How common is it for other people of Polish origin to discover they are actually Jewish?

My maternal grandmother was an proper anti-Semite she realy hated zyds, but Iv'e just discovered her mother's maiden name was Kaplan and was actauly Jewish and therefore technically I'm also Jewish. How common is it for other people of Polish origin to discover they are actually Jewish?

Probably quite common as Poland had a sizable Jewish population in the past.

You are who you want to be - not who your great grandmother was.
Still, it is interesting how people upon learning they have some Jewish blood in them, all of a sudden embrace it and act like it determines their identity.

Jesus talk about an alarmist headline!

What about "I have red hair - is this contagious?"

You can be Polish and Jewish you know, they are not mutually exclusive

time to make aliiyah then..;)....

I have always been a Philo-semite I think Poland would be a better place today if they were still all there.

What does that mean exactly?


They are.
Still, that almost sounds racist. "Poles are too stupid to run their own country and need Jews to rule them".

My dad had mentioned a few of his Polish friends, had revealed their partial Jewish ancestry to him later in life. He could never understand why they had kept it a secret.

Well, being jewish can help your professional life.

According to ADL that is an anti-semetic comment.

But dont worry ADL is a bunch of morons.

I find that hard to believe. Did your father live in Poland?

No, he lived in New Jersey at the time.

Very few people had the courage to admit to being Jewish in Poland after WWII. Some of my friends used to go to church so no one would suspect.

Watch this and it may help you decide whether you wnat to be Jewish or not: ...

Kapłan means priest (a person who carries out celebrations in some cult) in Polish language.

pl.wiktionary.org/wiki/Kaplan

It's less about "rule", and more about "business skills", so not racist.

Jewish politicians are no better than anyone else's, but Jews are way ahead of Poles in the business league.

But they had courage to run pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ministerstwo_Bezpieczeństwa_Publicznego

Ministry of Public Security (MBP ) - a body of internal security of the status of ministerial organized during the construction of the communist dictatorship in post-war Poland, at the behest and under the dictation of the Soviet authorities . In addition to the so-called . Military Intelligence , responsible for massive bloody repression on citizens during the Stalinist period [ 1] . In the field, represented by the Ministry of subordinate offices of Public Safety , which is why these institutions were commonly abbreviated UB.

Which is pretty lucky for the victims of the MBP. If everybody at the MBP hadn't been Jews, the victims would have been tortured seven days a week; but instead they were only tortured until sunset on Friday and not at all on Saturday.

I agree 100% Poland would be much better if the Nazis had not exterminated most of them.

There were over 3 millions of Jewish Polish people in Poland before the 2nd world war so of course a lot of people must have some Jewish roots.

I know a Kaplan here and he isn't Jewish. You are what you are, why be ashamed of that? Some Jewish people are amongst the most successful people ever to grace the planet. Many rabbis are fair and conscientious people. If you are Jewish, so be it. No shame in that!

It's the opposite of an anti-semite. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philo-Semitism

I am ashamed of my grandparents generation's views on Jews, they never caused us any trouble and lived amongst us in peace for almost 1000 years. Many Poles really were really quite anti-semetic before the war with incidents such the Pinsk Pogrom of 1918 a stain on our history. Not to mention the Kielce Pogrom of 1946 which I believe Poland should officially apologise for.


It seems that you are the racist, implying that Jews run every country they have a large population in.

Yeah, like Europhile and Europhobe. Why should they apologise for the actions of a few morons many decades ago?

Poles are too stupid to run their own country? Ask yourselves where they come up short and what is really needed in life. I'd say many do well but I think a few compromise seminars wouldn't go amiss. Jews tend to work well in teams and they tend to be more success driven.

It's not just the name Kaplan, I have seen census records stating they were Jewish.

That would imply that Philo-Semitism = racism.


No it is you who is racist implying that Jewish race in general is better than Poles.


I don't think you are a Pole with Jewish roots. I think you are a troll who came here for an opportunity to write about some "pogroms", which apart from being a ridiculous term, was always a Russian and Ukrainian specialty.

BTW the commie Jews are responsible for much more gentile deaths than all "pogroms" combined, not that I aprove of holding all Jews responsible for that.

I watched "Defamation".. whew.. it took two days, I did not want to immerse myself ;) It was pretty good. I usually I don't give either side of the issue that much time.

Anyway, maybe I missed some pieces, but they didn't run into anyone from my father's generation who hate Jews and think they are responsible for all the evil in the world? Curious..

family must have been once with that name.

If you're so jewish then let's see you run the world's financial system. Let's see you take over Hollywood! Have you ever gotten a Nobel Prize? Are you clannish? Don't think it's easy to be a Jew. We're always busy fomenting trouble and instigating wars, when we're not talking loudly and trashing Polish hotels. This is hard work. Are you up to it?

What is funny is when some actual events surface which seem to confirm those stereotypes ;)
For example:

haaretz.com/news/israel-police-uncovers-organ-trafficking-ring-in-north-1.905
haaretz.com/news/international/report-israeli-suspected-of-running-ukraine-organ-trafficking-ring-1.306470
haaretz.com/news/national/interpol-hunts-two-israelis-for-kosovo-organ-trafficking-1.324383

:D :D

Now, would someone be allowed to say: statistically Israelis are more involved in organ trafficking than other nationalities? :D

Also, I was really amazed when I learned how many famous Hollywood actors are Jewish.

Quite common. Statistically - one person a day. Many are still looking.