Jews only started to settle in Krynica towards the end of the 18^th century. The Bishops of Kraków, who were the owners of the so-called Key of Muszyna encompassing Krynica and a host of other localities, long refused to allow Jews to settle in their estates. This is why the influx of Jews to the area only came with the Partitions of Poland and the secularisation of the Muszyna property. According to the census of 1799, Krynica had eight Jewish inhabitants. Around half a century later, the Jewish population comprised 30 people. By 1870, the number of Jews living in Krynica had reached 139, accounting for 8.7% of the town’s total population.

The influx of Jewish settlers to Krynica was prompted by the development of the local spa resort. Being not only a holiday retreat but also a meeting place of the intellectual and political elites, Krynica started to attract great numbers of Jews. The annual numbers of Jewish patients visiting the town would reach several thousands. Jewish settlement in Krynica was further boosted by legal changes introduced in the wake of the emancipation of Jews in the late 19^th century. In 1880, Krynica was inhabited by 2,097 people, including 280 Jews (13%).

The Jews of Krynica initially belonged to the Nowy Sącz kehilla , but with time they established their own self-government. The turn of the 20^th century saw a period of prosperity and dynamic development of the Jewish community in Krynica. Two synagogues were erected in the town at the time: in today’s Piłsudskiego Street and at the junction of Kraszewskiego and Polna Streets. A mikveh was adjacent to the latter temple. Archival documents suggest that the technical condition of the bath in the interwar period was pitiful, which is why the community undertook to improve it in 1929. The renovation cost 10,000 zlotys. In the second half of the 19^th century, a Jewish cemetery was established in today’s Polna Street. The preserved overview of Jewish religious communities in Galicia indicates that a Jewish school operated in Krynica in 1900.

By the early 20^th century, Jews of Krynica had already formed an organised religious community, although formally the local kehilla was only established in 1928, after seceding from the kehilla in Nowy Sącz. The borders of the newly established community coincided with the borders of the Jewish register district of Krynica, dissolved in 1877. The post of the rabbi was assumed by Abraham David Teitelbaum – a member of the famous Teitelbaum family connected with the Hasidic Halberstam dynasty.

The results of the election to the kehilla authorities in 1928–1929 may serve as a reflection of the political and religious preferences of Krynica’s Jewish inhabitants. The two major camps fighting for power were Zionists and Orthodox Jews. In the election of 1928, the Zionists won six seats, while the Orthodox – only two. In the subsequent election, held several months later, the domination of the Zionists was less marked as they only received five seats. Nonetheless, they retained majority in the community administration. The popularity of the Zionist camp may be largely attributed to their propaganda campaigns carried out among the patients of the local resort and vacationers.[1.1]

Most local Jews made a living from trade and crafts. According to data included in the register of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce in Kraków, the Jews of Krynica took out 79 commercial certificates and only one industrial certificate in the interwar period. They also worked in the services sector, renting villas and guesthouses to visiting tourists. In total, 112 out of all 164 guesthouses in Krynica were owned by Jews.

Economic competition did not have any noticeable influence on the generally amicable relations between Poles and Jews in Krynica. Historical sources mention only minor tensions resulting from conflicts of interest between the two communities. During the 1894 election to the Municipality Council, local Jews contested the results in one of the constituencies.

The interwar period was a time of intense political and social activity in the Krynica kehilla. The town boasted numerous organisations, political parties, and associations. Two of the most popular political parties were the local Agudath branch associated with Rabbi Teitelbaum and Mizrachi, a religious Zionist organisation. Revisionist Zionists were also active in Krynica. Some of the most prominent social and educational organisations were Beit Yaakov – an Orthodox school for girls, and Bikur Cholim, a charitable organisation. Both associations received subsidies from the Municipal Council. The Jews of Krynica also had their branch of the Maccabi sports club. The table tennis section established in 1935 became particularly popular.

Local Jews had their representatives on the Municipal Council. In the year 1920, five councillors were Jewish, with the number falling to four after the subsequent election in 1937. Jews also held various public offices; Leon Vogel, for example, was deputy mayor (following the outbreak of the war, he died in exile in the USSR. The archive of the Kraków Division of the National Institute of Remembrance includes court files with the declaration of his death.[1.2]).

In 1939, Germany invaded Poland and occupied the country’s western regions. The Nazis soon took steps to annihilate the local Jewish population. In 1940, the governor of Nowy Sącz District issued an official order stating that “Jews living in Krynica, Muszyna, Piwniczna, and in the municipalities designated as assembly points, namely Krynica, Tylicz, Muszyna, and Piwniczna, are to leave the territory of the above defined districts by 30 November 1940.”

The Jews of Krynica were displaced to the ghettos in Grybów, Bobowa, and Nowy Sącz. After the liquidation of the ghetto in Nowy Sącz in 1942, its inhabitants were transported to death camps (mostly Bełżec) in which most of them lost their lives.

World War II wiped out nearly all of the traces of the Jewish community of Krynica. During the occupation, the Germans pulled down 36 Jewish houses and carried out mass executions of Jews. It is difficult to establish whether all of the victims were original inhabitants of Krynica. It is known, however, that 36 Jews were killed in the executions of 1942/1943 and buried in the Jewish cemetery. In 1943, the Nazis executed 120 people of both Jewish and Polish origin.

Bibliography

• Krynica, ed. F. Kiryk, Kraków 1994.
• “Krynica Zdroj,” [in:] Encyclopedia of Jewish Life Before and During the Holocaust, ed. Sh. Spector, New York 2001, p. 683.
• Michalewicz J., Żydowskie okręgi metrykalne i żydowskie gminy wyznaniowe w Galicji doby autonomicznej, Kraków 1995.
• Rejestr miejsc i faktów zbrodni popełnionych przez okupanta hitlerowskiego na ziemiach polskich w latach 1939–1945: województwo nowosądeckie, Warszawa 1984.
• Samsonowska K., Wyznaniowe gminy żydowskie i ich społeczności w województwie krakowskim (1918–1939), Kraków 2005.
• Żebrowski R., “Żydzi w Muszynie wobec Holokaustu – część 1. Wysiedlenie,” Almanach Muszyny 1999.