What Do We Know about Conversions and Converts in Nineteenth-Century Warsaw?

The phenomenon of conversions in 19th-century Warsaw has been analysed in various papers. Scholars whose work concentrates on conversions in Poland, especially those who conduct quantitative analyses, base their papers on the book by Teodor Jeske-Choiński Neofici polscy (Polish Neophytes), published in 1904. It contains long lists of Jews who converted between the 16th and 19th centuries.

Jeske-Choiński was an antisemite, which is a well-known fact. There are reasons to expect that his lists are not exhaustive, but the scale of the author’s selectivity has remained unknown so far. However, re-examining his work would be very difficult and extremely time-consuming. Neofici polscy is the only book on conversions in Warsaw resulting from an extensive archival search.

In my paper, I will present the results of my research on conversions in Warsaw in the years 1826-1850. I have examined 115,000 baptism records from Warsaw and neighbouring villages, and I have found 876 converts from Judaism to Christianity: Catholicism, Protestantism, and Orthodoxy. I have compared my findings with Jeske-Choiński’s lists and discovered that, for the analysed period, the precision of his work is only 38%.

I collected data on the gender of converts, their age, occupation, place of birth, literacy, and family relationships among coverts. I also extracted information about baptisms: the date (month and day of the week), the role of monks, missionaries, and the social status of the godparents. Last but not least, I analysed the names of the converts, before and after baptism. Having all the data, I was able to search the database of births, marriages, and deaths records (available at geneteka.genealodzy.pl) and answer some questions about the lives of converts after baptism.

All these data have allowed me to conduct an exhaustive analysis on converts and conversions in Warsaw between 1826-1850. These issues are discussed extensively in my doctoral dissertation. In my paper, I will present the most important findings.