First Jews settled in Dynów in the mid-16^th century. Sources confirm that that they had lived in the region since at least 1552. Documents from 1553 mention four Jewish families. The list of residents of Lesko drawn up in the 1565 census includes one Aron of Dynów, which means that he had lived there before moving to Lesko.

At first, the Jews of Dynów were members of the kehilla in Przemyśl, which was confirmed by the decree of King Władysław IV in 1638. It is assumed that the local Jewish community gained independence at the end of the 17^th century. It owned a wooden synagogue and, presumably, a cemetery. In 1691, a favourable privilege was issued for the Jews of Dynów. At the turn of the 18^th century, a Jewish Street existed in the town. Jews owned 53 houses, among which 11 houses were situated in the Market Square. The Jewish community comprised 435 people, that is ⅓ of the total population of the town. Around the same period, the wooden synagogue was replaced with a brick one.

According to the census of 1756, 1,228 Jews lived on the territory of the Dynów kehilla, making it the most numerous Jewish settlement in the Sanok Land and the fourth most numerous in today’s Podkarpackie Province. Larger Jewish communities could only be found in Przemyśl, Jarosław, and Lesko.

At the time, the Dynów community owned a mikveh, mentioned in sources dating back to 1727, a hospital, a kosher slaughterhouse, and a beth midrash (since 1739). In 1765, 659 Jews lived in the town itself, whereas the whole kehilla, which included the town and 43 villages, comprised 1,328 people. In 1772, Dynów came under the Austrian rule. As from 1792, Jewish children were obliged to attend a Jewish school with German as the language of instruction – the so-called Jüdisch-Deutsche Schule. In 1799, there were 685 Jews living in Dynów, constituting 30.7% of the total population of the town. In the second part of the 18^th century, the rabbis were: Moshe Yehoshua Heschl, Samuel Shtroiz, and Yaakov Zvi Yalish.

At the turn of the 19^th century, Dynów became a prominent centre of Hasidism. At the time, the local tzaddikim were: Yehoshua Heschl and Yaakov Zvi Yalish. In the first half of the 19^th century, Dynów became the seat of Tzaddik Zvi Elimelech Shapiro (1783–11 January 1841), author of numerous Kabbalist commentaries and four volumes of Hasidic homilies. Before settling in the town and founding the Dynów dynasty, he was the leader of Hasidic communities in Robotycze, Strzyżów, Oleszyce, and Munkacz. He also worked as rabbi in Łańcut, Halych, and Dubiecko. He was succeeded by his son David (1804–8 March 1874), former tzaddik of Strzyżów, and later by his grandson Isaiah Naphtali Herz (1838–14 May 1888).

Following an economic collapse in the 18^th century, the town experienced a boom in the 19^th century. It became famous throughout Galicia for its fairs, attended by merchants trading in livestock, horses, and canvas. In 1870, the kehilla had 1,190 members. It had two synagogues and a number of religious institutions. It also employed two rabbis. A second Jewish cemetery was established in the town at the time.

In 1900, the Jewish community had 2,066 members, with 1,409 Jews living in the town of Dynów itself (47.2% of its population). The kehilla ran, among others, a house for the terminally ill. The Credit Union was founded in Dynów in 1895. In 1901, there were 11 Jewish councillors in the 20-member Municipal Council.

In 1904, Dynów gained a narrow-gauge railway connection with Przeworsk, which opened opportunities for the town’s rapid development. On the eve of World War I, the town had 1,450 Jewish residents. However, the wave of migration to America and warfare in the years 1914–1915 resulted in a substantial decline of the number of Jewish people in Dynów. In 1921, there were 1,273 Jews among the total population of 2,727. There were also 126 Jews living in the Dynów Suburb (among 1,490 inhabitants) and a total of 448 Jews living in the villages belonging to the Dynów kehilla. In the interwar period, there were three synagogues in the town, one of them made of brick.

The People’s Bank in Dynów, owned by the Jewish Union of Cooperatives, had 326 members in 1932. In 1937, 36 people were members of the local Guild of Associated Jewish Craftsmen. Its elder was Leib Grosman, a baker. People working in artisan professions could also join the “Yad Charuzim” Society of Jewish Craftsmen. Among political parties, the most influential was Agudath Israel; the youth were members of Hashomer Hatzair. The Tel-Chai Society ran a library and organised Hebrew courses. The community maintained a Talmud-Torah school for boys, while Agudath Israel ran a Beit Yaakov school for girls. The town also boasted a branch of the Maccabi sports club. The last rabbi of Dynów was Mendel Spira, assisted by Dawid Halberstein and Abraham Schorr.

Dynów was seized by German troops on 15 September 1939, the second day of Rosh Hashana. The Nazis immediately rushed Jewish men out of their homes and had them gather at a school yard. They were later joined by a large group of people driven out of the synagogue – there was a total of ca. 400 people at the site. They were all murdered on the very same day – about a half near Podgaj Street, and the rest in the Żurawiec forest, ca. 1 kilometre away from Dynów. They were buried at the execution site. Those trying to escape were shot on the spot. In the summer 1940, the bodies of the murdered Jews were exhumed from the forest and buried in six newly dug graves at the new Jewish cemetery. Still on 15 September 1939, Germans discovered a group of ca. 50 Jews hiding in one of the synagogues. They were doused in petrol and burnt alive inside the building. Two adjacent houses of prayer also burnt down in the fire.

In the summer of 1940, Germans blew up the brick synagogue and used the rubble in road repairs. Some streets were paved with Jewish tombstones. The vandalised Jewish cemetery became a frequent execution site of Jews from Dynów and its environs, killed either individually or in small groups.

On 28 September 1940, the Nazis ordered all Jews residing in the town to gather in the main street – ca. 1,500 people in total. They were mostly women, elderly people, and children. In columns, they marched towards the San River. Despite high water levels, they were forced to cross the river, after which they would reach the Soviet occupation zone. A lot of people drowned, mainly the elderly and children. Those who managed to get to the other bank were surrounded by soldiers of the Red Army and forced to spend the night in open air, wet and cold, waiting for a decision concerning their fate. Eventually, they were transported east, deep into Russia.

Only two Jewish families remained in the town. They were later transported to the ghetto in Brzozów and shared the fate of all its residents.

Those who escaped the deportations in 1940 and 1942 were forced to seek shelter in the nearby villages. In July 1942, six hiding Jews were discovered and killed in Bachów. In the spring of 1943, a group of 14 Jews, including several former inhabitants of Dynów, were executed in Bartkówka.

It is estimated that ca. 200–250 Jewish people from Dynów survived the war in the territory of the USSR.

Bibliography

• Dynow Community Card – Documentation Report of 13 May 2014, made available by Meir Shilloh of the Yad le Zehava Holocaust Research Institute.
• Potocki A., Żydzi w Podkarpackiem, Rzeszów 2004.