From July 6 to 15, 1938, the Evian Conference was held in the town of Evian-les-Bains on the French side of Lake Geneva. This international event was convened at the initiative of US President Franklin D. Roosevelt to discuss the problem of Jews and other refugees from Germany and Austria who had arisen after the Nazis took power and the annexation of Austria. Delegates from 32 countries and representatives of international organizations were invited to the conference. The discussion focused on organizing the resettlement and immigration of people persecuted on religious or racial grounds.

Among the most prominent figures at the conference was a professor and rabbi from Warsaw – Moshe Schorr. This elderly man, a typical scholar with glasses and a beard, was one of the key speakers at Évian. Having been involved in the process of helping Jews flee from Germany to Poland for a long time, he advocated providing immediate support for his fellow Jews. Fully understanding what the Nazis were capable of, he understood that it was important to provide immediate assistance.

A year later, Professor Schorr became a refugee himself. When the Polish leadership fled Warsaw on the night of September 17-18, 1939 after it had been besieged by the Nazis, he was offered to join a government delegation heading for Romania. However, he refused this offer and said: "As long as I am the leader of Polish Jewry, I will not leave the Polish land, where millions of my people remain."

The tragic fate of Rabbi Schorr became a symbol of the suffering of the Jewish people during the Second World War. Moshe Schorr – the chief rabbi of the Tłomackie Synagogue in Warsaw, a Polish-Jewish oriental historian – tried with all his might to solve the problem of the existence of Jews in interwar Poland, but he himself became a victim of the most bloodthirsty power at that time – the Soviet one. Moshe's birthplace was the Galician town of Przemyśl, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, on May 10th, 1874. Moshe was born to Ozjasz and Esther (née Friedman), who were both Jewish.

Moshe began his education at the Przemyśl Gymnasium. Thanks to the gymnasium, as well as his father and private tutors, the young man laid a solid foundation in Jewish faith and history. After successfully completing the course, in the fall of 1893, young Schorr went to Vienna, where he enrolled in the Faculty of Philosophy at the prestigious University of Vienna. In addition to philosophy, Moshe studied Hebrew and other Oriental languages at the university, showing a particular interest in psychology and Egyptian mythology.

In the same year, he entered the Israelisch-Theologische Lehranstalt (Israelite Theological Institute), which was maintained by the Jewish community of Vienna. This educational institution was founded in October 1893 with the assistance of Albert von Rothschild. It was modeled on the first institution of its kind, the Jewish Theological Seminary in the Silesian city of Breslau, which aimed to become a center for Jewish learning free from the influence of communities and individuals. At that time, the Israelische Theologische Institut in Vienna had 11 teachers and only 26 students studying for service as rabbis.

In 1889, Moshe spent his final semester at the University of Lviv, where he successfully defended his thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. His thesis, about the position of Jews in ancient Poland, was published in 1879 in Polish and in 1970 it was also published in Russian by the historical magazine "Voskhod."

Continuing his studies at the Israeli Theological Institute, Schorr received a rabbi's diploma in 1900. As he later admitted, he was not at all attracted to the career of a rabbi at that time. In addition, the positions of rabbis in Lviv were occupied and he, still a young man, could not hope to be elected. Instead, he found a position as a teacher of Jewish law at a state seminary in Lviv. At the same time, he also got a job teaching at the Fifth Gymnasium of Lviv, where he taught God's Law, the Jewish language and Jewish history.

Moshe Schorr describes this period of his life in one of his letters to Ludwig Gumplowicz, a sociologist and professor at the University of Graz. He considers the work of a religious teacher to be "forced" and "mechanical", and he always feels tension. But oriental studies still arouse a passionate interest in him. In a letter to Gumplowich, he expresses a strong desire to delve deeper into research into Semitic and Oriental studies and seriously considers continuing his studies in Berlin or Leipzig.

Eventually, Schorr received a scholarship from the Austrian Ministry of Education. In 1902, he went to Berlin, where he studied Semitic languages, Assyriology, and the history of the ancient Near East under the guidance of renowned scholars at the Faculty of Philosophy. In 1905-1906, he continued his studies in Vienna, where he studied Arabic Philology under the supervision of the Semitologist David Heinrich Muller, who had a great influence on the young scientist. After several years of intense study, Mosche Schorr wrote several important scientific papers; this allowed him to become a lecturer at Lviv University. In March 1910 he was appointed associate professor of Semitic Languages and History of the Ancient Near East.

It should be noted that Moshe Schorr was not exclusively a scholar confined to his studies. He devoted all his free time to charitable and social activities. In 1901, he became a member of the humanitarian society "B'nai B'rith" in Lviv, and later headed its branch. From 1904 to 1905, Schorr led the Society for the Promotion of Education among Jews in Lviv. He was one of the founders and long-term members of "Opieka," a society supporting Jewish youth in secondary schools, during his stay in Lviv he was also a board member of the Jewish community library and later became its director.

All this titanic scientific work and social load did not hinder the family happiness of Moshe Schorr. In October 1905, he got married to the daughter of a wealthy merchant and book publisher from Vilnius, Yakov Isaakovich Benyakob. As some contemporaries believed, one of the deciding factors for Benyakov's decision to give his daughter to Schor was Schor's support for the Zionist cause and his participation in Zionist congresses.

Shortly before the wedding, in the summer of 1905, Moshe Schorr took part in the 7th Zionist Congress held in Basel, Switzerland. During the congress, he did not make public speeches but left a number of interesting descriptions of this event. He believed that, in his opinion, no movement had ever penetrated the consciousness of Jews so deeply as Zionism. As a scholar, he was not happy with the vulgarization of Zionism, explaining that it relied on more than just a modern history book. "As for Zionism... I note in advance that historical evidence is not decisive for today. After all, Professor Winkler showed that the Jews never were in Egypt, so does that mean the Jewish religion based on the Exodus from Egypt should disappear from history?"

And in 1935, Professor and Rabbi Schorr began a major political career. As a representative of Polish Jewry, Moshe Schor was appointed by President Ignacy Mościński as a member of the upper house of Parliament - the Senate. He remained a Senator until the dissolution of the Senate in September 1948.

As a Senator, Rabbi Shor tirelessly defended civil and cultural rights for the Jewish population. He expressed deep concern in his parliamentary speeches and articles published in Jewish newspapers such as Nasz Prześląd and Chwili about the rise of anti-Semitism and the passivity of authorities on this issue. Notably, this passivity was quite aggressive - Polish government had serious interest in "getting rid of Jews" and even considered exotic options such as sending Jews to Madagaskar.

The degree of Polish anti-Semitism in those times is vividly illustrated by an incident that occurred in March 1938 involving Senator Schorr himself. On March 17, the Polish government issued an ultimatum to Lithuania with the aim of forcing the Lithuanian government to recognize "Polish Vilna". This led to mass anti-Jewish rioting in Warsaw. Aggressive groups, mainly national radicals, started beating Jews who were lining up in front of banks to withdraw their money in anticipation of war with Lithuania. These hooligans accused the Jews of causing panic and chanted "Jews to Madagascar!" They attacked passersby and clashed with police, who tried to protect the Jewish district. Moshe Schor was among the victims. He was attacked and beaten severely as he left the Great Synagogue on his way to the Ministry of Interior to express strong protest against what was happening in the capital.

In addition to the acute problems of the local Jewish community, Schorr had to deal with the issue of Jewish refugees from Austria and Germany, who were all Polish citizens. They were arrested and deported to Poland by Nazi authorities starting from October 1938. At first, Polish authorities allowed refugees to travel deep into the country where they could count on the help of friends or relatives. However, after a few days they unexpectedly changed their decision and interned more than 5,000 people in Zbąszyń, a border town.

This policy was a logical continuation of the actions of the Polish government, which, following the March riots in Warsaw, presented a rather controversial bill to the parliament for consideration. According to the document, it proposed to deprive Polish citizens who had been abroad for more than 5 years of their citizenship if they had severed ties with Poland or refused to return, despite the efforts of Polish diplomatic missions. Although the bill was drafted in general terms, it was clear that its primary target was Polish-Jewish citizens. The government essentially sought to establish a legal framework to prevent Polish citizens of Jewish descent from returning to the country.

Despite the rampant anti-Semitic sentiment, Moshe Schorr immediately began searching for funds to assist refugees. Under his leadership, the General Committee on Assistance to Jewish refugees from Germany in Poland was formed, initiating a nationwide fundraising campaign. During its first eight months, the committee raised an impressive amount - at least $700,000 - for the needs of the refugees. A special unit of Schorr's aid committee sought to provide employment or organize emigration for refugees. During these same eight months, 673 refugees left for other countries, and the number interned in Zbąszyń dropped by more than half to 2,250.

Having actively participated in the Evian Conference as a representative of Poland, Moshe Schorr tried to maneuver between his government and influential Western circles. In January 1939, a delegation from the "Jewish Colonization Committee", consisting of Professor Moshe Schor, former Sejm member Dr. Henryk Rosmarin, Rabbi Aaron Levin, Zionist leader Leah Levit, and others, arrived in London to negotiate with George Ruble, director of the Intergovernmental Committee for Refugees, and Lord Peel, chairman of the Royal Commission for Palestine, about possibilities for Jewish emigration. They discussed not only Palestine but also the Madagascar plan, which was promoted by the Polish government.

Despite the best efforts of Moshe Schors's delegation, neither the London meeting nor the previous Evian conference led to any significant practical solutions to the problem of European Jewish refugees.

On the morning of September 1, 1939, when the German army invaded Poland, Professor Schorr immediately realized the seriousness of the situation. As a prominent Jewish public figure and an active opponent of fascism, he had repeatedly criticized the Nazi regime and understood that he would be one of the first targets of the Nazis. His name was undoubtedly on the lists of "undesirable elements", which the Nazi special services had compiled long before the attack.

This policy became a logical continuation of the activities of the Polish Cabinet of Ministers, which, after the March riots in Warsaw, submitted a rather scandalous bill to the Sejm for consideration. According to this document, it was proposed to deprive all Polish citizens who had lived abroad for more than five years of their civil rights if they had "severed ties with their homeland" or refused to return to Poland, despite the demands of Polish consulates. Although the bill was formulated in general terms, there was no doubt that its main target was Polish Jews. The authorities essentially sought to create a legal mechanism to prevent the return of Polish citizens of Jewish origin to the country.