Treblinka, Auschwitz, Birkenau; uprising in Bialystok ghetto (August 16);

1943 - Warsaw Ghetto Uprising;

1945 - Central Committee of Jews in Poland formed;

1946 - scattered pogroms, notably the pogrom in Kielce, convince many survivors that there is no future for Jews in Poland. A wave of Jewish emigration begins;

1947 - Jewish Historical Institute is founded;

1948 - Jewish Religions Union comes into existence;

1950 - Socio-Cultural Society of Jews in Poland is formed;

1957-58 - following Israel's victory in the Six-Day War, Poland breaks relations with the State of Israel. A concerted "anti-Zionist" campaign is launched, in which Jews are removed from their jobs and schools, and, in many cases, are instructed to leave Poland. About 29,000 Jews emigrate between 1968 and 1972;

1991 - the first Jewish educational institutions in Poland in decades, Jewish kindergarten is established in Warsaw;

1994 - the Lauder-Morasha School in Warsaw opens;

2002 - broad discussion about anti-Semitic feelings under Polish population started with the Jedwabne "case";