Michal Shuldenfrei (or Michał Szuldenfrei) (January 27, 1887 in

Częstochowa Częstochowa ( , ; german: Tschenstochau, Czenstochau; la, Czanstochova) is a city in southern Poland on the Warta River with 214,342 inhabitants, making it the thirteenth-largest city in Poland. It is situated in the Silesian Voivodeship (admin ...

– July 1, 1965) was a

Polish Jewish The history of the Jews in Poland dates back at least 1,000 years. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Ashkenazi Jewish community in the world. Poland was a principal center of Jewish culture, because of the lon ...

politician, lawyer, a delegate to the first

Sejm The Sejm (English: , Polish: ), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland (Polish: ''Sejm Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej''), is the lower house of the bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of t ...

of post

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Poland. He was elected as the only member of the Jewish Bund to the 1947 Polish parliament (as part of the electoral list of the still independent

Polish Socialist Party The Polish Socialist Party ( pl, Polska Partia Socjalistyczna, PPS) is a socialist political party in Poland. It was one of the most important parties in Poland from its inception in 1892 until its merger with the communist Polish Workers' P ...

, which was soon forced to merge into the Communist

Polish United Workers' Party The Polish United Workers' Party ( pl, Polska Zjednoczona Partia Robotnicza; ), commonly abbreviated to PZPR, was the communist party which ruled the Polish People's Republic as a one-party state from 1948 to 1989. The PZPR had led two other lega ...

). In the interwar period in Poland he served as a defense lawyer in several politically charged trials. He was also very active in the Bund. During the last stages of the German occupation of Poland he joined the Soviet sponsored

State National Council Krajowa Rada Narodowa in Polish (translated as State National Council or Homeland National Council, abbreviated to KRN) was a parliament-like political body created during the later stages of World War II in German-occupied Warsaw, Poland. It wa ...

. In 1944, after the entry of the

Soviet Army uk, Радянська армія , image = File:Communist star with golden border and red rims.svg , alt = , caption = Emblem of the Soviet Army , start_date ...

into Poland, and the establishment of the Lublin Committee he tried to reorganize the Bund, despite the fact that its pre war leaders, like

Victor Alter Victor Alter (also Wiktor Alter; 7 February 1890 – 17 February 1943) was a Polish Jewish socialist activist and Bund publicist, and a member of the executive committee of the Second International. Life Alter studied in Belgium, at the Univ ...

and

Henryk Ehrlich Henryk Ehrlich yi, הענריק ערליך), sometimes spelled ''Henryk Erlich''; 1882 – 15 May 1942) was an activist of the General Jewish Labour Bund in Poland, a Petrograd Soviet member, and a member of the executive committee of the Second ...

had been executed on Stalin's orders. He was one of the signatories of PKWN's July Manifesto. After the war he was known for his dedication to the pursuit of German Nazi war criminals responsible for the Holocaust. He was also very active in trying to bring the perpetrators of the

Kraków pogrom The Kraków pogrom was the first anti-Jewish riot in post World War II Poland,Michlic, p. 347. that took place on 11 August 1945 in the Soviet-occupied city of Kraków, Poland. The incident was part of anti-Jewish violence in Poland towards and ...

to justice. He is buried at the

Okopowa Street Jewish Cemetery The Warsaw Jewish Cemetery is one of the largest Jewish cemeteries in Europe and in the world. Located on Warsaw's Okopowa Street and abutting the Christian Powązki Cemetery, the Jewish necropolis was established in 1806 and occupies 33 hectar ...

in Warsaw.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shuldenfrei, Michal 1887 births 1965 deaths People from Częstochowa People from Piotrków Governorate General Jewish Labour Bund in Poland politicians Polish Socialist Party politicians Polish United Workers' Party members Members of the State National Council Members of the Polish Sejm 1947–1952 Commanders of the Order of Polonia Restituta Officers of the Order of Polonia Restituta Recipients of the Order of the Banner of Work Recipients of the Gold Cross of Merit (Poland)