Poland

There has been a far amount of press, movies, and documentaries made about the babies and children saved by Polish people during the holocaust.  Children that were saved by neighbors nuns when their parents were sent to their death in the German Genocide. They were raised not knowing about their origins. At some point, these grown children discover the truth of their ancestry. 

However, there is an another period of time when Polish Jews, and quite a few of them, converted to christianity. And this is a really odd story. European history is filled with episodes when Jews were given the choice of becoming Christian or being killed. A lot of Jews were killed and some Jews became Christian. But this story is a real variation on the them, and, may well be responsible for quite a lot of Hidden Jewish Ancestry. 

The story starts with Jacob Frank, or Jakub Lejbowicz(1726-1791). Frank was born into a Jewish family Korolowka, Podolia. His father was a Sabbatean, a follower of Sabatai Zvi. Apparently the father was born in Bukovina, Romania, where the Sabbateans had a strong foothold in the Jewish community. 

Jacob was a traveling merchant, dealing in cloth and gemstones. He often travelled to the Ottoman Empire where he was called "Frank", a name given to many Jews from Eastern Europe doing business in the Ottoman Empire. In the 1750's he lived in the centers of Sabbatean practice, Salonica and Smyrna. Apparently he was really taken with Sabbateanism, and when he returned to Poland, be brought his excitement with him. He started a Sabbatean group in Podolia and taught them what he had learned from the Donme(Sabbateans). 

This did not go over real big with the local Rabbi's and he and his followers were invited to leave the territory. And they did. However, Rabbi's collectively called for a universal herem, or excommunication for any Jew following either Sabatai Zvi or his follower Jacob Frank. 

And now we get into a strange twist. The Frankists rejected the Talmud and recognized only the Zohar, the sacred book of the Kabbalists. And they did not contradict the Christian concept of the Trinity. When the Rabbi's came after them fast and furiously, they contacted the Catholic Bishop of Podolski, Poland, and ask for protection. He took them under his wing in 1757. They were left alone as long as this Bishop lived, but, when he died, the Rabbi's came after them anew. The pled with Augustus III of Poland and were once again given safe harbor. 

At this time, Frank proclaimed himself the direct successor of Sabatai Zvi and Otman Baba, another Sabbatean. Direct successor as in the reincarnation of Sabatai Zvi. He told his followers he was receiving revelations directly from Heaven. He appealed to both the rabbinate and the Catholic Church, to see who would accept he and his followers. The Rabbi's were a hard no. The Catholic Church had some reservations, but, when a few Frankists joined the reform church, they decided to let them join the Catholic Church. 

This was a public event. Jacob Frank accepted baptism and had the King of Poland, Augustus III, as his godfather(1759). In the following year, another 500 Jews accepted baptism into the Catholic Church, and 1000 converted in the following year. In Poland alone, by 1790, 26,000 Frankists Jews were baptized by the Catholic Church. 

Frank must have been a charismatic soul. Not only did he lead large numbers of Polish Jews into Catholicism, he kept a court that was visited by many notables. Paul I the future Czar of Russia and King Joseph II of Austria visited him. He lived a lavish life, apparently his Polish Jewish followers, and Moravian followers, sent him generous donations. 

A side note would be that some of his Jewish followers became Catholic, and some of his followers became protestant (Moravians). After his death, the Frankists moved around Poland and Bohemia, and intermarried with the gentry a the merchant class. They disappeared, And, if your family comes from this part of the world, and you have Hidden Jewish Ancestry, it may well have come from this period of time and as a result of Jacob Frank. 

This is a particular peculiar period in Jewish history because it is one filled with voluntary conversion to Christianity. 

It is also an intriguing period of time. At about the same time, Polish and German Jewish names start appearing in the French Church record books in Germany. One can only wonder if the Frankists, having taken the plunge and become Christian, in turn joined the French Church. This requires further research. But, it could explain the Polish names doting the pages of the the French Church in Germany! 

Sadly, at the time of the Holocaust, there were a lot of conversions, children saved by local Polish people and raised Catholic, and more. Lots of Jewish people got lost, either murdered at the hands of the Nazi's or lost to the Jewish people by being saved by righteous Christians. I have two articles about that below.