Until the outbreak of World War II, Poland was an important Jewish cultural and spiritual center. Here and half million Jewish lived in the inter-war period. Here was the greatest concentration of Jews in Europe. Four and half million Jews perished on Polish soil during the Holocaust, almost three million of them were Polish Jews. At present about ten thousand Jews live in Poland and belong to religious communities in Warsaw, Cracow, Łódź, Lublin and Wrocław.

Jewish links with Poland are as old as the Polish state: in the 10th century Jews came as merchants; the oldest records of Jewish settlements date back to the late-11th century. During the Crusades and as a result of persecution in Western Europe, Jews came to Poland from Germany, Bohemia, Hungary, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Turkey. In 1264 Beleslaus the Pious, Duke of Kalisz, granted Jews separate privileges called The Kalisz Statutes which became the legal foundation for their presence as a community in Poland. The privileges were extended by King Casimir the Great, and later by other Polish rulers. Thus, the Jewish population enjoyed the rights to freely practice their religion, for communities and create social institutions to independently deal with their own problems. In the 16th century a Jewish parliamentary body (Vaad Arbaa Aratzot) was established in Lublin to become an autonomous representation of Polish and Lithuanian Jewry. Jewish religious and secular cultures in Poland started to flourish. Talmudic academies which would come to be well-known throughout Europe were founded, rabbinical literature thrived. In addition, Jewish scientists were active in all fields of secular knowledge, including medicine, mathematics, and astronomy. Further development of non-religious sciences was connected with Haskalah, or the Jewish Enlightenment Movement, which propagated emancipation and assimilation into the country's social and cultural life without, however, rejecting or opposing the Jewish religions or traditions.

The Hasidic movement was born in the eastern part of The Polish Commonwealth in the 18th century. It was founded by Israel Ben Eliezar (Baal Shem Tov) of Podole. Assimilation tendencies persisted throughout the 19th century, but the second half of the century also saw the emergence of the Zionist movement. Many political parties appeared and continued their activity during the inter-war period. Numerous Jewish social and political organizations were also active.

The 19th and 20th centuries witnessed increased development and the highest achievements of Yiddish literature. Among the outstanding writers were Isaac Leib Peretz (1852-1915), Sholem Asch (1880-1957), Shimon Anski (1863-1919), and Itzik Manger (1901-1969). Also of Polish origin is the famous contemporary Yiddish language writer, Nobel prize-winner, Isaac Bashevis Singer.

World War II and the Nazi occupation uprooted the Jewish population from Polish soil and put an abrupt halt to the development of Jewish culture in Poland.

In post-war Poland, the few Jews who survived the Holocaust started to rebuild the various institutions and structures of social and cultural life. At present Warsaw is home to the only European proffesional Yiddish-language Theater, the State Jewish Theater (Pl. Grzybowski 14/16). The biweekly Dos Jidisze Wort (Słowo Żydowskie) is published in Yiddish and Polish. Also at the above mentioned address is the seat of the Social-Culturral Society of Jews in Poland which has branches in major Polish towns. A great number of committees and foundations were created to protect Jewish artifacts and historical monuments in Poland. A number of Polish scientific centers, including the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw, carry out a wide range of research on the history and culture of Polish Jews.