“Answer: Because NOBODY in Eastern Europe liked the Jews. No, not the Poles either.”
They were certainly more tolerant than the rest of Europe; no Monday morning quarterbacking will explain why so many of them chose to live there otherwise. Keep attacking them (despite their own losses in the millions and subsequent enslavement by the Soviet Union); it will warn the rest of the world of the gratitude they can expect in similar straits.
>>They were certainly more tolerant than the rest of Europe; no Monday morning quarterbacking will explain why so many of them chose to live there otherwise.<<
The Jews didn’t CHOOSE to live in eastern Poland and western Russia; they were ASSIGNED to live there in 1791 when Catherine the Great established the Pale of Settlement. At the time, Poland was under Russian rule. I don’t know a lot about the issue, but from what I gather, Catherine wanted the Jews near enough to provide their skills and talents to the nation; but not near enough to the major cities that they might rouse the rabble against the royal court. This notion you have that the sovereign, benevolent Poles invited their friends the Jews to live among them in flowers and happiness is charming, but fictional. The Poles were neither sovereign nor particularly benevolent. Sorry. Neither they nor the Jews had a choice in the matter. It was the czarina’s doing. If you want to know more, look up the Pale of Settlement.