History
Jewish community before 1989 – Polska / dolnośląskie
According to Friedric Emanueul Fischer and Carl Friedrich Stuckardt, Jews settled near the castle in Legnica in c. 1170. A researcher in the history of Silesian Jews, Marcus Brann, found this account extremely questionable. Not until 1301 were there any accounts confirming the presence of Jews in the town. In 1314, one of documents mentions "a Jewish town" located near Legnica, on the "Czarna Woda River”. That Jewish settlement occupied a few streets - it started at the old castle bridge, then went along Nowa Street across the castle yard, reaching deep inside the castle garden and beyond Głogowska gate. It had a synagogue, a Jewish school and a cemetery. An account of 1339 mentions a Jewish street by the coal market.
The first document on the Jews of Legnica comes from 1447 – Elżbieta, Duchess of Legnica, granted to the town of Legnica the entire authority (all rights and courts) that her ancestors had had over the Jewish street situated in front of the castle.
In 1447, a dispute arouse between Duchess Elisabeth and the Jewish bankers who demanded that she returned a loan. It resulted in a pogrom of Jews and burning down their district. In the mid-15th c., a series of pogroms of the Jewish population took place instigated by the activity of the famous preacher, a Franciscan monk, Jan Kapistran. In the sermon given in 1453 in Wrocław he accused Jews of theft and desecrating the Host. It entailed a series of trials. A number of Jews from many Silesian cities became defendants, while executions took place in Wrocław, Legnica, and Świdnica. On 5 August 1453, Jews were burnt at the stake in Legnica. Concurrently, Jewish property was confiscated, and 318 Jews of Legnica who survived persecutions were expelled from the town. These events brought an end to the Jewish community of Legnica.
Jews returned to the town as late as in the 19th c. Although the edict of toleration issued by the Prussian king on 1 June 1755 allowed Jews to settle in Legnica Głogów, and Wrocław, it only pertained to well-off individuals who had at least 1,000 ducats while their wives and children were omitted. Not until the issuance of the next edict (1812) did Jews begin to move to Legnica. The newcomers included the residents of Głogów and other towns in Lower Silesia and Wielkopolska. One of the first settlers was Meier Neumann Prausnitz, a banker.
Initially, the Legnica kehilla was supervised by the Głogów kehilla; whence rabbis Abraham Titkin and Fischel Caro came to perform religious duties. The kehilla became fully autonomous on 12 December 1818. During the first years of its activity, its spiritual leaders were Marcus Levin and a doctor of philosophy, Ascher Sammter - the author of later annals of Legnica. The kehilla associated also the Jews form Złotoryja, Chojnów, Jawor, and Lwówek Śląski.
In 1854, Moritz Landsberg, doctor of philosophy educated in Berlin, became the rabbi of Legnica. He was born in 1824 in Rawicz. He was the rabbi until his death on 26 December 1882. In 1883, Moritz Peritz (1856-1930) was nominated as his successor.
In 1933, the management of Jewish commune in Legnica was made up of S. Jablonski, L. Haurwitz, and Eugen Fränkel; its representatives were: prosecutor Pick, M. Baeck, Ph.D., Adolf Mannheim, rabbi Josef Schwarz, senior cantor, and teacher M. Sommerfeld, as well as cantor/teacher J. Feblowicz. There was a mikvah in the commune, and ritual slaughter was performed.
After WWII, Legnica became one of the centers of Jewish settlement in Lower Silesia. Also numerous Jewish social and educational institution operated in Legnica. The Jewish life in the town ceased to exist after March 1968.
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