Wadowice – History
małopolskie / krakowskie (before 1939) > Wadowice > Jewish community before 1989
The history of Jews in Wadowice is very short dating back to as late as the end of the 19th century. There are few factors explaining why the Jewish settlement started so late. Firstly, the part of Lesser Poland where Wadowice is situated did not belong to Poland in the medieval times, but was part of the Duchy of Oświęcim and Zator, whose rulers, the Piast dukes, did not tolerate Jews in the territories dependent on them and allowed them to settle only in Oświęcim or Zator. Secondly, Wadowice townspeople had the de non tolerandis Iudaeis privilege. King August III Sas issued the first privilege of such kind[1.1] on 6 November 1754 in Warszawa. It indicates that Jews had never lived there before, and the decree prohibiting Jewish settlement and trade was only a continuation of previous decisions. It can be confirmed by the fact that there is no mention of Wadowice in the register of the Council of Four Lands spanning the years 1580–1764, which listed kehillot paying levies. The town is not marked on a map attached to the book of Polish Jewry either[1.2].
A record of 1764 confirmed the rescript of Emperor Francis of 29 May 1793. It was like that until the 1860s. Until that time, Jews settled down in neighboring villages of Chocznia, Tomice, Radocza and Klecza Górna and in “Mikołaj” wójtostwo (a municipality), so-called Groble located on the outskirts of Wadowice and belonging to Krobicki family. It was not until the changes to the imperial legislation guaranteeing equality of rights to all nations and denominations were introduced in 1868 that the Jews could apply for lifting the ban. An influx of people came before political decisions were made, as, according to the accounts, the first Jews arrived in Wadowice shortly after the January Uprising, so after 1863. Baruch Thieberg[1.3], an active participant of the uprising, was probably one of them. He used the fact that he was an insurgent as an argument against the threats of the Poles. Other newcomers appeared very quickly in the town.
There was yet no kehilla in 1876, since the Jews living in Wadowice County belonged to Zator Municipality at this time[1.4]. However, Wadowice was mentioned as an official kehilla[1.5] in the list of Jewish kehillot of 1891 thanks to the Wadowice Jews who made use of the duty of kehillot and statutes registration introduced by the Austrian authorities. It was helpful as far as gaining independence from Zator and creating a separate kehilla was concerned. After less than a century since the first Jews started arriving in Wadowice, the followers of Judaism constituted the second largest religious group after Roman Catholics.
At the very beginning of the existence of the kehilla, its members were mostly German Jews who belonged to Reform Jews speaking German, not Yiddish or Polish, wearing clothes that did not distinguish them from the Christian part of the society (during holidays they wore cylinders and woolen frock-coats). They displayed no interest in the modern Hebrew literature that developed at this time and preferred reading German newspapers and books. Children were given German names and German inscriptions could be seen on tombstones. The influence of German Jews was also visible in a later period – most trade dealings were made with Germanized Bielsko.
Show footnotes
Hide footnotes
[1.1] The original of the privilege was stored in the Wadowice archive situated in the Town Hall, according to the account of Walerian Heck in his work Archiwum miejskie w Wadowicach [in:] Sprawozdanie dyrekcyi c.k. gimnazjum w Wadowicach za rok szkolny 1889 [A report of the principals board of the imperial and royal Gimnazyum (junior secondary school) in Wadowice for the school year 1889], Wadowice 1889. It burned down along with the whole archive during World War II. There is also information about the privilege in a publication Żydowskie okręgi metrykalne i żydowskie gminy wyznaniowe w Galicji, Kraków 1995, in Bałaban, Majer. Dzieje Żydów w Galicji i w Rzeczpospolitej Krakowskiej 1772–1868, p. 6, as well as in Nowakowski, Andrzej [in:] Z dziejów miasta i parafii Wadowice, p. 67
[1.2] Qtd. in: Księga pamiątkowa gmin żydowskich Wadowic, Andrychowa, Kalwarii i Myślenic, ed. Dawid Jakubowicz Tel Awiw 1968, p. 3.
[1.3] According to the account of his kinsman, Dr. Wilhelm Kluger [in:] Księga pamiątkowa gmin żydowskich Wadowic, Andrychowa, Kalwarii i Myślenic, ed. D. Jakubowicz Tel Aviv 1968, p. 28.
[1.4] Samsonowska, Krystyna. Wyznaniowe gminy żydowskie i ich społeczności w województwie krakowskim (1918–1939), Kraków 2005, p.20. One can also encounter a hypothesis that the Jews of Wadowice belonged to the Zabłocie kehilla, near Żywiec (vide Michalewicz, Jerzy. Żydowskie okręgi metrykalne i żydowskie gminy wyznaniowe w Galicji, Kraków 1995, p. 69). Facts and sources (documents now being stored in Lwów) confirm the first theory.
[1.5] Michalewicz, Jerzy. Żydowskie okręgi metrykalne i żydowskie gminy wyznaniowe w Galicji, Kraków 1995, p. 30.
The Administrator has made all possible efforts to present the content accuratly and up-to-date in a way that does not infringe upon the rights of third parties, including copyrights, but cannot guarantee it. Therefore erroneous information on the website may not be the basis for claims. If you have any questions, please contact us at the following e-mail address: sztetl@jewishmuseum.org.pl