Wadowice – History
małopolskie / krakowskie (before 1939) > Wadowice > Jewish community before 1989
However, soon thereafter, the Wadowice kehilla lost its Progressive-German character and the reason for that was an influx of Jews from surrounding villages and Galician towns where people spoke Polish or Yiddish in their every day life. Chasidim were also numerous in the town. Jewish outfits, which were not present before in the town, shocked the Christian population at first. On the eve of World War II, there was only 10–15% of Jews in Wadowice.
Therefore, it was a diverse community, which underwent many changes throughout its short history. It was said ironically that Wadowice was “a zusamengelofene sztet” (literal meaning “a town” gathering people from all directions) with no resident Jewish families.
The newly formed kehilla was a refuge for Jews from neighboring villages where new economic regulations (monopoly on spirit) and increasingly popular anti-Semitic slogans (“swój do swego po swoje” – a slogan exhorting to support the Polish trade and craft) made their life more difficult. On their part, the newcomers also became an essential factor influencing the town’s growth. A significant stage in the development of Wadowice took place in 1867–1890, the period of first and most intense influx of Jews to the town. Jewish shops and warehouses, which previously were missing here, started to appear. The Jews were reliable entrepreneurs who soon turned out to be a competition to such centers as Bielsko or Kraków. The importance of the Wadowice fairs, which were not very popular before, also increased. Flour and grain traders played the most important role in the wholesale trade. They purchased goods in the more fertile and hence wealthier northern part of the county and sold them in the poor south, often, especially at the time before harvest, on credit. The Jews also played an important role in the Wadowice and local industry. A sawmill and a mill as well as the factories of liquors, paper products, carpets, cement products and confectionery all were in Jewish hands. They employed a number of Polish workers. Moreover, they contributed to the development of cottage work such as basketry, for the needs of which wicker was cut on the banks of Skawa River on a large scale. Polish trade institutions started developing only as late as the interwar period, so anti-Semitic slogans against Jewish competition made sense at this time. According to what can be gathered from the kehilla inhabitants’ memories, the competition between the religious groups was not so visible before. “Both the entire town and the entire county took advantage of and grew richer thanks to the industriousness […] of Jews”[2.1]. Later on, however, according to a monastic chronicler’s account, the competition coupled with poverty could be felt in the town during World War I: “the Jews […] are selling food to one another in peace and in sufficient amounts so that nobody knows about it, and they sell only what is left to others.”[2.2]
Apart from Wadowice, the kehilla consisted also of Babice, Bachowice, Barwałd Dolny, Klecza Górna, Barwałd Środkowy, Chocznia, Dąbrówka, Gorzeń Dolny and Górny, Jaroszowice, Jaszczurowa, Kaczyna, Klecza Dolna and Środkowa, Kozieniec, Łękawica, Marcówka, Mucharz, Ponikiew, Radocza, Roków, Skawce, Śleszowice, Świnna Poręba, Tarnawa, Tomice, Witanowice, Zawadka and Zembrzyce[2.3]. As the result of a regulation of the counties’ limits carried out in 1876–1904, some of the localities changed their administrative affiliation[2.4].
Before the charter imposed an obligation to appoint rabbis the function was performed by Cwi Elimelech Greisman whose title was more cedek. Elected in accordance with the rules in force, Mordechaj Rotenberg was the first official rabbi of the town.
For many years, the kosher slaughtering was the job of Abraham Müller, his son Ojzer and Tobiasz Einhorn, who were employed in turn as cantors as well.
The kehilla generated income from matzah so there was a ban on importing ready-made product as well as on baking it without rabbinical supervision. Providing equipment, flour and premises near Beit ha-Midrash, the kehilla leased the baking to private persons. Depending on their financial possibilities, the buyers themselves dictated the price. The poorest received matzah without making a payment. Hirsz Lauber was the lessee for a long time. The Chasidim had the right to bake matzah without the kehilla supervision. On the last evening before the Passover, they were provided access to the premises.
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[2.1] Jakubowicz, Dawid. [in:] Księga pamiątkowa gmin żydowskich Wadowic, Andrychowa, Kalwarii i Myślenic, ed. D. Jakubowicz, Tel Aviv 1968, p. 11.
[2.2] Wadowice w zapiskach klasztornych kronikarzy 1892–1945. prepared by Cze. Gil OCD, Wadowice 2002, p. 34.
[2.3] Statut izraelickiej gminy wyznaniowej w Wadowicach, Wadowice 1898, Article 1, p. 3.
[2.4] Michalewicz, Jerzy. Żydowskie okręgi metrykalne i żydowskie gminy wyznaniowe w Galicji, Kraków 1995, p. 159.
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