For centuries, Jews were not allowed to settle in Brzostek, as it was a Church-owned estate. The situation changed only as late as 1816, when the Austrian authorities took over control of the town from the Tyniec Abbey. From that moment on, the ban on Jewish settlement was no longer in force. According to historical data, five Jews already lived in Brzostek at that time. In 1824, names of 19 Jewish inhabitants of the town were recorded, and in the following decade, their number grew to 67 in the entire parish.

No records have been preserved to indicate the exact date of establishing an official community in Brzostek. It is highly unlikely that the local kehilla had been founded before 1845.

The situation began to change in the second half of the 19^th century. The significance of Brzostek increased after it became a district capital (1854–1866). The Jewish population in the town also grew in size. Throughout Galicia, steps were taken towards introducing changes in the administrative structure of Jewish communities. New kehillot could only be established in towns which had a synagogue, a mikveh, and a school. The Jewish community of Brzostek met those requirements in the 1860s.[1.1] The local Jewish religious community was soon formed; it had its own synagogue since at least 1848.

In 1870, there were 358 Jews living in Brzostek itself (31.9% of the entire population), while the whole Jewish community had 434 members. The Brzostek community was one of the 237 Jewish communities operating in Galicia, considered rather small in comparison to more prominent kehillot. At that time, the local Jews had their own synagogue, mikveh, cemetery, and a religious school attended by 18 students. Juda Walkenfeld took the post of the rabbi in 1835. The book Słownik Geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów słowiańskich (1880–1904) argues that Jews constituted the real bourgeoisie of Brzostek.

By 1900, the number of members of the community had risen to 848 people, while in Brzostek alone there were 508 Jews (38%). Over the subsequent twenty years, the number of community members decreased to 745, including 479 Jews living in the town.

According to church records from 1911, there were 570 Jews living in the territory of the parish (8.9%); in 1914, Jewish people constituted as much as 12.3% of its inhabitants (710 people). In 1917, the Jewish community reached its peak size with 716 members, but the numbers soon started to drop due to migration.

Since 1914, the rabbi of Brzostek was Cheim Wolkenfeld. Rabbis were appointed for three trial years, after which they would hold the position for the rest of their lives.

The Jewish religious community in Brzostek comprised 20 localities: Bączałka, Błażkowa, Brzostek, Bukowa, Gębiczyna, Głobikówka, Grudna Dolna, Grudna Górna, Gorzejowa, Januszkowice, Kamiennica Dolna, Kamienica Górna, Klecie, Nawsie Brzosteckie, Opacionka, Siedliska, Skurowa, Smarżowa, Wola Brzostecka, and Zawadka.[1.2] The borders of the kehilla were defined in 1891.

The managing body of the kehilla was the religious supervisory board, elected by community members for a period of six years. The situation changed in 1927 – from that moment on, the community board was composed of the rabbi and eight councillors elected for a four-year term. The community owned the synagogue, mikveh, cemetery, and employed a teacher. The first elections to the management board held in accordance with the new regulations took place on 28 August 1928. On 5 February 1929, Schulim Schonwetter, owner of a large farm covering 30 morgen, became the chairman of the management board. The Pilzno county governor described him as a progressive Orthodox Jew who was very influential in Brzostek.[1.3]

In the early 20^th century, the wooden synagogue was replaced with a new brick building. The construction works was possible thanks to financial support offered by American relatives of Brzostek Jews. Their donations helped erect the brick building housing a prayer house and a ritual bathhouse. Using its own funds, the community built a wooden building which served as a cheder.

Most local Jewish families were involved in trade and crafts, and only few made a living from farming. Most Brzostek Jews lived modest lives – only two or three families could be considered wealthy. Over half the local Jewish population was only able to make ends meet with the aid received from their relatives who had moved to America.

According to information concerning local crafts in 1912, there were 22 craftsmen in the town, including eight Jews (one gravedigger, three tailors, one baker, one shoemaker, one glazier, and one watchmaker). In 1930, the number of Jewish craftsmen grew to 12 (one tinsmith, one bookbinder, one hat maker, two tailors, one meat cutter, one baker, three butchers, and two watchmakers).[1.4]

The main sources of income among the Jews of Brzostek was trade. In 1930, the town had 59 traders, including as many as 51 Jews.[1.5] They traded in a variety of goods: cloth – six merchants, cattle – three, poultry – two, wood – one, accessories – five, eggs – three, ready-made clothes – one, kitchen utensils – one, dairy – two, footwear – one, miscellaneous goods – ten, leather – three, rawhides – two, clothes – one, liquor sales – two, grain – four, ironware – three, soda water – one.

Generally speaking, the Polish-Jewish relations in Brzostek could be described as amicable, although from time to time conflicts on economic ground would arise between the two communities. The situation became worse during World War I, when the Russian authorities introduced various repressions against Jews. The years 1914 saw the introduction of a ban limiting the freedom of movement for Jews in frontline areas. The same year, there were instances of rapes on Jewish women perpetrated by soldiers serving in the Siberian regiment.[1.6] The relations between local Poles and Jews became hostile in the spring of 1919, when anti-Jewish riots erupted in Brzostek. Polish youths from neighbouring villages threw stones at Jewish shops.[1.1.6]

Schools also became the venue of anti-Jewish incidents, sparked by some Jewish children attending classes wearing the so-called birydki (a type of headwear). The teachers would fiercely fight that custom; as a result, some of the children stopped attending school. With the new school year of 1919/1920, Jews started to conform to the rules imposed by school officials.[1.7].

A Jewish library operated in Brzostek, which also boasted a cell of the Zionist Organisation and units of communist activists. One of the leaders of the latter was Baumfreus Leon (survivor of WWII). His grandfather was an assistant to the local rabbi.[1.8]

The influential position of Jews in Brzostek was evidenced by the fact that five out of 17 members of the Municipal Council in 1919 were Jewish. In 1922, the number of councillors increased to 24, including seven Jews.[1.9]

The Archives of the Office of Vital Records in Brzostek holds copies of Jewish birth certificates from the years 1894–1938. They are an indication of how the number of births had been changing throughout the years. Over the period of 44 years, 956 birth certificates were issued, including 489 for boys and 467 for girls. Most births were recorded in 1899, the fewest – in 1935 and 1937. The community experienced a fall in birth rate following World War I. The annual average birth rate dropped from 34.9% for the years 1894–1902 to 17.8% for the years 1914–1918.[1.10]

Jewish marrital records for the period 1894–1938 provide us with interesting information on marriages among followers of Judaism from Brzostek. In the period in question, excluding the years of World War, I, there were about 6–7 marriages concluded annually in the local Jewish community. Interestingly, people would enter into marriage at a later age, usually when they were between 25 and 29 years old. Only 52% of men were older than their fiancées. A large number of Jewesses (ca. 30%) would get married when they were over 30, which was reflected in the low number of offspring. This was probably the main reason for the dropping birth rate among Jewish families. This state of affairs may have also resulted from the fact that there were much more women than men in the community; moreover, young men would often move to larger cities or abroad (usually to the USA) in search for better employment opportunities.[1.1.2]

The vital records concerning marriages among Jews in Brzostek also contain many interesting titbits of additional information. Notes made by clerks include pieces of information on legal status, a father’s written permission to conclude a marriage, references to a groom’s military service, marital status of an engaged couple, as well as information about the further history of the marriage. The records also contain such data as the place of residence, place of birth, ages of the engaged couple, social status, profession, and parents’ profession. The sources show that Jewish women were less likely to work before getting married. Men would make a living in a wide array of businesses – as many as 40 various professions are listed in the files. Among the people engaged in trade, there were as many as 12 innkeepers. The largest group among craftsmen were shoemakers (five); there were also nine farmers and twelve people deriving income from other sources, e.g. six real estate owners.[1.11]

Lack of employment opportunities and means of support was another cause of the small number of marriages and, in consequence, a drastic decrease in the number of births. In the years 1894–1913, 39.8% of engaged couples were out of work, and in 1919–1938, this percentage increased to 57.5%.[1.12]

In the 1930s, ten Polish families lived in the Market Square – the remaining houses were all owned by Jews. An average Jewish family had 6–7 members, although there were also more numerous ones – Aron Sala, for instance, had 15 children.[1.1.8]

Before the outbreak of World War II, Brzostek had ca. 500 Jewish residents, constituting 30% of the entire population. The first months of occupation were relatively peaceful. However, the Germans soon started to confiscate Jewish property, shut down Jewish shops, and rob Jews of valuables. All local Jews were closed in the ghetto formed in Brzostek in 1941. The same year, on the order of the Nazi authorities, Jews from the ghetto were forced to perform various works at the Market Square: they installed flowerbeds and levelled the ground.[1.13]

In the first weeks of the war, many Jews escaped to USSR; some of them survived the war. One of the survivors was Abraham Schuss, a metalworker imprisoned in the labour camp in Lviv, where he was tasked with repairing steam engines. He escaped from the camp in September 1943. Some Jewish people who fled to USSR later served as soldiers in the Kościuszko Division. Among those who lived to see the end of the war were Wolf Bergam, Aron Ratz, Fischel Scheinwetter, Salomon.[1.1.8] There were also Jews who survived thanks to the help of Poles. Maria Jałowiec, for example, provided shelter to a Jewish woman. In June 2012, a commemorative plaque was unveiled in her memory. The unveiling ceremony was attended by Irving Wallach, grandson of the rescued woman – Rywka.[1.14]

Ca. 80 Jews from Brzostek survived World War II. Others were murdered under various circumstances. The people who were not killed during the liquidation of the ghetto (180 people) were transported to Kołaczyce on 12 august 1942. The very same day, they were sent to the Podzamcze forest and shot by the Germans.[1.15] Other murder sites were the Jewish cemetery in Brzostek, as well as the camp in Pustkowie and Szebnie, where Jewish youth was deported and killed. Several mass graves of Jews are located in the forest in Jaworz: one holds 12 bodies, and the other – 4 or 5.[1.1.8] In March 1942, a group of 27 people, Jews and the Roma, were murdered in the nearby locality of Zawadka Brzostecka, at the edge of the forest. Another 11 Jews were killed at the same site in the autumn of 1943. Ten Jews were murdered in two executions held in Januszkowice. On 8 December 1942, the Germans shot five Jews in the forest near Wola Brzostecka.

Bibliography

• Frączek T., “Historia ludności żydowskiej zamieszkałej w Brzostku i okolicy w okresie II-giej wojny światowej,” Wiadomości Brzosteckie 1999, no. 4 (41).
• Stanaszek B., Brzostek i okolice, Brzostek 1993.
• Tyburowski W., “Ludność Brzostka przed wiekami, cz. 4 – Żydzi,” Wiadomości Brzosteckie 2005, no. 3 (95).
• Tyburowski W., “Żydzi w gminie wyznaniowej Brzostek. Przemiany społeczno-gospodarcze w latach 1894–1938,” Rocznik Brzostecki 1998.