It is thought that at the turn of the 16th and 17th century Jews started to settle down in the region. In 1676, 23 Jewish families lived in Dukla.

As early as in 1742, local Jews had their own kahal. A brick synagogue was built in 1758 in the place of the former one which was wooden. 10 years later the synagogue burnt down due to a fire. Part of the town also burnt as a result of the fire. Since this event the kahal was obliged to maintain two night janitors who in case of any threat were supposed to warn the inhabitants of the town. Chaim Sztrotz was a rabbi at that time. According to the record of population from 1795 there were 547 Israelis. The next fire took place in 1810. In the 1820s a daughter of Jozue Reszel from Dukla became a wife of the tzadik of Łańcut named Eleazara.

Under the Austrian administration the town was for some time the seat of cyrkuł which encompassed 471 villages. In 1824 there lived 757 Jews in Dukla who made up 51.1% of the population of the town. At the end of 19th century industrialization began. There existed a few mills, alcohol distillery, and three paraffin oil distilleries, factories producing stearin, matches, mineral water and woolen cloth. In 1870 Jewish community was estimated at 2338 people, it had a rabbi, 3 synagogues and a cemetery. In 1881 the Jewish community of the same city was reported to comprise 2,553 people and made up 84.2% of the whole population. Izaak Segal Weigman was a rabbi at that time, he died in 1888.

By the courtesy of the Baron Hirsch Foundation in 1895 a four-class Jewish primary school for boys was established. Its syllabus was enriched with professional training. From 1891 there existed Savings and Loans Society whose chairman was M. H. Reich, and from 1895 – Credit and Trade Society, which was managed by Izaak Reich, who launched an oil distillery in the nearby town called Cegowa. In Dukla, Echrenreich and Wietschner owned two destillaries.

In 1898 the administrative authorities of Dukla for fear of antisemitic riots for economic reasons asked the starost of Krosno for sending the army in order to prevent the riots. A rabbi was famous of that time gaon Szmul Engel (1852-1935), a student of the tzadik Chaima Halberstama from Nowy Sącz. Earlier he was the rabbi of Biłgoraj. He was succeeded by the rabbi and tzadik of Dukla Arie Lejbusz Halbersztam, the son of Chaima the tzadik of Nowy Sącz who was in turn succeeded by his son Menachem Mendel. In 1900, the Jewish community was estimated at 3,046 people (there were 2,539 Jews in the town which made up 79% of the population) and owned among other things three religious schools. Józef Samuel Bloch (1850–1923), a prominent rabbi who came from Dukla, was appointed in 1885 a Member of Austrian Parliament and was as an MP for 10 years, being a member of the Polish Club. In 1884, in Wien he set up a weekly magazine „Österreichischer Wochenschrift”, which was printed until 1921. He was also an author of numerous publications referring to religious matters.

The collapse of the town took place after the great fire in 1884. 104 Jews house and 6 Christian ones burnt then. After the fire at Rabbi Cwi Lajtner’s suggestion the second brick synagogue was built. Other damage was caused by warfare at the beginning of 1915. At that time local Jews were robbed by the Russian Army. It also happened that drunken Russian soldiers mistreated Jews and cut their beards and side locks off. After the war 1914-1915 the number of inhabitants vastly decreased. Dukla was the birthplace of Samuel Silbermann, a volunteer of the Army of gen. Haller, participating in the Polish-Soviet War and of Polish-Ukrainian War.

In 1921, merely 2,082 people lived in Dukla out of whom 1,509 were Jewish who made up only 72% of the population. In the interwar period the trade importance of Dukla was not revived. In the interwar period there were various organizations in the city: the Society of Jewish Craftsmen Yad Charuzim and the Credit Society which in 1932 had 215 members, Merchants Society and a department of the Society of Jewish Partnerships. Pinchas Hirszprung was the last rabbi of Dukla, who after the Second Word War was the head rabbi of Montreal in Canada. During Nazi occupation, on 1 October 1939, news of Dukla were gathered at the square near the Palace of the Tarnowski family in order to pay the ransom. After having it paid, they were ordered to leave the town and move to the Soviet zone of occupation beyond the San River. Some Jews remained however in their houses whereas other came back from the exile after a few months. Szymon Staff was appointed the head of the Judenrat by Nazis.

On 12 February 1942 Nazis executed 11 Jews at a local kirkut. In June 1942, approximately 1,600 Jews were in the town among whom about 300 were deported from Polish territories which were annexed to the Reich. 310 Jews were employed by road works and quarries. 25 females were working in a craft workshop, which was established by the Association of the Jewish Craftsmen of Krosno.

In July 1942, German occupation authorities mandated Jews living in villages surrounding Dukla to move to the city. Owing to this order, approximately 600 people arrived at the city. After a dozen of days, the Jews living in the city were again gathered at the courtyard which had been fenced in by barbed wire. The area was guarded by Ukrainian police. Collected Jews were divided into three groups; the first one of about 2,000 people comprised of the old, children and women. They were taken in cars to the train station in Krosno from where they were transported to a concentration camp in Bełżec. The second group of abort 100 people comprised of Jewish intellectuals who were taken in several cars to Barwink, a forest on the hill-side of Błudna Mountain where they were executed. Local Jewish police called Judendienst supervised undressing of Jews and standing in an execution queue.

Approximately 200 healthy and strong men were classified to group three. They were lodged in post-Jewish building in Cergowa Street, near the synagogue. They worked in quarries in Lipowica and were renovating the road to Barwinek. The sick were shot to death during the works. On 14 December, 1942 approximately 170 Jews from the working camp in Dukla were transported to the ghetto Rzeszow.

During the Second Word War Nazis devastated Jewish synagogues in Dukla. After the war, for many years there was a warehouse in a newer synagogue.

In September 1944, five Jews were murdered along with Mieczysława Roj from Równy, who had given them shelter. A lot of Jews hidden by Poles were caught by Nazis but on the other hand, a lot of them survived.

Bibliography: 

• Dukla Card of the community – Documentation Report z dn. 13.05.2014, przekazana przez Meira Shilloh z Yad le Zehava Holocaust Research Institute.
• Potocki A., Żydzi w Podkarpackiem, Rzeszów 2004.