From the Middle Ages until the Holocaust, Jews were a significant part of the Polish population. The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, known for its religious tolerance as a "Jewish paradise", attracted numerous Jews who fled persecution from other European countries. Poland soon became a major spiritual and cultural center for Ashkenazi Jewry, and Polish Jews contributed strongly to Polish cultural, economic and political life. By the Second World War Poland had the largest Jewish population in the world (about 3 million), the vast majority of whom were killed by the Nazis in the Holocaust. The current Polish Jewish population is approximately 8,000. The following is a list of some famous Polish Jews.

Historical figures

Politicians

• David Ben-Gurion (1886-1973), Israeli prime minister
• Jakub Berman (1901-1984), Secretary of PUWP (Polish United Workers' Party)
• Bronisław Geremek (b. 1932), Polish foreign minister
• Shimon Peres (b. 1923), Israeli prime minister, Nobel prize (1994)
• Adam Rotfeld (b. 1938), Polish foreign minister
• Yitzhak Shamir (b. 1915), Israeli prime minister
• Saul Wahl (1541-1617), according to tradition, temporary King of Poland in 1586
• Szmul Zygielbojm (1895-1943), Polish Jewish leader

Soldiers and fighters

• Mordechaj Anielewicz (1919-1943), leader of Warsaw ghetto uprising
• Berek Joselewicz (1764-1809), colonel during Kościuszko Uprising and Napoleonic wars
• Hyman Rickover (1900-1986), US Navy Admiral
• Krystyna Skarbek (1915-1952), WW2 spy

Activists

• Joseph Rotblat (b. 1908), founder of Pugwash, Nobel Prize (1995)
• Raphael Lemkin (1900-1959), human rights lawyer
• Rosa Luxembourg (1870-1919), Marxist
• Adam Michnik (b. 1946), dissident
• Henry Morgentaler (b. 1923), abortion activist
• Ludwik Rajchman (1881-1965), founder of UNICEF
• Ernestine Rose (1810-1892), feminist

Religious figures

• Israel ben Eliezer (the Baal Shem Tov) (ca 1700-1760), Hasiddic rabbi
• Jacob Frank (1726-1791), messiah claimant
• Arthur Hertzberg, (b. 1921) rabbi
• Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972), theologian
• Zevi Hirsch Kalischer (1795-1874), rabbi & zionism pioneer
• Elimelech of Leżajsk (1717-1786), Hasiddic rabbi
• Dovber of Mezeritch (d. 1772), Hasiddic rabbi

Academics

Natural scientists

• Paul Baran, engineer: packet switching
• Salomon Bochner, mathematician
• Jacob Bronowski, scientist & broadcaster
• Georges Charpak, physicist, Nobel prize (1992)
• Samuel Eilenberg, mathematician: category theory
• Kasimir Fajans, physicist
• Casimir Funk, biochemist: vitamins
• Roald Hoffmann, chemist and writer, Nobel prize (1981)
• Witold Hurewicz, mathematician
• Leopold Infeld, physicist
• Mark Kac, mathematician
• Abraham Lempel , computer scientist: LZW compression
• Adolf Lindenbaum, logician
• Benoit Mandelbrot, mathematician: fractals
• Szolem Mandelbrojt, mathematician
• Emil Leon Post, mathematician
• Mojzesz Presburger , logician
• Tadeus Reichstein, chemist, Nobel prize (1950)
• Stanislaw Saks, mathematician
• Albert Sabin, inventor of the oral Polio vaccine
• Andrew V. Schally, endocrinologist, Nobel prize (1977)
• Juliusz Schauder, mathematician
• Hugo Steinhaus, mathematician
• Alfred Tarski, logician (converted to Catholicism)
• Stanislaw Ulam, mathematician

Social academics

• Solomon Asch, Gestalt psychologist
• Szymon Aszkenazy, historian
• Salo Wittmayer Baron , Jewish historian
• Zygmunt Bauman, sociologist
• Ivan Bloch, military writer
• Isaac Deutscher, historian
• Henryk Grossmann, economist
• Joseph Jastrow , psychologist
• Lewis Namier, historian
• Paul Radin , anthropologist
• Manfred Sakel, neurophysiologist & psychiatrist
• Milton Rokeach , psychologist
• Michael Thomas, language teacher
• Ludwik Zamenhof, doctor and inventor of esperanto

Cultural figures

Artists

• Balthus, painter (Jewish mother)
• Chim, photographer
• Leon Chwistek, painter & philosopher (unconfirmed)
• Tamara de Lempicka, painter (Jewish father)
• Moise Kisling, painter
• Joe Kubert, comic book artist
• Daniel Libeskind, architect
• Helena Rubinstein, fashion designer
• Arthur Szyk, political cartoonist
• Max Weber, painter
• Esther Wertheimer , sculptor

Musicians

• Emanuel Ax, pianist
• Adolph Baller, pianist
• Leonard & Phil Chess , founders of Chess Records
• Walter Damrosch , conductor
• Ignaz Friedman , pianist
• Szymon Goldberg , violinist/conductor
• Ida Haendel, violinist
• George Henschel, singer/conductor
• Bronislaw Huberman , violinist
• Wanda Landowska, harpsichordist
• Geddy Lee, vocalist in Rush (Polish parents)
• Artur Rodzinski, conductor
• Arthur Rubinstein, pianist
• Artur Schnabel, pianist
• Henryk Szeryng, violinist
• Władysław Szpilman pianist, author of The Pianist memoir
• Alexandre Tansman, composer, pianist
• Moisei Vainberg, composer

Screen and stage

• Artur Brauner , film producer
• Samuel Goldwyn, film producer
• Anna Held, stage actress
• Agnieszka Holland, film director, screenwriter (Jewish father)
• Ida Kaminska, actress & theatre manager
• Jan Kott, theatre critic
• Roman Polański, film director
• Lew Rywin, film producer
• Harry, Sam & Albert Warner , film producers

Writers and poets

Polish-language

• Kazimierz Brandys , writer
• Jan Brzechwa, poet
• Henryk Grynberg , writer
• Mieczysław Jastrun , poet
• Janusz Korczak, pediatrician, children's writer, pedagogist
• Stanislaw Jerzy Lec, satirical poet
• Hanna Krall , author
• Bolesław Leśmian, poet
• Bruno Schulz, prose writer
• Antoni Słonimski, poet
• Julian Stryjkowski , prose writer
• Julian Tuwim, poet

Yiddish-language

• Sholem Asch, writer
• Isaac Bashevis Singer, writer, Nobel prize (1978)
• Israel Joshua Singer, novelist

Other writers

• Shmuel Yosef Agnon, Hebrew writer, Nobel prize (1966)
• Lisa Appignanesi , English writer
• Jurek Becker, German writer
• Naphtali Herz Imber, Hebrew poet
• Jerzy Kosinski, American writer
• Anna Langfus , French writer, Prix Goncourt (1962)
• Osip Mandelstam, Russian poet
• Uri Orlev, Hebrew writer, Hans Christian Andersen Award (1996)
• Marcel Reich-Ranicki, German literary critic

Business figures

• Henry & Helal Hassenfeld , founders of Hasbro
• Izrael Poznański, textile magnate, philanthropist
• Jack Tramiel, founder of Commodore

Sport figures

Chess players

• David Janowski, chess player
• Miguel Najdorf, chess player
• Akiba Rubinstein, chess player
• Samuel Reshevsky, chess player
• Savielly Tartakower, chess player
• Daniel Yanofsky, chess player
• Johannes Zukertort, chess player

Others

• Charley Goldman, boxing trainer (International Boxing Hall of Fame)
• Myer Prinstein , long- and triple-jumper (4 Olympic golds)
• Irena Kirszenstein Szewinska, sprinter (7 medals over 4 Olympics)

Miscellaneous

• Meyer Lansky, US gangster

See also

• History of the Jews in Poland
• List of Jews
• List of Poles