Gross estimates that approximately 250,000 Polish Jews returned home at the end of the war . In his chapter " The Unwelcoming of Jewish Survivors , " Gross describes how returning Polish Jews were subjected to a wave of violence and hostility , with up to 1500 murdered either individually or in pogroms . Often they would find their property occupied by non-Jewish Poles or taken over by the communist government , which nationalized much of the Polish economy . According to Gross , the expropriation of Jewish property continued a trend that occurred throughout the war years , with non-Jewish Poles acquiring the property of Polish Jews who were sent off to extermination camps , and in some instances , carrying out the killings themselves . Gross describes how the looting of property extended to digging through the ashes of Treblinka for gold fillings . He discusses the alienation , hostile atmosphere , and violence experienced by some Jews and the inability of Polish elites to prevent it . Gross makes additional claims about the Kielce pogrom , arguing that the crime was initiated not by a mob , but by the police , and that it involved people from every walk of life except the highest level of government officials in the city
Kielce pogrom
Kielce pogrom
Fear: Anti-Semitism in Poland after Auschwitz