The article was prepared and financed by the National Science Center, Poland (project entitled “Jews in Poland in the aftermath of the 1967–1968 antisemitic campaign: biographic experience, identity changes and community dynamics” reg. no.: 2020/39/D/HS3/02028). No competing interests have been declared. Publisher: Institute of Slavic Studies, Polish Academy of Sciences. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org /licenses/by/4.0/), which permits redistribution, commercial and non-commercial, provided that the article is properly cited. © The Author(s) 2024. © To English translation: Grupa Mowa 2024. Anna Zawadzka Another Death of Universalism, or How Communist Poland Destroyed Jewish Communism S cholars estimate that as many as 250 thousand Jews still lived in Poland just after the Second World War (Cała, 2014, p. 17; Polonsky, 2009, p. 42). A vast majority survived the Holocaust by escaping to the Soviet Union and then returned after 1944. Approximately fifty thou- sand Jews lived through on the Polish territory by hiding on the “Aryan side,” paying Poles for hideaways and food, buying themselves out when blackmailed, and frequently changing their places of stay. Others survived via using “Aryan papers,” which meant living among Poles as non-Jews with forged documents and risking exposure. Very few were saved by selfless help provided by their prewar friends, neighbors, and underground organizations for aid to Jews. The last group among the discussed 250 thousand consists of those who were staying abroad when the war broke out. They had left in the interwar period due to antisemitic harassment, political persecution, or the impossibility to study or work in Poland because of their Jewish descent. The new political order made them return, willing to join their prewar companions in building a new state governed by the promised equality. However, a vast majority of Jews left Poland again during the first thirty years of the new system. The processes and events which triggered subsequent waves of Jewish emigration include the infamous 1968 Polish political crisis. Known as March 1968, the cri- sis involved a state antisemitic campaign conducted in the years 1967–1968. The course DOI: 10.11649/a.3325 Article No.: 3325 nr 21/2024 r. Anna Zawadzka is Associate Professor at the Institute of Slavic Studies, Polish Academy of Sciences, and member of the Centre for Cultural and Literary Studies of Communism at the Insti- tute of Literary Research, Polish Academy of Sciences, and London Centre for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism. Zawadzka holds a habilitation and a doctorate in sociology and cultural studies. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6043-3321 e-mail: anna.zawadzka@ispan.edu.pl