Jakub Egit was a Zionist leader and Soviet soldier.

In 1945, Egit began a project to create a settlement of 50,000 Jews in the town of Dzierżoniów

Dzierzoniów

Dzierżoniów is a town in southwestern Poland. It is situated in Lower Silesian Voivodeship...

 (formerly Reichenbach), a Recovered Territory

Recovered Territories

Recovered or Regained Territories was an official term used by the People's Republic of Poland to describe those parts of pre-war Germany that became part of Poland after World War II...

 near Wrocław in Silesia

Silesia

Silesia is a historical region of Central Europe located mostly in Poland, with smaller parts also in the Czech Republic, and Germany.Silesia is rich in mineral and natural resources, and includes several important industrial areas. Silesia's largest city and historical capital is Wrocław...

, People's Republic of Poland

People's Republic of Poland

The People's Republic of Poland was the official name of Poland from 1952 to 1990. Although the Soviet Union took control of the country immediately after the liberation from Nazi Germany in 1944, the name of the state was not changed until eight years later...

. Egit's motivation was to "exact retribution and justice by making the former German territory a Jewish settlement". Initially, with Soviet Communist support, Egit's plan went well; starting with a small group of concentration camp survivors, the settlement grew to encompass Jewish schools, hospitals, kibbutzim, orphanages and a book publisher in Wrocław. However, in 1948 the Communists withdrew their support. Egit was put in jail and the majority of Dzierżoniów

Dzierzoniów

Dzierżoniów is a town in southwestern Poland. It is situated in Lower Silesian Voivodeship...

's citizens subsequently emigrated to Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

.

From his release in 1950, Egit was editor of J'idysz Buch in Warsaw

Warsaw

Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...

. In 1957 he emigrated to Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, where he became a prominent member of Canada's Jewish community. In 1991, he published his autobiography Grand Illusion.

Further reading

• Microcosm: Portrait of a Central European City Norman Davies
  Norman Davies
  Professor Ivor Norman Richard Davies FBA, FRHistS is a leading English historian of Welsh descent, noted for his publications on the history of Europe, Poland, and the United Kingdom.- Academic career :...
  
   and Roger Moorhouse
  Roger Moorhouse
  Roger Moorhouse is a British historian and author. Born in Stockport, Cheshire, he was raised in Hertfordshire and attended Berkhamsted School. Inspired to return to education by the East European Revolutions of 1989, Moorhouse enrolled in the School of Slavonic and East European Studies of the...
  
  
• Grand Illusion, Jacob Egit