Jews first started to settle in Niepołomice in the mid-18th century, although reportedly a Jewish settlement had already existed there since the reign of Casimir the Great (second half of the 14th century). Nonetheless, the first rabbi of Niepołomice mentioned in historical sources was Josef Teitelbaum, the son of Rabbi Szmuel of Gorlice (he died in 1916 and was succeeded by his grandson – Nachum Teitelbaum).

A Jewish community had probably formed a bit earlier, seeing that a Jewish school was opened in Niepołomice at the beginning of the 19th century, along with a synagogue and a cemetery located on a rectangular plot (before that, Jews from Niepołomice had been buried in Klasno near Wieliczka)[1.1]. Statistical data shows a gradual growth of the Jewish population: 1765 – 29 Jews; 1880 – 402 Jews (11.1% of the entire population); 1881 – 394 Jews (10.4%); 1900 – 507 Jews; 1921 – 484 Jews (11.9%). Most probably, Jews had not started to settle in the area earlier due to the existence of the de non tolerandis Judaeis privilege in some of the royal towns of Western Lesser Poland (Małopolska) e.g. Pilzno, Bochnia, and Ujście Solne[1.2].

The Jews of Niepołomice dealt mainly with trade. Numerous shops operated in the town, the majority of which belonged to Jews[1.3]. Jews also owned 16 inns and a number of warehouses: the Polish Tobacco Monopoly warehouse, the Polish Alcohol Monopoly warehouse (owned by Pinkus Blumenfrucht), Warmann's flour warehouse, Efroim Mames' coal and timber yard; there were two Jewish bakeries, run by Liban and Blonder, and a restaurant owned by the Gressler sisters. The best-known Jewish merchant families of Niepołomice were: the Mames family, the Kalfuss family, the Wolff family, the Mayer family, the Blumenfrucht family, the Wasserberg family, and the Pinkesfeld family.

Before the outbreak of WWII, the Jewish community of Niepołomice probably owned at least two synagogues, a bath house and a kosher poultry abattoir. Jews also had their representatives in the town Council; out of 15 Council members, two had Jewish origins (one of them – Efraim Mames, succeeded by Chaim Mames – was the President of the Jewish Community Co-operative). At the time, the circle of respected inhabitants of Niepołomice included, among others, lawyer Adolf Baumfeld, doctors: Adolf Pessel and Józef Wittlin, pharmacist Jakub Katz and talented violinists: Leibek Blumenfrucht and Dawidowicz. A number of charities operated in the town, e.g. Bikur Cholim and Gemilut Chesed. The Jewish inhabitants of Niepołomice were not politically active, but with time, Zionist ideas started to gain ground[1.4]. The Mizrachi and the Aguda parties were popular among the community, but they quickly lost support due to lack of stability in their local structures. In 1923, the "Puszcza" Jewish Sport Club was established; it had its own football team, which played matches with "Niepołomianka". Three years later, the club was dissolved and "Niepołomianka" took on the name of "Puszcza" Sport Club.

The Jews of Niepołomice maintained generally cordial relations with the Christian population. Apart from their own school, Jewish children attended Polish primary schools and a local trade school. Nonetheless, some violent incidents occurred from time to time; in 1919, for example, Jews were robbed and terrorised by groups of armed aggressors.

Germans entered Niepołomice in the morning of 8 September 1939 and almost immediately burned down the old synagogue[1.1.4]. A ghetto was established in the town (it was liquidated in 1942). In 1941, Germans vandalised the local cemetery. Before its liquidation, the ghetto in Niepołomice housed about 2,000 local Jews, as well as people displaced from other towns, mostly from Kraków. Between 20 and 22 August 1942, all inhabitants of the ghetto were deported to Wieliczka and subsequently transported to the Bełżec death camp (on 27 August 1942[1.1.4]), with the exception of old, infirm, and sick people, who were shot in the so-called Kozie Górki Forest in Niepołomice.

It is known that at least two Jews from Niepołomice survived the war: Moniek Warmann, who escaped from Wieliczka and hid in a village until the end of the war, and Adam Katz, the son of August Katz, who was rescued and raised by Elżbieta Mazurek[1.5].

Currently, there is no Jewish activity in the town. Except for the cemetery, no Jewish keepsakes or Judaica have been preserved. In 2008, the Niepołomice Municipality, together with the Greek municipality of Sykies and the Italian province of Rovigo, took part in a project called Forget Us Not, co-financed by the European Union though the Europe For Citizens 2007-2013 Programme. Three international conferences open for all audiences were held in Niepołomice, Sykies, and Rovigo between May and October 2008. One of the items on the agenda was the presentation of war experiences of the local Jewish community.

Bibliography

• Niepolomice, [in] The Encyclopedia of Jewish Life Before and During the Holocaust, ed. S. Spector, G. Wigoder, vol. 2, New York 2001, p. 892.
• M. Piechotka, K. Piechotka, Krajobraz z menorą w tle, Wrocław 2008.
• A. Siwek, Kronika Niepołomic, Niepołomice 2005.