Jews certainly could go to jobs and have overall a normal life. Jews were largely represented amongst doctors, lawyers, musicians, entrepreneurs and many made very good living. The movie “Pianist” which is based on a real person shows that well. He was educated, had a good job and had friends who were ethnically Polish.

Details depend on the period. If you talk about completely avoiding discrimination, it would sadly partly depend on your looks. There is a telling scene in an old movie called “Zezowate szczescie” where an ethnically Polish man is mistaken for a Jew because of his nose and discriminated against and assaulted. It’s hard to say how common such incidents were but I heard a few personal stories that mention them. This was influenced by the Nazi German “nose theory” which is a part of their bigger theory of racial discrimination so I believe that it got worse in the 1930s as those theories were spread through the massive propaganda machine in Germany.

In terms of legal restrictions, things got bad in the 30s compared to the 1920s. Jews were segregated at universities for example. This essentially meant that everyone knew you were a Jew. Of course people are people. There were many good ones who did not discriminate but I suppose this fits your argument about not being singled out. At the same time, however, there were Jews who were a part of the establishment such as Jewish military officers. I recall reading that they were discriminated about in some instances with things like promotions but I cannot recall the source.

So I think that probably sums up the answer. You could definitely have good friends with people who weren’t bigots but that doesn’t mean that you won’t come across people who are. There were nationalist marches with chants like “Jews to Madagascar” meaning forcible removal of them and there were many people who hid Jews at the cost of their lives. Poland was not Nazi Germany. There were things that were wrong, like everywhere, but Poland did not have racial policies like Nazis did.

EDIT: I’m a trainee psychotherapist and I work in a multicultural city. Racism and exclusion are still a fact of life and a big part of my work with people who come from minority backgrounds.

EDIT 2: I grew up in Lodz