In the fourteenth century Skawina was granted the royal privilege of De non tolerandis Iudaeis. It was not until 1860 that the first Jews were permitted to settle within the town’s borders. 86 Jews lived in Skawina in 1880.

In the interwar period, in 1921, 282 Jews lived in Skawina and they constituted 11.5 per cent of the town’s total population.

Since September 1939, Skawina was occupied by German troops. It was to Skawina that  the Nazis deported the Jews from both Silesia and the vicinities of Cracow between 1940 and 1942. In August 1942 the ghetto was liquidated. Some of its inhabitants were executed near Tyniec, while others were deported to the Bełżec Death Camp.