Jews began to settle in Józefów shortly after the town's founding, i.e. probably at the end of the 1780s. Taking advantage of the privileges, soon after they built a wooden synagogue and set up a cemetery, and then an independent community was established[1.1].

The Jewish community was growing rapidly. In the 18th and 19th centuries, most of Józefów inhabitants were Jews and they played a fundamental role in its economic development. There was no separate Jewish district in the town and the right of full freedom of settlement was in force. However, a significant number of the followers of Judaism lived at Wałowa (Zawalna) Street, also known as Żydowska (Jewish) Street, located west of the market square and running parallel to the Vistula River. It was probably there that the first wooden synagogue was built, most likely erected at the end of the 17th or the beginning of the 18th century, although there are no written sources enabling to determine the exact location or dating of the building’s construction. Probably in the same period, a cemetery was established southeast of the market, outside the town’s limits.

From at least 1730, there were breweries and granaries in Józefów owned by Jewish entrepreneurs. At the end of the 1890s, many Jewish shops and three taverns operated there [[ref:| Rys historyczny Józefowa n/Wisłą, woj. lubelskie, opracowany na podstawie dokumentacji Pracowni Konserwacji Zabytków o. w Lublinie, Józefów n/Wisłą 1984.]]. In the 18th century, in Jozefów, as in other centres, regulations were introduced limiting rights of the Jews to buy real estate. [1.2].

In 1747, Józef Potocki who was the owner of the property at that time, issued a decree, pursuant to which any Jew wishing to buy a property from a Christian had to obtain a special permit. After Józefów lost its municipal rights in 1864, the town hall was converted into residential purposes, and in 1879 it was sold to Jews[1.3].  In the following years, resulting, among other factors, from the deteriorating economic conditions, the number of Jews in the settlement gradually decreased.

At the beginning of the 1920s, about 67% of the settlement's inhabitants were Jews. There was a synagogue, a house of prayer, a mikveh and a Jewish cemetery under the management of the community[1.4].

In the interwar period, Jewish political parties were active in the town, including Aguda branch, founded in 1930[[ref:| State Archives in Lublin, Lublin Voivodeship Office, Social and Political Department, sign. 469, sheet 14.]]. 

During the German occupation, there were two labour camps for Jews in Józefów, located in the buildings of the synagogue and the school. The first of them, with about 300 inmates, working on the construction of embankments in the village of Rybitwy, was liquidated in March 1942. In the second one, operating from May to October 1941, Polish, Austrian and German Jews worked as forced labourers. On May 9, 1942, the Jewish population was deported from Józefów to the camp in Opole Lubelskie, wherefrom they were probably transported to the death camp in Sobibór.

Bibliography

• Kubiszyn M., Józefów nad Wisłą, [in:] Śladami Żydów. Lubelszczyzna, Lublin 2011, pp. 158-161.
• Opas T., Sytuacja ludności żydowskiej w miastach szlacheckich województwa lubelskiego w XVIII wieku, “Bulletin of the Jewish Historical Institute” 1968, no 67.
• Rys historyczny Józefowa n/Wisłą, woj. lubelskie, opracowany na podstawie dokumentacji Pracowni Konserwacji Zabytków o. w Lublinie, Józefów n/Wisłą 1984.