The Functioning of the Descendants of Frankist Families in the Nineteenth Century. A Religious Group, a Family Network, or a Community of Interests?

The ‘Jewish prophet’ Jacob Frank died in 1791 in Offenbach. After his death, a group of several thousand of his disciples still functioned in Warsaw. The Frankists had been making assimilation efforts since the beginning of the 19th century, moving quite rapidly away from Frankism as a religious formation. Some Frankist families were at the same time rapidly advancing socially: their representatives gained education, property, in some cases nobility. A clear obstacle to this process of assimilation and advancement was the antisemitism of a part of the Polish elite, visible both in publications and in politics. This antisemitism, combined with a complete break with the Jewish past and with numerous and strong family ties between the Frankist families of the Wołowskis, Krysińskis, Łabęckis, Szymanowskis, Lanckorońskis or Jeziorańskis (ties resulting, among other, from endogenous marriages practised regularly until the mid-19th century), resulted in the more significant Frankist families forming a specific, compact group until the end of the century. A group united by blood ties, similar aspirations, similar values, similar social and property status and – above all – the antisemitism of society, hitting both traditional believers in Judaism and converts. As a result, the Frankists, having departed completely from Frank’s religious teachings, became in the course of time a kind of specific support group with a strongly familial character. The specificity of this group was also determined by its education. In fact, from Frankist families came excellent lawyers, doctors, writers, musicians, who later made significant contributions to Polish history and culture.