Jews had probably lived in Jasienica Rosielna even before it was granted city rights in 1727. In 1765, the town had 58 Jewish inhabitants. At the time, they belonged to the Rymanów kehilla. Their population was steadily growing over the subsequent years, reaching 115 people in 1785 and 214 in 1835.
An independent Jewish community was founded in Jasienica in the mid-19th century. The kehilla also had jurisdiction over the Jews from the village of Domaradz. A house of prayer and a cemetery were established in the town. In 1870, the Jewish community in Jasienica had 870 members. It ran a school and employed two rabbis. Ten years later, the total number of Jews in the town itself amounted to 600 (among a total population of 1,379). In 1900, the Jewish community had 1,118 members, the highest share of the Jewish population in the history of Jasienica. In the following years, the overall population of the town was steadily growing, but the Jewish population started to shrink – in 1921, Jasienica had only 479 Jewish residents.
The first known rabbi in Jasienica Rosielna was Abraham Gelernter, appointed in 1858. It is known that he was still alive in 1912. The Jewish community in the late 1920s was headed by a man called Schachna. There were charitable organisations in the town, such as an association giving interest-free loans and Bikur Cholim - caring for the sick. The rabbi in the interwar period was Wolf Eichenstein. In 1929, there were 7 public houses in the town, 5 of which were owned by Jews.
After the end of World War I, divisions of various political parties were active in the town. It is likely that Zionist organisations had a large number of supporters, as evidenced by the number of delegates from Jasienica Rosielna at the 19th Zionist Congress in 1935: 10 members of the General Zionists and 10 members of Mizrachi.
By 1939, the population of the Jewish community had grown to 520. However, its development was thwarted by the outbreak of World War II.
In the years 1939–1940, a part of the Jewish population of Krosno was displaced to Jasienica Rosielna. A ghetto was established in the town in June 1942. A group of ca. 40 Jews from Jasienica were sent to perform forced labour at the construction of fortifications near Dynów. Young Jewish men from Jasienica also worked in Nazi labour camps in Jaśliska and Płaszów. Among the prisoners of the ghetto in Jasienica there were also Jews from Blizne, Domaradz, Golcowa, Gwoźnica, Orzechówka, Wesoła, and Wola Jasienicka. The quarter had a total population of 1,500.
The liquidation of the ghetto began on 11 August 1942, when the Gestapo from Krosno, aided by a unit of Ukrainian police, surrounded the perimeter of Jasienica in the early morning hours. Jews were rushed out of their homes. Seven people were shot on the spot. The Germans selected a group of healthy young men from the crowd and sent them in cars to the train station in Krosno, from where they were deported to Kraków-Podgórze. Young Jewish women and older children were taken in cars to the railway station in Iwonicz. The elderly, remaining women and children were executed at the local Jewish cemetery. Infants and toddlers were killed by grabbing them by their legs and smashing their skulls against tree trunks. Executions lasted from 10am to 5pm. A total of 624 people lost their lives. Their bodies were buried in a mass grave.
The Germans also destroyed the local synagogue and Jewish cemetery. Not even a single matzevah has survived to the present day.
Bibliography
- Jasienica Rosielna, [in:] Encyclopedia of Jewish Communities, vol. III [online] https://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/pinkas_poland/pol3_00220.html [accessed: 21 September 2020]
- pJasienica Rosielna [in:] Encyclopedia of Jewish Life before and during the Holocaust, eds. Sh. Spector, G. Wigoder, New York 2001, p. 565.
