The YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe

To treat the history of Jewish presence in the Polish lands, this entry includes three chronologically arranged articles. The first covers early history through the third Polish partition in 1795; the second covers the period from 1795 to 1939, including the partition period, Named for the Congress of Vienna (1815) that settled the boundaries of an autonomous Polish state under the control of the Russian Empire. Its territories were much reduced from those of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that had existed until its elimination by a series of partitions in 1772, 1793, and 1795. The Treaty of Versailles (1919) recognized the newly independent Polish state in the aftermath of World War I. [For map, see p. 1390], and the interwar years; the last, "Poland since 1939," covers Poland during and after World War II and the Communist and postcommunist eras.Named for the Congress of Vienna (1815) that settled the boundaries of an autonomous Polish state under the control of the Russian Empire. Its territories were much reduced from those of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that had existed until its elimination by a series of partitions in 1772, 1793, and 1795. The Treaty of Versailles (1919) recognized the newly independent Polish state in the aftermath of World War I. [For map, see p. 1390]