Andrychów
Polska / małopolskie
 | Synagogues, prayer houses and others |  | Cemeteries |  | Places of martyrology |  | Judaica in museums |  | Other |
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History
Kamil Kamiński, Michal Surlas
Demography
The privilege issued in 1767 by King Stanisław August Poniatowski allowed the Jews to settle down in Andrychów.
Initially, the number of the Jewish inhabitants in Andrychów increased very fast. In 1799, Andrychów had only 37 Jews, and in 1816, their population grew to 90 people. In 1851, the Jewish residents constituted 17.4% of the total population of Andrychów, which was the highest percentage on record. An important incentive that motivated the Jews to arrive and live in Andrychów was issuing, in 1868, a decree by virtue of which people of different faiths and nationalities had the right to settle down in the town. The second half of the 19th century was a time when weaving industry, which had been developing for centuries, began to thrive. As a result, many Jews started arriving in this area. The information from 1890 says that there were as many as 654 Jews in Andrychów, which was the biggest number of Jewish residents in the history of the town.
After 1890, the number of Jews began dropping quite rapidly. In 1900, the Jewish community had 621 members and it size shrank substantially, especially during World War I. In 1919, the number was 511, whereas in 1921, there were as few as 409 Jewish inhabitants here. The reason why the number of Jews decreased so drastically was crisis which affected Andrychów once the Kingdom of Poland was established. As the result of opening the Galician markets to Łódź factories, some of the Jews closed down their businesses and moved to Bielsk and other towns. Very few Jews arrived in the town and the reason for that was that the majority of the Andrychów Jewish community members included progressive Jews. The inhabitants of the surrounding towns preferred to move to Wadowice, the town whose residents were considered very pious.
The interwar period did not bring about the growth of the Jewish population of the town. According to the Census taken by the Germans in December 1939, as few as 370 Jews inhabited the town. As the result of the warfare and deportations of the Jews to Oświęcim, the community completely disappeared from the town.
The economic life
The exact time of the arrival of the first Jews in Andrychów is not determined. Documents from 1772 inform th
Local history
Kamil Kamiński, Michał Surlas
“The 14th century marked the beginning of the town of Andrychów. It is probable that refugees from Morawy (English: Moravia) established here a small village called Indrzychów. The village was probably listed in the Peter’s pence tax register from 1344 but its name was twisted to Henrychów (ecclesia de Henrichow). In 1345, the village area comprised 27 square kilometers (according to other sources, 10 square kilometers) and had 105 inhabitants. In his work “Liber Beneficjorum”, Jan Długosz, a chronicler from the 15th century, called the abovementioned village Gendrzychów. Robberies that plagued Andrychów led to the depopulation of the area. During the reign of King Zygmunt I, Zator came under control of the Polish kings and so did Andrychów, which started to develop. In 1564, during a session of the General Sejm, a decision was made to incorporate the Duchy of Zator and the Duchy of Oświęcim into the Crown of the Polish Kingdom. Consequently, the Czech law was replaced by the Polish law and the Czech official language was replaced by Polish. After these changes, the Polish gentry started arriving in this region.
“Andrychów changed hands in the subsequent years. Under King Zygmunt Stary, in the 16th century, the owners of Andrychów was the Szylling family. They were supporters of the reformation, so in the middle of the century a vast majority of the Andrychów inhabitants converted to Calvinism” The Catholic parish ceased to exist. At the start of the 17th century, Andrychów became the possession of Marian Przełęcki from the Szreniawa clan who was a judge, and then the Oświęcim castellan. Moreover, he was an adviser of King Zygmunt I and Władysław IV. The next heir of the village was Marian Przełęcki’s brother, Hieronim whose son Achacy inherited the territory from his father. In 1655, the Swedish troops that headed to Oświęcim and Żywiecczyzna (English: Żywiec Region) almost completely destroyed the village, while the fights between King August II and the Swedish King Karol XII from 1707 led to another devastation of Andrychów.
The next owner of Andrychów was Czerny family. At the beginning of the 18th century, Franciszek Czerny, the Oświęcim castellan, brought to Andrychów craftsmen including weavers from Belgium, Saxony and Silesia. “From then on, the Andrychów weaving industr
Summary
| Province: | małopolskie / krakowskie (before 1939) |
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| County: | wadowicki / wadowicki (before 1939) |
| Community: | Andrychów / Andrychów (before 1939) |
| Other names: | Gendrzychow Andrichau [j.niemiecki] אנדריכוב [j.hebrajski] Jandrichov [j.jidysz] Андрыхув [j.rosyjski] |
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Location
Kamil Kamiński, Michał Surlas
The town of Andrychów is located in the southern part of Poland at altitude 49°51’N and longitude 19°20’E. According to the morphological division proposed by J. Kondracki , the area of the town is situated within two mesoregions of the Beskid Mały (English: Little Beskids) and Pogórze Śląskie (English: Silesian Foothills). The highest mountain peak in Andrychów is Pańska Mountain which is 428 meters above the sea level. The summit is included in the Beskid Mały mountain range. The lowest area is 310 meters above the sea level. The most important river flowing through the town is the Wieprzówka River which is the second degree right-bank tributary of the Vistula River. The river flows into the Skawa River of which it is the left-bank tributary.
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