Nowy Żmigród
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Nowy Żmigród, until 1946 Żmigród ( yi, זשמיגראד / Zhmigrod, german: Schmiedeburg), is a village and rural municipality ('' gmina'') in
Jasło County __NOTOC__ Jasło County ( pl, powiat jasielski) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Subcarpathian Voivodeship, south-eastern Poland, on the Slovakia, Slovak border. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a re ...
,
Subcarpathian Voivodeship Subcarpathian Voivodeship or Subcarpathia Province (in pl, Województwo podkarpackie ) is a voivodeship, or province, in the southeastern corner of Poland. Its administrative capital and largest city is Rzeszów. Along with the Marshall, it i ...
, Poland, WNW of
Dukla Dukla is a town and an eponymous municipality in southeastern Poland, in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship. As of December 2021, the town has a population of 2,017. The total area of the commune is . Dukla belongs to Lesser Poland, and until the ...
and south of
Jasło Jasło is a county town in south-eastern Poland with 36,641 inhabitants, as of 31 December 2012. It is situated in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship (since 1999), and it was previously part of Krosno Voivodeship (1975–1998). It is located in Lesse ...
.


History

Żmigród received
Magdeburg rights Magdeburg rights (german: Magdeburger Recht; also called Magdeburg Law) were a set of town privileges first developed by Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor (936–973) and based on the Flemish Law, which regulated the degree of internal autonomy within ...
during the 14th century. Situated on the commercial roads leading to
Red Ruthenia Red Ruthenia or Red Rus' ( la, Ruthenia Rubra; '; uk, Червона Русь, Chervona Rus'; pl, Ruś Czerwona, Ruś Halicka; russian: Червонная Русь, Chervonnaya Rus'; ro, Rutenia Roșie), is a term used since the Middle Ages fo ...
in the east and the
Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coronation of the first king Stephen ...
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 Jagiellon Casimir IV (in full Casimir IV Andrew Jagiellon; pl, Kazimierz IV Andrzej Jagiellończyk ; Lithuanian: ; 30 November 1427 – 7 June 1492) was Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1440 and King of Poland from 1447, until his death. He was one of the m ...
, Żmigród was plundered and destroyed by the mercenary
Black Army of Hungary The Black Army ( hu, Fekete sereg, pronounced , Latin: Legio Nigra), also called the Black Legion/Regiment – possibly after their black armor panoply – is a common name given to the military forces serving under the reign of King Matthias Co ...
led by
Matthias Corvinus Matthias Corvinus, also called Matthias I ( hu, Hunyadi Mátyás, ro, Matia/Matei Corvin, hr, Matija/Matijaš Korvin, sk, Matej Korvín, cz, Matyáš Korvín; ), was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1458 to 1490. After conducting several m ...
. The city survived two fires during the 16th century (1522 and 1577). Following the Partitions of Poland, from 1772 until 1918 Żmigród was part of the Galician territory of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and began to lose its financial base leading to population decline. Following 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.


Jewish community in Żmigród

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 Kehillas including Jasło and
Gorlice Gorlice ( uk, Горлиці, translit=''Horlytsi'') is a city and an urban municipality ("gmina") in south eastern Poland with around 29,500 inhabitants (2008). It is situated south east of Kraków and south of Tarnów between Jasło and Nowy S ...
. 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 A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...
in Żmigród carried great weight in the area. The community maintained a
yeshiva A yeshiva (; he, ישיבה, , sitting; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are st ...
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 death 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 Krosno (in full ''The Royal Free City of Krosno'', pl, Królewskie Wolne Miasto Krosno) is a historical town and county in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship, in southeastern Poland. The estimated population of the town is 47,140 inhabitants as of ...
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 The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and, after 1791, as the Commonwealth of Poland, was a bi- confederal state, sometimes called a federation, of Poland and Lithuania ru ...
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. The 1900 census counted 1,240 Jews in the city. 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 American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, also known as Joint or JDC, is a Jewish relief organization based in New York City. Since 1914 the organisation has supported Jewish people living in Israel and throughout the world. The organization i ...
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 US kept the fund going. With the outbreak of World War II, many Jews fled across the San river to the
Soviet occupation zone The Soviet Occupation Zone ( or german: Ostzone, label=none, "East Zone"; , ''Sovetskaya okkupatsionnaya zona Germanii'', "Soviet Occupation Zone of Germany") was an area of Germany in Central Europe that was occupied by the Soviet Union as a ...
, but most of them soon returned home. Some of those who went east were soon rounded up by the Soviet
NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union. ...
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 Łódź, also rendered in English as Lodz, is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located approximately south-west of Warsaw. The city's coat of arms is an example of cant ...
. The
Judenrat A ''Judenrat'' (, "Jewish council") was a World War II administrative agency imposed by Nazi Germany on Jewish communities across occupied Europe, principally within the Nazi ghettos. The Germans required Jews to form a ''Judenrat'' in every c ...
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 Auxiliary police, also called special police, are usually the part-time reserves of a regular police force. They may be armed or unarmed. They may be unpaid volunteers or paid members of the police service with which they are affiliated. The po ...
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 Zasław labor camp near
Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...
. Another group of survivors were sent to the Płaszów death camp. The last remnants of the Jewish population were then sent to the Bełżec death camp at the end of the summer in 1942.


See also

*
Walddeutsche Walddeutsche (lit. "Forest Germans" or ''Taubdeutsche'' – "Deaf Germans"; pl, Głuchoniemcy – "deaf Germans") was the name for a group of German-speaking people, originally used in the 16th century for two language islands around Łańcut a ...
, Germans who settled on the territory of Sanockie Pits *
Lendians The Lendians ( pl, Lędzianie) were a Lechitic tribe who lived in the area of East Lesser Poland and Cherven Cities between the 7th and 11th centuries. Since they were documented primarily by foreign authors whose knowledge of Central and East Eu ...
, a Lechitic Wends who inhabited the East Lesser Poland *
Great Moravia Great Moravia ( la, Regnum Marahensium; el, Μεγάλη Μοραβία, ''Meghálī Moravía''; cz, Velká Morava ; sk, Veľká Morava ; pl, Wielkie Morawy), or simply Moravia, was the first major state that was predominantly West Slavic to ...
* Ostsiedlung *
Galicia (Eastern Europe) Galicia ()"Galicia"
''
Pogórzanie Polish Uplanders ( pl, Pogórzanie; 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 Subcarpathian highlands. The Polish Uplanders inhabited ...
of the Central Beskidian Range of the Podkarpacie highlands


References

* פנקס הקהלות פולין ''Pinkas Hakehillot Polin'': Encyclopedia of Jewish Communities, Poland, Volume III, pages 152-154 (printed under the auspices of Yad Vashem, Jerusalem). {{DEFAULTSORT:Nowy Zmigrod Shtetls Villages in Jasło County Lesser Poland Kraków Voivodeship (14th century – 1795) Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria Kraków Voivodeship (1919–1939) Holocaust locations in Poland