Nowy Zmigród
Encyclopedia
Nowy Żmigród, until 1946 Żmigród , is a village and rural municipality (gmina
) in Jasło County, Subcarpathian Voivodeship
, Poland
, 8 miles (12.9 km) WNW of Dukla
and 10 miles (16.1 km) south of Jasło.
During the occupation of Poland
in World War II, the German authorities created a Jewish ghetto
in Żmigród in which 2,800 Jews were detained from its vicinity. The Nazi killing squad
massacred 1,257 of them on July 7, 1942 in nearby Hałbowo forest and about 40 in the local Jewish cemetery. A week later 500 Jews were sent to the camp in Płaszów, and 150 to the camp in Zasław (on August 15th). In the autumn of 1942 the remaining Jews were deported to the extermination camp in Bełżec.
, Żmigród was plundered and destroyed by the mercenary Black Army of Hungary
led by Matthias Corvinus. The city survived two fires during the 16th century (1522 and 1577). Following the military Partitions of Poland
, from the 18th century until the end of the 19th century Żmigród was part of the Galician territory of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and began to lose its financial base leading to population decline. Following the Jewish mass emigration overseas in the course of World War I, Żmigród was stripped of its city status in 1919 soon after the rebirth of sovereign Poland
. The name Nowy (New) was added following World War II.
The population of Żmigród in 1880 was about 2,508 people; in 1900: 2,289 and in 1921: 1,959. The main occupations of the Christian population were agriculture, manual trades and weaving. The Jewish community had consisted of 707 people in 1870, but during the next 30 years it nearly trippled to 1,988 across the entire municipality. Within the city, there were 1,240 Jews, who constitued 56% of its inhabitants.
including Jasło and Gorlice
. The latter communities had to bring their dead for burial in the Żmigród cemetery. Eventually Gorlice and Jasło grew and gained their independence from Żmigród. The community flourished from the end of the 16th century until the middle of the 18th century. The post of rabbi
in Żmigród carried great weight in the area. The community maintained a yeshiva
headed in 1680 by Rabbi Avrohom. Between the years 1692 and 1695 the community (and the yeshiva) were headed by Rabbi Menachem Mendl. He was followed by Rabbi Benyamin Zeev Wolf Rimner in 1698. On his passing away in 1721, the position was given to Rabbi Avrohom Shor, who was succeeded by Rabbi Yehoshua Heshl Blumenfeld in 1770.
The community in Żmigród suffered greatly as a result of the Cossack
and Swedish invasions, and had to borrow money during the second half of the 17th century in order to survive. In 1694, the Jewish community borrowed 125 thaler
from the bishop of Krosno
but was unable to repay it until 1785. In 1765, about 1,243 Jews lived in the villages surrounding Żmigród. The total Jewish population of the city and the neighboring areas consisted of 1,926 people. Statistics indicate that there were 159 Jewish breadwinners. The Jews owned 67 houses that were very crowded, with some of them occupied by as many as six families. Upon the partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
in 1772, according to Austrian report of 1781, most of the Jews of Żmigród were in the lowest tax bracket. They were ordered to resettle in 1791. The community undertook to resettle 17 families onto the land. Each family was to receive 250 florins. The plan was not very successful and only four families settled on the land by 1805. The Jewish community began to decline financially in the 19th century. Many of the Jewish residents began to leave the city and some even moved to Gorlice and Jasło. A decline of the Jewish population continued during the eighties and into the 20th century. A great exodus took place during World War I, when many of the Jews of Żmigród left for overseas.
Most Jews in Żmigród were Hasidic, largely following the Sanzer Rov
, Rabbi Chaim Halbershtam. They were influential in ensuring that the next incumbent as Rabbi of Żmigród was Benyamin Zeev, a Sanzer chosid. He died in 1902 and was succeeded by Rabbi Mordechai Dovid Unger, a brother-in-law of the Sanzer Rov. He was succeeded in turn by his son-in-law Rabbi Osher Yeshayahu Rubin, a grandson of the Sanzer Rov, who later became the Zhmigrider Rebbe in Sanz. In 1907, another grandson of the Sanzer Rov, Rabbi Sinai Halbershtam, was appointed as Rabbi of Żmigród and served the community until 1939 (he died in Siberia, Russia). After Żmigród lost its city status in 1919, the Jewish population dropped to 800 people by 1939. The Gemilat Hessed fund established with the help of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee
in 1927, distributed 30 loans of 3,000 złotych each in 1929, but faced closure in 1938 due to lack of money. Former residents of Żmigród in the USA kept the fund going.
, but most of them soon returned home. Some of those who went east were soon rounded up by the Soviet NKVD
and deported to the interior of the country in 1940. As soon as the Germans occupied Nowy Żmigród, orders aimed at the Jews began to appear. Jews were not allowed to travel, had to wear armbands and were forced to contribute money and forced labor. In 1940, many Jews from the area were transported to Nowy Żmigród from as far away as Łódź. The Judenrat
and the J.S.S. (Jewish Self Help) local committee provided lodgings, clothing and medical assistance for the new arrivals. Jews received meals from the public kitchen. Early in 1942, a ghetto was established in Nowy Żmigród. More Jews were forced to move into the community from nearby villages. The Jewish population reached 2,000 people with an unbelievable level of overcrowding.
On July 7, 1942, all the Jews were ordered to assemble in the square whereupon they were surrounded by the German and auxiliary police
units. Women, children, sick and elderly people were separated from the able-bodied. The latter were directed to a table where representatives of the various German firms issued them work permits. These were then directed to a separate corner of the square. A blanket was spread in the square and the Jews were forced to deposit all their valuable possessions. On the day of the round up, the head of the Judenrat, Hersh Eisenberg, was murdered by the Germans under the pretext that he did not pay the requested contribution. Three other people were killed with him including his two children. After hours of waiting, 1,250 Jews were led to the forest of Halbow where they were killed into prepared execution pits. Some of the survivors of the round-up were sent on August 15, 1942 to the Zaslaw labor camp
near Kraków
. Another group of survivors were sent to the Płaszów death camp. The last remnants of the Jewish population were then sent to the Belzec death camp
at the end of the summer in 1942.
Gmina
The gmina is the principal unit of administrative division of Poland at its lowest uniform level. It is often translated as "commune" or "municipality." As of 2010 there were 2,479 gminas throughout the country...
) in Jasło County, Subcarpathian Voivodeship
Subcarpathian Voivodeship
Podkarpackie Voivodeship , or Subcarpathian Voivodeship, is a voivodeship, or province, in extreme-southeastern Poland. Its administrative capital and largest city is Rzeszów...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, 8 miles (12.9 km) WNW of Dukla
Dukla
Dukla ; , Duklya] is a town and an eponymous municipality in southeastern Poland, in the Subcarpathian Voivodship. The town is populated by 2,127 people . while the total population of the commune containing the town and the villages surrounding it is 16,640...
and 10 miles (16.1 km) south of Jasło.
During the occupation of Poland
Occupation of Poland
Occupation of Poland may refer to:* Partitions of Poland * The German Government General of Warsaw and the Austrian Military Government of Lublin during World War I* Occupation of Poland during World War II...
in World War II, the German authorities created a Jewish ghetto
Jewish ghettos in German-occupied Poland
This article presents a list of locations where the Jewish ghettos in German-occupied Poland were established during World War II. The ghetto system had been imposed by Nazi Germany roughly between October 1939 and July 1942 in order to confine Poland's Jewish population of 3.5 million for the...
in Żmigród in which 2,800 Jews were detained from its vicinity. The Nazi killing squad
Einsatzkommando
During World War II, the Nazi German Einsatzkommandos were a sub-group of five Einsatzgruppen mobile killing squads—up to 3,000 men each—usually composed of 500-1,000 functionaries of the SS and Gestapo, whose mission was to kill Jews, Romani, communists and the NKVD collaborators in the captured...
massacred 1,257 of them on July 7, 1942 in nearby Hałbowo forest and about 40 in the local Jewish cemetery. A week later 500 Jews were sent to the camp in Płaszów, and 150 to the camp in Zasław (on August 15th). In the autumn of 1942 the remaining Jews were deported to the extermination camp in Bełżec.
History
Żmigród received city rights during the 14th century. Situated on the commercial roads leading to the Ukraine in the east and Hungary in the south, Żmigród owed its fast growth due to the wine trade, which brought wines to Poland from the Hungarian vineyards. In 1474, during the reign of Casimir IV JagiellonCasimir IV Jagiellon
Casimir IV KG of the House of Jagiellon was Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1440, and King of Poland from 1447, until his death.Casimir was the second son of King Władysław II Jagiełło , and the younger brother of Władysław III of Varna....
, Żmigród was plundered and destroyed by the mercenary Black Army of Hungary
Black Army of Hungary
The Black Army , "Black Legion" or "Regiment"—possibly named after their black armor panoply, see below) is, in historiography, the common name given to the military forces serving under the reign of King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary...
led by Matthias Corvinus. The city survived two fires during the 16th century (1522 and 1577). Following the military Partitions of Poland
Partitions of Poland
The Partitions of Poland or Partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth took place in the second half of the 18th century and ended the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, resulting in the elimination of sovereign Poland for 123 years...
, from the 18th century until the end of the 19th century Żmigród was part of the Galician territory of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and began to lose its financial base leading to population decline. Following the Jewish mass emigration overseas in the course of World War I, Żmigród was stripped of its city status in 1919 soon after the rebirth of sovereign Poland
Second Polish Republic
The Second Polish Republic, Second Commonwealth of Poland or interwar Poland refers to Poland between the two world wars; a period in Polish history in which Poland was restored as an independent state. Officially known as the Republic of Poland or the Commonwealth of Poland , the Polish state was...
. The name Nowy (New) was added following World War II.
The population of Żmigród in 1880 was about 2,508 people; in 1900: 2,289 and in 1921: 1,959. The main occupations of the Christian population were agriculture, manual trades and weaving. The Jewish community had consisted of 707 people in 1870, but during the next 30 years it nearly trippled to 1,988 across the entire municipality. Within the city, there were 1,240 Jews, who constitued 56% of its inhabitants.
Jewish community
The first information about Jews in Żmigród dates to 1410. Jews were permitted to settle throughout the city. One hundred years later, it already had a thriving Jewish community surpassing other communities in the area. A large two-storey synagogue (pictured) was built there in the 16th century. The Jewish community of Żmigród had under its jurisdiction other Jewish KehillasKehilla (modern)
The Kehilla is the local Jewish communal structure that was reinstated in the early twentieth century as a modern, secular, and religious sequel of the Qahal in Central and Eastern Europe, more particularly in Poland's Second Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukrainian People's Republic,...
including Jasło and Gorlice
Gorlice
Gorlice is a city and an urban municipality in south eastern Poland with around 29,500 inhabitants . It is situated south east of Kraków and south of Tarnów between Jasło and Nowy Sącz in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship , previously in Nowy Sącz Voivodeship...
. The latter communities had to bring their dead for burial in the Żmigród cemetery. Eventually Gorlice and Jasło grew and gained their independence from Żmigród. The community flourished from the end of the 16th century until the middle of the 18th century. The post of rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
in Żmigród carried great weight in the area. The community maintained a yeshiva
Yeshiva
Yeshiva is a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primarily the Talmud and Torah study. Study is usually done through daily shiurim and in study pairs called chavrutas...
headed in 1680 by Rabbi Avrohom. Between the years 1692 and 1695 the community (and the yeshiva) were headed by Rabbi Menachem Mendl. He was followed by Rabbi Benyamin Zeev Wolf Rimner in 1698. On his passing away in 1721, the position was given to Rabbi Avrohom Shor, who was succeeded by Rabbi Yehoshua Heshl Blumenfeld in 1770.
The community in Żmigród suffered greatly as a result of the Cossack
Cossack
Cossacks are a group of predominantly East Slavic people who originally were members of democratic, semi-military communities in what is today Ukraine and Southern Russia inhabiting sparsely populated areas and islands in the lower Dnieper and Don basins and who played an important role in the...
and Swedish invasions, and had to borrow money during the second half of the 17th century in order to survive. In 1694, the Jewish community borrowed 125 thaler
Thaler
The Thaler was a silver coin used throughout Europe for almost four hundred years. Its name lives on in various currencies as the dollar or tolar. Etymologically, "Thaler" is an abbreviation of "Joachimsthaler", a coin type from the city of Joachimsthal in Bohemia, where some of the first such...
from the bishop of Krosno
Krosno
Krosno is a town and county in Subcarpathian Voivodeship, Poland with 47,455 inhabitants, as of 2 June 2009.Notably Krosno is the site of the first oil well in the world....
but was unable to repay it until 1785. In 1765, about 1,243 Jews lived in the villages surrounding Żmigród. The total Jewish population of the city and the neighboring areas consisted of 1,926 people. Statistics indicate that there were 159 Jewish breadwinners. The Jews owned 67 houses that were very crowded, with some of them occupied by as many as six families. Upon the partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was a dualistic state of Poland and Lithuania ruled by a common monarch. It was the largest and one of the most populous countries of 16th- and 17th‑century Europe with some and a multi-ethnic population of 11 million at its peak in the early 17th century...
in 1772, according to Austrian report of 1781, most of the Jews of Żmigród were in the lowest tax bracket. They were ordered to resettle in 1791. The community undertook to resettle 17 families onto the land. Each family was to receive 250 florins. The plan was not very successful and only four families settled on the land by 1805. The Jewish community began to decline financially in the 19th century. Many of the Jewish residents began to leave the city and some even moved to Gorlice and Jasło. A decline of the Jewish population continued during the eighties and into the 20th century. A great exodus took place during World War I, when many of the Jews of Żmigród left for overseas.
Most Jews in Żmigród were Hasidic, largely following the Sanzer Rov
Sanz (Hasidic dynasty)
The Sanz Hasidic dynasty was founded by Rabbi Chaim Halberstam Rabbi of Nowy Sącz , author of Divrei Chaim and a son-in-law of Rabbi Boruch Frankel Thumim , Rabbi of Lipník nad Bečvou , author of Boruch Taam.-Founder of dynasty:The Divrei Chaim was a disciple of Rabbi Naftali of Ropshitz, who was...
, Rabbi Chaim Halbershtam. They were influential in ensuring that the next incumbent as Rabbi of Żmigród was Benyamin Zeev, a Sanzer chosid. He died in 1902 and was succeeded by Rabbi Mordechai Dovid Unger, a brother-in-law of the Sanzer Rov. He was succeeded in turn by his son-in-law Rabbi Osher Yeshayahu Rubin, a grandson of the Sanzer Rov, who later became the Zhmigrider Rebbe in Sanz. In 1907, another grandson of the Sanzer Rov, Rabbi Sinai Halbershtam, was appointed as Rabbi of Żmigród and served the community until 1939 (he died in Siberia, Russia). After Żmigród lost its city status in 1919, the Jewish population dropped to 800 people by 1939. The Gemilat Hessed fund established with the help of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee
American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee
The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee is a worldwide Jewish relief organization headquartered in New York. It was established in 1914 and is active in more than 70 countries....
in 1927, distributed 30 loans of 3,000 złotych each in 1929, but faced closure in 1938 due to lack of money. Former residents of Żmigród in the USA kept the fund going.
World War II
With the outbreak of World War II, many Jews fled across the San river to the Soviet occupation zoneSoviet occupation of Poland
Soviet occupation of Poland can refer to*Period from 1939 to 1941 - see Occupation of East Poland by Soviet Union*Period from 1945-1989 - see Northern Group of Forces...
, but most of them soon returned home. Some of those who went east were soon rounded up by the Soviet NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
and deported to the interior of the country in 1940. As soon as the Germans occupied Nowy Żmigród, orders aimed at the Jews began to appear. Jews were not allowed to travel, had to wear armbands and were forced to contribute money and forced labor. In 1940, many Jews from the area were transported to Nowy Żmigród from as far away as Łódź. The Judenrat
Judenrat
Judenräte were administrative bodies during the Second World War that the Germans required Jews to form in the German occupied territory of Poland, and later in the occupied territories of the Soviet Union It is the overall term for the enforcement bodies established by the Nazi occupiers to...
and the J.S.S. (Jewish Self Help) local committee provided lodgings, clothing and medical assistance for the new arrivals. Jews received meals from the public kitchen. Early in 1942, a ghetto was established in Nowy Żmigród. More Jews were forced to move into the community from nearby villages. The Jewish population reached 2,000 people with an unbelievable level of overcrowding.
On July 7, 1942, all the Jews were ordered to assemble in the square whereupon they were surrounded by the German and auxiliary police
Schutzmannschaft
Schutzmannschaft or Hilfspolizei were the collaborationist auxiliary police battalions of native policemen in occupied countries in East, which were created to fight the resistance during World War II mostly in the Eastern European countries occupied by Nazi Germany. Hilfspolizei refers also to...
units. Women, children, sick and elderly people were separated from the able-bodied. The latter were directed to a table where representatives of the various German firms issued them work permits. These were then directed to a separate corner of the square. A blanket was spread in the square and the Jews were forced to deposit all their valuable possessions. On the day of the round up, the head of the Judenrat, Hersh Eisenberg, was murdered by the Germans under the pretext that he did not pay the requested contribution. Three other people were killed with him including his two children. After hours of waiting, 1,250 Jews were led to the forest of Halbow where they were killed into prepared execution pits. Some of the survivors of the round-up were sent on August 15, 1942 to the Zaslaw labor camp
Zaslaw concentration camp
Zwangsarbeitslager Zaslaw was the Nazi concentration camp for Jews established in occupied Poland near the village of Zasław, .Zaslaw was a work camp where Jews from Sanok were deported...
near Kraków
Kraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
. Another group of survivors were sent to the Płaszów death camp. The last remnants of the Jewish population were then sent to the Belzec death camp
Belzec extermination camp
Belzec, Polish spelling Bełżec , was the first of the Nazi German extermination camps created for implementing Operation Reinhard during the Holocaust...
at the end of the summer in 1942.
See also
- WalddeutscheWalddeutscheWalddeutsche Germans , sometimes simply called Polish Germans, the name for a group of people, mostly of German origin, who settled during the 14th-17th century on the territory of present-day Sanockie Pits, Poland, a region which was previously only sparsely inhabited because the land was...
, Polish Germans who settled on the territory of Sanockie Pits - LendiansLendiansThe Lendians were a Lechitic eastern Wends tribe recorded to have inhabited the ill-defined area in East Lesser Poland and Cherven Towns between the 7th and 11th centuries....
, a Lechitic Wends who inhabited the East Lesser Poland - Great MoraviaGreat MoraviaGreat Moravia was a Slavic state that existed in Central Europe and lasted for nearly seventy years in the 9th century whose creators were the ancestors of the Czechs and Slovaks. It was a vassal state of the Germanic Frankish kingdom and paid an annual tribute to it. There is some controversy as...
- OstsiedlungOstsiedlungOstsiedlung , also called German eastward expansion, was the medieval eastward migration and settlement of Germans from modern day western and central Germany into less-populated regions and countries of eastern Central Europe and Eastern Europe. The affected area roughly stretched from Slovenia...
- Galicia (Central Europe)
- PogórzaniePogórzaniePogórzanie , also known as Western Pogorzans and Eastern Pogorzans, are a distinctive subethnic group of Poles that mostly live in the Central Beskidian Range of the Podkarpacie highlands....
of the Central Beskidian Range of the Podkarpacie highlands