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Freemasonry appeared in Poland under the Nobel Republic during the second half of the 18th century. Although Jews were not allowed to join the Brotherhood, to those who believed in the values of the Enlightenment, in the Emancipation and the accession to the civil rights, it nevertheless represented a great hope. Following the legal advances due to the first Polish insurrection and the Napoleonic period, a few Polish Jewish immigrants in France joined Parisian lodges where they were able to resume their fight for equality. They encounter, however, strong opposition from Polish émigrés who wished for Poland to be liberated only by Polish Christians, and little support from French democrats who did not support daring revolutionary and internationalist actions. When the Jews in Poland finally obtained their civil rights in 1863, Jewish Freemason émigrés became clearly involved in the fight for Polish Independence.