In July 1946 forty-two Jews and two ethnic Poles were killed in the Kielce pogrom . Eleven of the victims died from bayonet wounds and eleven more were fatally shot with military assault rifles , indicating direct involvement of the regular troops . The pogrom prompted General Spychalski of PWP from wartime Warsaw , to sign a legislative decree allowing the remaining survivors to leave Poland without Western visas or Polish exit permits . This also served to strengthen the government 's acceptance among the anti-Communist right , as well as weaken the British hold in the Middle East . Most refugees crossing the new borders left Poland without a valid passport . By contrast , the Soviet Union brought Soviet Jews from DP camps back to USSR by force , along with all other Soviet citizens irrespective of their wishes , as agreed to by the Yalta Conference
Kielce pogrom
Kielce pogrom
The Holocaust in Poland