The Polish political crisis of 1968 (in Polish, Marzec 1968, "March of 1968", or wydarzenia marcowe, "events of March") describes the main protests of students and intellectuals against the communists of the government of the Popular Republic of Poland, its repression by the security services, and the concurrent "anti-Zionist" campaign undertaken in response to the political crisis by the Polish Government. The protests coincided with the events of the Prague Spring in neighboring Czechoslovakia. The wave of anti-Semitism instigated by the authorities of the Polish People's Republic as part of an "anti-Zionist" campaign served as a tactic to divert public attention from the political crisis in the country and ultimately led to the massive Jews of Poland. Before the beginning of the campaign, the People's Republic had 40 000 Jews, after a few years, there were less than 5000. The episode was especially traumatic for those who were forced to abandon everything to the detriment of the Poles. Background Protest of Europe in 1968
A growing wave of protests and dissent in Czechoslovakia marked the culmination of a wider series of social mobilization of dissidents. The protests of the workers seemed to recall the 1956 protests in Poland. Numerous events of protest and rebellion, especially among the students, exploded throughout the continent in 1968.
A growing crisis in the Communist Party that exercises control over universities and persecution of the literary community and intellectuals in general marked the 1960s. Among those pursued for their political activism on campus are Jacek Kuron and Adam Michnik. Protests of students and intellectuals In January, the communist government banned the depiction of a work by Adam Mickiewicz (Dziady, written in 1824), directed by Kazimierz Dejmek at the Polish Theater in Warsaw, arguing that it contained to Russianophobia and antisocialism . The work had been represented 14 times, the last time on 30 January. Dejmek was expelled from the Communist Party and later dismissed from the Warsaw National Theater. The Union of Writers condemned the prohibition of March 2, followed by the Union of Actors. A crowd of some 1,500 students protesting at the University of Warsaw on 8 March were greeted with a riot police attack. After four days, the protests spread to Krakow, Lublin, Gliwice, Breslau, Gdansk, Poznany Lodz. Bands of "squads of Communist Party workers" attacked the students, followed by police in Warsaw and Lublin. A massive student strike took place in Breslau on 14-15 and 16 March, in Krakow on the 3rd and from 14 to 20 in Opole. The call for a general strike was issued from Warsaw on 13 March. A hard-line speech by Wladyslaw Gomulka on 19 March cut off any possibility of negotiation. More student protests, strikes and occupations were carried out with mass repression of thousands of participants. National coordination of the students was attempted through a meeting on 25 March in Breslau (Wroclaw), most of their assistants were imprisoned at the end of April. At least 2,725 people were detained for their involvement. According to internal government reports, repression was generally effective, although students were able to disrupt the May 1 ceremonies in Wroclaw. Anti-Semitic Purges Main article: History of the Jews in Poland
In 1965, the Soviet Politburo had decided to promote Jews to leadership positions in the Communist Party and other top executive jobs in 1970. The government of Poland did the same to be Tadeusz Walichnowski, an anti-Zionist expert, the head of minorities in the branch of government
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