Ghetto benches

Ghetto benches or bench Ghetto (known in Polish as getto ławkowe) was a form of official segregation in the seating of students, introduced in Poland's universities beginning in 1935 at Lwow Polytechnic. By 1937, when this practice became conditionally legalized, most rectors at other higher education institutions had adopted this form of segregation. Under the ghetto ławkowe system, Jewish university students were forced, under threat of expulsion, to sit in a left-hand side section of the lecture halls reserved exclusively for them. This official policy of enforced segregation was often accompanied by acts of violence directed against Jewish students by members of the ONR (outlawed after three months in 1934) and other extreme right and anti-Semitic organizations like the National Democracy movement

The "bench Ghetto" marked a peak of antisemitism in Poland between the world wars. It antagonized not only Jews, but also many Poles. Jewish students protested these policies, along with some Poles who supported them by standing instead of sitting. The segregation continued until the invasion of Poland in World War II and Poland's occupation by Nazi Germany suppressed the entire Polish educational system. In the half of Poland annexed by the Soviet Union, all discrimination against Jews was lifted.

The percentage of Poland's Jewish population increased greatly during the Russian Civil War. Several hundred thousand joined the already numerous Polish Jewish minority living predominantly in urban environments. They were considered foreigners in Poland, because they were among the least assimilated of all European Jewish communities of that time while, at the same time, forming the second largest minority at up to 10% of the total population of the Polish Second Republic. Jewish representation in educational institutions started to increase already during World War I and, since Jewish culture highly supported education, the Jewish student population of Polish universities was out of proportion with that of gentile Poles during the Interbellum. In the early 1920s, Jews constituted over one-third of all students attending Polish universities. At the same time, Polish universities had become the stronghold of the nationalist, antisemitic National Democracy supporters. Proposals to reinstitute the numerus clausus, which would restrict Jewish enrollment to 10% of the student body (roughly the percentage of Jews living in Poland) were made as early as 1923. However, as this would have violated the Little Treaty of Versailles, the proposals were rejected. In spite of these earlier objections, Poland later renounced the Treaty in 1934. Polish nationalism and hostility towards minorities, particularly Jews, increased. Discriminatory policies regarding Jews in education in Poland continued the practice of the Russian Empire's numerus clausus policy, implemented by the Empire during Poland's partitions, which restricted, by means of quotas, the participation of Jews in public life. Issues that had earlier been resolved by the Russian Empire were now decided locally, uniting the Poles while dividing the nation as a whole.

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