In fact, the story of Bielsko-Biała, just like the story of Bielsko and Biała, which were two separate municipal centres until 1951, consists in two separate narratives. Bielsko, the older and richer settlement, founded as early as the 11th century, was granted town privileges in 1263. On the other hand, Biała developed as a village of crafts and agriculture situated at the foot of a fortified castle on the right bank of the River Biała. It became an independent crafts village in 1613 and was only granted the status of a town in 1723.

The beginnings of the Jewish settlement in this area are linked with the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648), which left many Silesian towns depopulated. Aiming to improve the country’s finances, Emperor Ferdinand eased the policy towards Jews in 1627, issuing an edict allowing Jews to settle there after paying a special fee of 40 guldens. The emperor’s edict made it legal to conditionally run trade and craft businesses by a group of privileged Jews (Ger.: privilegierte Juden), who were also called court Jews (Ger.: Hofjuden). The emperor also gave them the permission to lease tax and customs duty collection, as well as to purchase houses.

Jewish people arrived to the area from Moravia and Lower Silesia, bringing along western patterns of social and political life, as well as Jewish customs, religious rituals and the language of Ashkenazi Jews.

The oldest mention of the Jewish presence in Bielsko dates back to 1653 and it states that tolls were charged and vodka was sold by a person of Jewish origin who was called Mutjude (Ger.: “The Toll Jew”). Cloth production, ceramics and trade started to develop in Bielsko in the 16th century. Good fortune could also be made on the production and sale of alcohol, as well as agricultural production and fish farming, it can therefore be assumed that the Jews in Bielsko earned their money mostly from trading. When it comes to Biała, the testimony of Mateusz Klimczak, a Beskids highwayman, which he gave after being apprehended in 1697, suggests that Jews settled in Biała towards the end of the 17th century, as he mentions selling looted goods to “the Jew at the Biała River.”

In May 1713, Emperor Charles VI issued an edict of tolerance (Toleranzpatent) which allowed Jews to settle in Silesia after paying a special tolerance tax. The emperor’s edict divided the Jewish community into two groups: one consisted of tolerated Jews, while the other incorporated property owners and those who had no property (they paid a lower tax). The edict forbade Jews to, among others, lease custom duties and taxes, as well as to sell most products.

At the beginning of 17th century a new economic rival appeared in Bielsko’s close vicinity – in 1710, a customs chamber was opened in Biała and on 9 January 1723 the settlement was granted town privileges. The work by Andrzej Komoniecki called Dziejopis Żywiecki (Eng.: “The History of Żywiec”), which dates back to 1715, contains an information according to which breweries in Biała and Lipnik were leased by Jew Jakub Lazarowicz. By 1723 there had been two or three Jewish families living in Biała; they owned four houses. The local Jews earned their living by leasing breweries and taverns, and with time became more and more involved in selling wool and linen. The 1737 registry of tolerance tax payers in Bielsko included one Jew by the name of Józef Mojżesz.

In October 1726, the Silesian Supervisory Office adopted the “Wegen der Juden” edict, which was a prohibition against the Jewish settlement in places and houses where they had not previously resided. This way, new Jews (so-called strangers) were not allowed to settle in Silesia. Moreover, the edict introduced the “right of incolate” (Lat.: incolae – inhabitant), which stipulated that in every Jewish family only one son was given consent to marry and the right to live within the state country limits while other sons, who were considered strangers, had to leave the country after coming of age.

The development of Jewish entrepreneurship caused violent opposition and protests of Christian businessmen and merchants who wanted for Jews to be once again expelled from Silesia. In 1738, it resulted in Emperor Charles VI issuing an edict which demanded that all the Jews who did not have separate privileges leave Silesia. Those who remained in the region were allowed to only be engaged in small-scale trade and to produce and lease the right to sell vodka. At the same time, municipal authorities were permitted to displace Jews from the town centres to suburban areas, as well as to turn Jewish cemeteries and synagogues into Christian facilities. The possibility for Jewish entrepreneurship to develop in Silesia was greatly limited after the edict came into force.

Meanwhile, Zygmunt Linowski was chosen as the new governor of Lipnik in 1737. His goal was to increase Biała’s economic importance, which is why he started bringing Jewish merchants and craftsmen from Lesser Poland to the settlement. This bore fruit in the form of new trade relations established by the town, but also gave rise to conflicts that took place between the townspeople and the Jews, which concerned economic issues.

When Silesia was divided after the Silesian War in 1742, Bielsko was incorporated into Austrian Silesia (Ger.: Österreichisch-Schlesien) and Biała remained within the borders of Poland. These territorial changes resulted in both towns gaining importance, as their location near the border brought in greater profits from trade. That made both Bielsko and Biała more attractive for Jews who considered settling in either of the towns. The new Jewish settlers in Bielsko were mostly wool and tobacco traders (but also tavern keepers); they settled primarily in the suburbs. Under the decree of Empress Maria Teresa, the town was allowed to organise monthly fairs and four great cattle fairs. The first manual labour factories were established there in 1750.

In 1752, new restrictions for Jews in Bielsko were implemented – Empress Maria Teresa issued the Edict of Tolerance, which allowed a limited number of 88 Jewish families to stay in Cieszyn Silesia. The regulations allowed only the eldest son to stay in the area following the father’s death, whereas the other children had to leave the state country once they became adults.

Around that time, in the nearby town of Biała, which was located within the Polish borders, there were about 100 Jews, who made up around 20% of the entire population. Most probably a Jewish community already existed there at the time. It had its own cemetery, synagogue and a separate court. Townspeople would continue to make complaints to the local authorities, claiming that Jews had too big an influence on the town’s economy. The residents of the town would put the blame for all crimes, including religious ones, on Jews; this state of affairs was to an extent influenced by Jesuits.

In 1757 the townspeople of Bielsko addressed the appellate court in Warsaw with the request to grant Biała the de non tolerandis Judaeis privilege. The court acceded to the request and in the same year it issued a ban on the Jewish settlement in the Lipnik lands, excluding lessees. However, the decision was not accepted by the new governor, Duke Brüll, who blocked the privilege issued by the court. It coincided with the decision of King August III, who, by issuing two privileges, granted personal freedom to anyone who wanted to settle in Biała. The royal privileges were meant to apply to Evangelists but Jews took advantage of them as well. The conflict between the townspeople and the Lipnik authorities became even harsher when Duke Brüll incorporated areas inhabited by Jews into Biała in 1760. Desiring to quickly gain a fortune, the duke forced the townspeople to use services of Jewish merchants and craftsmen. His administrator, Czestregi, even went as far as to imprison Szymon Mortka, the mayor of Biała, and a few councillors who wanted to remove Jews from the town. In consequence, the town councillors summoned a royal commission that came to Biała from Warsaw in 1765. The sentence pronounced in the town imposed a fine on Jews and required them to leave the Lipnik district, as de iure, the de non tolerandis Judaeis privilege was in force in Biała until 1848. Satisfied with such a decision of the commission, the townspeople forced all Jews out of the town and destroyed the Jewish cemetery. Despite the ban, Jews started to resettle in Biała as soon as ca. 1805.

As a result of the First Partition of Poland in 1772, Biała was incorporated into the Austrian occupation zone. The incorporation of eastern Lesser Poland into the Habsburg-owned lands was very advantageous to the local trade, which began to be more open to the east. Jewish merchants soon started to play the key role in it, especially in textile trade.

In the 1770s the Austrian authorities made their attitude towards the Jews more liberal, hoping that the Jewish trade would stimulate the development of Austrian Silesia and advance the process of integrating Galicia with the rest of the monarchy. Issued in 1781, the Edict of Tolerance for the Jews of Austrian Silesia made it legal for tolerated Jews to practice their own religion in private, but without the right to have their own synagogues or rabbis. The edict obliged all Jews to learn German and made it possible for them to study at Christian schools and universities. In 1787 Emperor Joseph II ordered all Jews to take on German names and surnames, which became a very important factor in the assimilation of the Jewish population living in Bielsko. According to data from 1790, 86 Jews lived in Bielsko at the time, constituting 3,9% of all inhabitants. Most of them were engaged in profitable textile trade with Hungary, Russia, Turkey and Persia. In 1817 the Bielsko town council demonstrated great tolerance when, upon the request of Jewish merchants, it introduced another market day on Wednesday (beforehand, markets were only held on Saturday, celebrated by Jews as a holiday).

In 1810, Joachim Adler, a Jewish entrepreneur, opened the first textile factory in Lipnik – a town near Biała in which Jewish settlement was still prohibited. The growth of the textile industry entailed the bankruptcy and collapse of the local traditional cloth factories, which resulted in numerous protests of the Polish and German residents of the town.

In 1837 there were as many as 427 Jewish people living in Bielsko. It was a big community which had increasing religious needs, which is why the first house of prayer was opened in Bielsko in 1839. The Jews of Bielsko were part of the so-called Jewry of Cieszyn (according to the Edict of Tolerance of 17 April 1752 the Jewry of Cieszyn was composed of all tolerated Jews in Cieszyn Silesia). Around the same time they started seeking independence and trying to establish an independent Bielsko-based kehilla.

As a result of the European Revolutions of 1848-1849, the Jewish community in Austria was granted political rights. The Ruling Edict, introducing equality of rights, was issued in 1848. The authorities lifted the de non tolerandis Judaeis privilege, which had been in force in Biała from 1765 on. It made it possible for a great number of Jews to arrive in the town. In a very short time they monopolised almost all trade and food industry. Formally, the Jews of Bielsko were subordinate to the Jewish Community in Oświęcim.

On 4 April 1849, the emperor’s edict allowed Jews to freely practice their religion. Moreover, Jewish religious communities received the right to have their own management board. In 1849, the Jews of Bielsko were allowed to open their own cemetery. At the same time, the Jewish religious community in Cieszyn gave its consent for the rabbi of Cieszyn to host religious events in Bielsko.

The same year, the Jews of Bielsko established a cemetery in Lipnik. In April 1852, the Jews of Bielsko were exempted from contributions for the allowance of the Cieszyn rabbi, and on 1 September, the local authorities gave them consent to keep their own vital records.

District rabbi of Cieszyn Land, Dr Simon Friedman, appointed for the position in 1858, stood against establishing an independent Jewish religious community in Bielsko. In spite of that, the leaders of the community of Bielsko Jews (Beniamin Holländer, Dr Ignatz Rößler and Salomon Tugendath) addressed the Ministry of Worship and Enlightenment in Vienna towards the end of 1863, requesting a permission to establish an independent religious community. They explained that there were 153 Jewish families living in the town and they played an important role in its development. They needed normal religious services, a requirement which the Cieszyn rabbi was not unable to meet, as he was in charge of too big an area. The Jews of Bielsko had their own cemetery, kept their own vital records, and there were 150 students in the Jewish school. Not having their own kehilla, however, the Jews of Bielsko were obliged to pay contributions to the Jewish Community in Cieszyn, which made it impossible for the community’s finances to maintain all of the Jewish facilities in Bielsko.

In September 1864, the ministry acceded to their request. The National Government in Opawa approved the establishment of the Jewish Religious Community in Bielsko on 27 December 1865. At first, the kehilla was headed by a board consisting of three leaders (Beniamin Holländer, Dr Ignatz Rößler and Salomon Tugendath) and five advisors. In 1864, Dr. Lazar Frankfurter, born in Moravia, was chosen to be the rabbi of Bielsko. He performed his duties until 1874.

The Jewish community in Bielsko was soon deemed to be the most progressive Jewish community in the entire Austrian Silesia. The local Jews assimilated there very quickly and were actively involved in the German political and cultural life. Some of them called themselves Germans of Jewish faith.

The 1867 Constitution of Austria made all the citizens of the country equal, conferring the same civil and political rights on everybody, irrespective of their religion.

In 1868, the Austrian authorities officially registered the burial and charity society Chevra Kadisha in Bielsko. Its articles of association were approved on 6 May 1868 by the national authorities in Opawa.

The only company owners in the town were Germans and Jews. In 1865, Jewish entrepreneurs owned three cloth factories, a dye factory and one material finishing factory, as well as 16 out of all 28 wool and cloth factories in the town.

In 1870, the members of the board of the Bielsko Jewish Community changed. From that year on, the board was composed of a president (to be chosen by election) and of nine community advisors. Beniamin Holländer became the first president. He held the office until his death in 1879. From February 1875 on, Dr. Wolf Lesser was the new rabbi. Apart from performing regular rabbinical duties, he also taught in Bielsko high schools and was an inspector in the Jewish public school. The Jewish community of Bielsko, despite its clearly progressive character, did not want to lose the Orthodox part of their community, which is why in 1870 it started to finance a separate Orthodox house of prayer and employed an Orthodox assistant rabbi.

The year 1870 was important for the Jews of Biała due to the foundation of the Jewish Community in Biała-Lipnik. Its members were Jews from Biała (270 people) and the neighbouring areas. It was an Orthodox community whose members lived in a closed religious society, keeping close to traditional culture and religion. They also used Yiddish and Hebrew. They condemned the progressive Jews of Bielsko.

This way, two separate Jewish communities were developing in the neighbouring towns. It was probably due to the fact that both the towns had a different history: Bielsko was a part of Austrian Silesia and developed under the strong influence of Austrian and German culture, while Biała was located in Galicia, where Poles enjoyed a great deal of cultural autonomy. That is why the inhabitants of Biała were not so strongly influenced by German culture and why the local Jews did not yield to the process of assimilation. Both communities – the reformed and the Orthodox one – sought to build their own synagogue.

In 1879, Adolf Brüll was elected the new president of the board of the Jewish Community in Bielsko. He performed his duties until 1898. It is clear that the position of the community president in Bielsko was performed by one person for a long time, which ensured that the decisions taken were far-sighted and stable. As a result, the progressive community of Bielsko was believed to be the best organised Jewish community in Austrian Silesia.

The Jewish community in Bielsko was constantly growing – in 1880 there were 1,660 Jews in Bielsko, which constituted 12.7% of the entire population of the town. At that time, there were 65 cloth and weaving factories in the town, 25 of which were owned by Jewish businessmen. The local Jewish community was the financial elite of the town.

The Jewish community in Bielsko eventually made the decision to build a large modern synagogue. The building, modelled on the “Mauritian” synagogue in Budapest and equipped with an organ, was opened in 1881. In 1882 Dr Adolf Kurrein was appointed the new rabbi of Bielsko. In 1889, a synagogue was built in Biała as well. Both buildings were erected by Karol Korn.

The growth of industry brought about the suburban development of both towns. One of the top municipal architects was Karol Korn (1852-1906. The other person who greatly contributed to the development of the town was Salomon Pollak (1840-1920). Thanks to him, a tram line was opened in the town in 1895. It was built by a company with stocks belonging to 110 shareholders, three quarters of whom were German, one quarter Jewish, and one person was Polish. It was very typical for Bielsko, as the financial elites of the time were composed of Germans and Jews.

In 1888, the rabbi of Bielsko, Dr Adolf Kurrein, asked the community to dismiss him from the position; he was replaced by Dr Saul Horowitz, who performed the function until 1896 and then moved to Wrocław. In 1890, the position of the Orthodox assistant rabbi in Bielsko was held by rabbi Menachem Mendel Stern, who carried out his duties until his death in 1928.

Bielsko and Biała were the prime place of origin of the workers’ movement. In the second half of the 19th century, different labour associations were established in the towns; they later started to gradually transform into socialist parties. First workers’ strikes in both towns were organised in May 1872, but the biggest unrests took place in 1890, when on 28 April eleven protesters were killed in Biała after being fired at by the military police. In response to the tragedy, almost all the workers from Bielsko and Biała factories stopped working on 1 May and took to the streets. From that time on, all trade unions, be it Polish, German, Jewish, National Democratic or Christian, cooperated with each other toward the same goal. The labourers of three different nationalities were joined in solidarity to fight together against capitalism.

The Zionist movement started to develop in Bielsko at the beginning of the 1890s. The first Zionist organisation to be founded was the HaShachar (Hebrew: The Dawn) association, which soon became a branch of the Zionist Organisation. The Zionist Youth Organisation ”Hasmonea” was also established in the town. In the early 20th century it was transformed into the Union of Former Jewish Students of Industry School.

In 1896 Dr Markus Steiner became the new rabbi of Bielsko. He was the last rabbi in the Bielsko Jewish Religious Community, performing the role until 1939.

The Jews in Bielsko were greatly assimilated with the German population of the town and were involved in the activity of German associations such as Leseverein or Theatherverein. The Jewish political and financial elite took part in the cultural and social life of the town, Jewish children attended German schools. The kehilla developed very good relations with the Evangelical parishes in Bielsko and Biała. When Pastor Teodor Haase was applying for a seat in the Parliament, he made endeavours to win Jewish votes. It led the Catholic minority to believe that the town was overcome with a “liberal-Evangelical-Jewish clique” which, naturally, was hostile towards the Roman Catholic Church.

Modern anti-Semitism started to emerge towards the end of the 19th century. Bielsko was also influenced by the phenomenon, with aversion and prejudice against Jews slowly growing among the town’s residents. More frequently than before, German organisations and associations refused to accept new Jewish members. Protesting against the unfair treatment, other Jewish members left such organisations. It therefore became clear that Jews needed to establish their own institutions which started to be founded soon afterwards. One of the first establishments of such kind were a Jewish self-help organisation called Israelitischer Hilfs- und Krankenverein (Ger.: the Israeli Society for Aid to the Sick), established in 1894, an academic organisation called Jüdisch-akademische Ferialverbindung “Emunah” (Ger.: the Jewish Academic University Fraternity), and an art organisation called Jüdisch-literarischer Verein (Ger.: the Jewish Literary Association), both established in 1896. The first Austrian chamber of the Jewish international humanitarian organisation B’nei B’rith – the “Austria” lodge in Bielsko – was founded in the town in 1889.

The Jews of Bielsko were also involved in sports. In 1896, they founded the first Jewish gymnastics society in the world – Ziemia Obiecana nad Białą”, Bielitz-Bialer Istraelitischer Turnverein (Eng.: Bielsko-Biała Jewish Gymnastics Society.

In 1912, the Zionists formed a competitive club called the “Hakoah” ((Hebr.: “Strength”) Sports Club. Six years later, the club opened a swimming section which became highly successful in the interwar period. Trauda Dawidowicz, one of the swimmers belonging to Hakoach, won the national Polish championship a number of times. Swimming was such a popular discipline in Bielsko that the Polish Swimming Association planned to organise an edition of the Championship of Poland in the town.

A branch of the Hashomer Hatzair Zionist youth movement, focusing on ideological training of the Jewish youth to prepare them for leaving for Palestine, was established in Bielsko in 1914.

In 1915, after the World War I broke out, there was an influx of Jewish refugees in the region of Bielsko and Biała; they were people who had been escaping from Galicia for fear of pogroms on the part of Russian soldiers. The local communities helped the refugees.

After the war Biała was incorporated into the Second Republic of Poland, whereas Bielsko became part of the contentious region of Cieszyn Silesia, the object of the Polish-Czech conflict in the years 1918–1920. The Jews of Bielsko tried to remain neutral, although the cultural and economic ties made them lean toward Germans. This is why they sympathised more with Czechoslovakia, which they considered to be more developed economically and more democratic than Poland. When Bielsko was officially incorporated into Poland on 28 July 1920, many of the local Jews left for Austria or Germany. The social structure of the Jewish community in Bielsko changed after these events.

Both Bielsko and Biała quickly found their place in the new geographic and political situation, becoming one of the biggest industrial centres in the Second Republic of Poland. The prevailing branches were the textile and electromechanical industries.

In 1921, there were 3,982 Jews in Bielsko, making up 19.1% of the entire population. In terms of professions, the most numerous were owners of small and medium-sized businesses and self-employed professionals (49.1% of working Jews in the town). The rest were white-collar workers (23.2% ) and blue-collar workers (15.3%).

In 1921, Wilhelm Sobel from Bielsko was selected to be a delegate at the 12th Zionist Congress in the town of Karlovy Vary. In order to integrate the activity of the branches of the Zionist Organisation with its main cell based in Kraków, a decision was taken to create district committees of the party – the Bielsko district committee was formed on 12 February 1922; it had jurisdiction over the following districts: Bilesko, Biała, Cieszyn, Oświęcim, Wadowice, and Żywiec.

The first post-war elections to the Town Council took place on 29 October 1922. The Jewish parties (Orthodox, Zionist and assimilationist) drew up a common list. Seven Jews were elected to the council, including three Zionists: Zygmunt Arzt, Gustaw Baum, and Wilhelm Sobel.

Elections to the board of the Bielsko Jewish Community were carried out the same year. Bertold Simachowicz became the president of the body, which was dominated by pro-German assimilationists.

In the 1920s, the homogeneous Zionist movement started to disintegrate. This was the result of a few factors, such as the stratification of the Jewish community and an influx of Jewish settlers from Galicia to Bielsko. The newcomers did not appreciate the secular doctrine of the Zionist Organisation; they wanted to combine the Zionist movement with the rules of Judaism. A branch of the Ruch syjonistyczny w Bielsku, Mizrachi Zionist-Orthodox Organisation was formed in Bielsko in 1924 mostly due to Orthodox activists from Biała. In the years 1925-1927, Abraham Weingart was the president of the Mizrachi local committee in Bielsko.

At the same time, socialist influences started to appear in the Zionist movement. In 1925 some of the Jewish merchants, retail traders and craftsmen established a branch of the “Hitachduth” Zionist Labour Party in the town. The party combined national ideology with moderate socialism. The local committee of the Zionist Organisation in Bielsko, meanwhile, attracted primarily Jewish bourgeoisie and self-employed professionals.

Due to the small number of blue-collar workers in Bielsko, no socialist Zionist party established its branch there in the 1920s. Zionist parties active in Bielsko were subordinate to the central committees in Kraków; their jurisdiction spread over the following provinces: Krakowskie, Śląskie, and a part of Lwowskie (up to the San River).

In that period, the Zionists of Bielsko started to form their own press agencies. On December 1924, the Zionist Organisation was granted permission of the state authorities to issue the monthly Jüdisches Volksblatt published in German (the first issue appeared on 29 January 1925). The magazine was published until the outbreak of the World War II.

Pro-German assimilation supporters were also involved in press publishing. They issued the Mitteilungen den Unabhängingen Komitees zur Wahrung Interessen der Kultusgemeinde Mitglieder in Bielitz magazine, the title of which was changed into Jüdische Wochenpost mit Wirtschaftsblatt in 1934, when it became a weekly.

In 1924, Markus Langer published the first and only issue of Dos Yidishe Wort (Yiddish: “The Jewish Word”). It was supposed to be an Orthodox-oriented magazine; however, due to the financial reasons (or the formal ones – Langer was not granted Polish citizenship) the magazine ceased to be issued. Soon afterwards, Langer became the editor of the magazine Shlezyshe Presse (Yiddish: “Silesian Press”) published in Yiddish. Wiadomości ŻTTN Maccabi was another magazine that was issued in Bielsko.

The Zionists were very influential among Jewish associations and the religious community in Bielsko. In the 1920s, Hitachduth established control over the Association of Independent Jewish Craftsmen in Bielsko. In 1925, the Bielitz-Bialer Isrelitischer Turnverein sports association was transformed by Zionists into the “Maccabi” Bielsko-Biała Gymnastics and Sports Association, which, along with the Hakoach Jewish Sports Club, was run by the Board of the West-Southern Poland District of the “Maccabi” Jewish Gymnastics and Sports Associations. An important event held by the “Maccabi” society in Bielsko in 1926 was an international competition of Jewish sports and gymnastics associations.

In the second election to the Bielsko Town Council, conducted in 1925, Orthodox Jews did not manage to introduce their candidate, and among the members of the council there were only three pro-German assimilation supporters (Edward Feuerstein, Zygmunt Robinsohn, Bertold Simachowicz) and three General Zionists (Zygmunt Arzt, Gustaw Baum and Jeremiasz Popper). Dr. Glücksman (activist of the Deutsche Socialitische Arbeitspartei in Polen) became a councillor as well.

In 1926, a group of Jewish pro-German assimilationists led by Fryderyk Seifert tried, in vain, to set up a liberal party called Jüdische Liberale Partei. Two years later they joined their efforts with a group of pro-Polish assimilationists and together established the Democratic Union of the Jews of Śląskie Province. There were fewer and fewer pro-German Jews in the area, especially after hen National Socialists came to power in Germany. The news of anti-Semitic incidents and persecutions of German Jews successfully dissuaded Jewish people from pro-German assimilation.

The Zionists of Bielsko attempted to increase their social impact. In 1927 they established a Jewish youth organisation. It was a branch of the “Ezra Chalutzim” Society for the Assistance to Jewish Youth, founded on the initiative of architect Dawid Silberschein. The Society for Promoting Professional and Agricultural Work among Jews was founded in 1929. The same year, the Biała branch HaNoar HaTziyoni organisation opened up its activities to the Jewish youth from Bielsko.

The goal of the aforementioned organizations was the ideological and professional preparation of young people for settling in Palestine. The “Ezra Chalutzim” Society collected funds to help settlers in Palestine. Furthermore, the local branch of the Women’ International Zionist Organisation, founded in 1929 by Selma Robinsohn, disseminated Zionist ideas among women.

The Zionists also strove to make Jewish public schools in Bielsko more national. With the help of the supporters of pro-Polish assimilation and the national authorities, in 1927 they managed to change the language of instruction from German to Polish, with Hebrew also taught in schools starting from the 1931/1932 school year.

In 1927, two residents of Bielsko, Zygmunt Arzr and Bruno Schtetter, were chosen as delegates of the Zionist Organisation for the 15th Zionist Congress in Basel. In 1928, Bielsko and Biała had the total of 4,520 Jewish inhabitants, who constituted 19.1% of the entire population. Until 1928, supporters of pro-German assimilation dominated the Council and the Board of the Jewish Religious Community in Bielsko. That year, in the election to the Town Council, the Zionists won six out of thirty seats.

The same year, Chevra Kadisha held its assembly, attended by sixty members of the funeral society. The income from the cemetery for 1927 was assessed at 40,771 zł. The new board of the society was also elected during the assembly.

The year 1928, also saw the opening of a branch of the “Tarbut” Cultural and Educational Association in Bielsko. In the election to the 16th Zionist Congress (Zurich, 1929), the Bielsko branch of the Zionist Organisation won 650 votes (66.9%), Hitachduth – 171 votes (17.6%), Mizrachi – 146 votes (15%), Poale Zion Right – 5 votes (0.5%). The Bielsko delegates to the Congress were Zygmunt Arzt and Gustaw Baum from the Zionist Organisation.

In the 1929 local government elections, Jewish parties united once again, with Orthodox Jews, Zionists and the supporters of pro-German assimilation creating a common list which won six seats, including two won by representatives of the Zionist Organisation (Zygmunt Arzt and Gustaw Baum) and one by Maurycy Popiół of Hitachduth.

In the second half of the 1920s, a new branch of the Zionist movement emerged.

In 1929, the world economy suffered an economic crisis. The ties of the Polish economy to the world economy resulted in a deep recession which entailed a decrease in production, and, consequently, also in employment. The Jewish community bitterly felt the consequences of the economic crisis. Owners of small businesses and craft workshops suffered due to strong competition in the shrinking market, which led to many of the businesses being closed. Jewish youth was in an especially difficult situation as they could not continue their education and had to seek employment even for an unsatisfactory wage. The process of the impoverishment of the Jewish community can be illustrated by figures regarding taxpayers in Jewish communities. Data from Częstochowa, Będzin and Sosnowiec indicate that in 1933, ca. 78% of the community members lived in bad economic conditions. The great crisis also hampered the development of Bielsko and Biała, although, on a national scale, manufacturers from Bielsko were not severely affected by its consequences.

Both industrial towns were centres of workers’ and socialist movements as well as sites of frequent strikes, especially in the years 1921–1923 and 1929–1936. The Polish Socialist Party remained very influential among Polish labourers. The Communist Party of Poland began its ideological activity in the 1930s and was represented by a district committee established by a Jewish Communist, Paweł Finder.

As the economic crisis deepened, the members of the Jewish community were becoming more and more radical in their nationalist views. In the 1931 election to the Council and to the Board of the Bielsko religious community, the Zionists won, in total, 47.1% of votes, out of which the Zionist Organisation won 375 votes (31.9%), the Union of Independent Jewish Craftsmen dominated by “Hitachduth” won 96 votes (8.2%) and the Mizrachi – 56 votes (4.8%). Zygmunt Arzt became the new president of the board and held this position until 1939.

Changes to the board of Chevra Kadisha were also introduced in 1931. Society Board and an audit committee| were appointed. In 1931, the income gained from cemetery fees reached a substantial amount of 60,000 zł, which resulted in a conflict between Chevra Kadisha and the Community Board, which decided to take over the responsibilities of the funeral society. The community needed money for day-to-day expenses, but the society feared that after being cutting off from its permanent source of income, it would not be able to pay salaries to doctors or buy medicine. The only reason why they were able to reach an agreement was probably the fact that many members of the Council and the Community Board also sat in the Society Board. Eventually, the community assumed control over the society and its funds on 1 January 1932, with the activity of Chevra Kadisha becoming limited to burying the dead. The community undertook to transfer a lump sum from each funeral fee to the society, with was meant to provide financial security to Chevra Kadisha.

Alfred Wachtl was the president of Chevra Kadisha in the years 1933–1934. He was succeeded by Ingancy Marmor, who held the position until the outbreak of the war in 1939. During that period, the board’s honorary president was Prof. Eduard Feuerstein. Rabbi Markus Steiner was its honorary member.

In 1932, Henryk Löwy, a member of Chevra Kadisha, put forward an idea of creating a post-mortem charity fund, but found little support among other members of the society. One year later, however, the project was implemented by the Society Board. At the same meeting merchant Adolf Felix demanded that a new old people’s home be established since the old people’s home in Jaworz, run by the board of the Simachowicz Foundation, was located too far away from the town and lacked suitable equipment. The idea was backed by the Jewish Women’s Association, whose members suggested that the building could be erected on a plot of land belonging to the Association and situated on Cieszyńska Street. The idea of setting up an old people’s home in Bielsko was brought upseveral times before the outbreak of World War II, but it never came into fruition.

Two citizens of Bielsko were elected to take part in the 16th Zionist Congress that took place in Basel in 1931. The Zionist Organisation was represented by Dr Izaak Grünstein, while the Union of Zionist Revisionists – by Dr Dawid Wdowiński.

From the early 1930s on there were a few organisations in Bielsko that dealt with raising funds for the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine. They were supported by Zionist parties. These were: Keren Kayemeth Le'Israel (Hebrew: Jewish National Fund), which collected money to purchase land in Palestine, and Keren Hayesod (Hebrew: Foundation Fund), which helped Jewish settlers. In 1932, the Zionist Revisionists created their own fund called Keren Tel Chay and stopped supporting the abovementioned organisations.

In 1932, inspired by the General Zionists, the Jewish Religious Community in Bielsko adopted a resolution on establishing a Jewish private middle school, which resulted in protests of pro-German and pro-Polish Zionists, as well as of national authorities.

When the Nazis assumed power in Germany in 1933, some of the Jewish immigrants decided to return to the Polish part of Silesia. Such decisions were made due to anti-Semitic persecutions that had been taking place in Germany. The number of returning Jews must have been significant since the Provincial Office of Silesia permitted the Supervisory Board of Israeli Communities in Katowice to hold a fundraising event to aid the Jewish repatriates. It took place in June 1933 in all synagogue communities in Śląskie Province.

In 1933, in the election for the 17th Zionist Congress in Prague, the Zionist Organization won 595 votes, which constituted 44.4% of all cast votes. Just like the year before, two citizens of Bielsko were sent to the Congress: Izaak Grünstein (Zionist Organisation) and Dawid Wdowiński (Union of Zionist Revisionists). Brith HaZohar, a branch of the Union of Zionist Revisionists, was opened in Bielsko in 1934. It was headed by an official by the name of Samuel Brandwein. The Bielsko branch of the “Brith HeChayal” W. Żabotyński Union for Promoting of Physical Development was another organisation established by the Revisionists.

Regional conferences of the Zionist Organisation from Śląskie Province and the districts of Wadowice, Biała, Żywiec and Kraków took place in Bielsko in 1934. Their goal was to discuss the subject of the unification of district offices in Poland.

An election to the Bielsko Town Council was held on 9 December 1934. Zionist parties had their own list. Only the Union of Zionist Revisionist and the Mizrachi presented a joint list, winning 397 votes (15.1% of the votes cast for Jewish parties). The Hitachduth party received 333 votes (12.7%), and the Zionist Organisation – 1,302 votes (49.5%). Three general Zionists (Zygmunt Arzt, Izaak Grünstein, and Dr Leon Zitrin, as well as one Zionist Revisionist, Henryk Kryszek, became town councillors.

In the 1930s, the Zionist Organization opened an academic section in Bielsko; it was transformed into the Bnei Zion (Hebrew: Sons of Zion) Society in 1935. The same year saw the establishment of a branch of the “Ce-Ka-Be” Central Society for Interest-Free Credit and Dissemination of Manufacturing Labour among Jews in Poland, which was involved in professional training of Jewish youths preparing to leave for Palestine, as well as of a youth branch of the WIZO organization, which was to spread propaganda among girls.

In June 1935, the Zionist Revisionists left the World Zionist Organisation due to growing discrepancies in the agendas and strategies of the two institutions in the early 1930s. The Revisionists established the New Zionist Organisation. The reaction of the Jewish community was unambiguous: while the Revisionist had enjoyed increasing support among the people before the split, their position decreased considerably after leaving the World Zionist Organisation. They had hardly any support among the Jewish residents of Bielsko. In the election to the 19th Zionist Congress (Lucerne 1935), held on 7 July 1935, the Jewish State Front (a party formed in 1933 as a result of the split among the Zionist Revisionists) won just 5 votes, i.e. 0.3% of all cast ballots. It strengthened the position of the General Zionists and Jewish Zionist left-wing parties, which were becoming increasingly influential among prospective voters in the face of a prolonged economic crisis. The Zionist Organisation won 738 votes (45.6%), the Block for Workers in Palestine (Poale Zion Right and the League for the Support of Workers in Palestine) won 708 (43.8%) votes, the Mizrachi – 125 (7.7%), Hitachduth – 42 (2.6%). Engineer Samuel Wulkan from the Zionist Organisation was chosen as a delegate to the Congress.

The second half of the 1930s saw the establishment of numerous organisations preparing Jews for emigration to Palestine. In February 1936, the Bielsko branches of the Zionist Organisation, Ezra Chalutzim and the Biała branch of HaNoar HaTzioni leased a 10-hectare farm in the nearby town of Czechowice. A training camp was opened there in May 1936. At the site, 35 girls and boys were to be trained in farming activities and textile professions (in Bielsko factories). In 1936, a branch of the Association for the Preparation of Polish Jews for Nautical Work in Palestine called “Zebulon” was formed; the Bielsko branch of the Society of Friends of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem was reactivated the same year.

Wishing to promote the ideology and history of the Jewish nationalist movement, the Zionist Revisionists decided to establish their own press organ in 1936. It was a Polish-language monthly called Żydowska Biblioteka Ludowa; only one issue of the paper was released.

In 1937, the Camp of National Unity proclaimed its political and ideological declaration, which was openly anti-Jewish in nature. They openly called for a boycott of Jewish trade. Toward the end of the 1930s, Polish far-right circles in Bielsko initiated anti-Semitic persecutions in the town. However, the only manifestation of direct violence that took place was the act of breaking windows in Jewish shops. The Committee to Aid Jewish Victims in Bielsko and Biała was formed in reaction to the events. Many Jews would say at that time that they were waiting for the Germans to “take care of this Polish mess”. In 1938, Jewish emigrants escaping Nazi persecutions started to arrive to both cities from Germany and Austria; the Committee to Aid Refugees from Germany and Austria was established to help them.

On March 1938, the Third Reich annexed Austria, in October 1938 – the Czech Sudetes, and on March 1939 – the entire territory of Bohemia and Moravia. A number of German Jews who lived in the Polish part of Silesia, being aware of Hitler’s anti-Semitic policy, preferred not to wait and see what would happen; instead, they moved to the West, which led to a decrease in the number of members of Jewish communities in Silesia in 1938.

On 1 September 1939, Germans invaded Poland. Bielsko and Biała were seized by Wehrmacht in the first days of the war. In September, the Nazis burned down and demolished synagogues in both towns. All Jews were removed from high-standard apartments and then most of them were shipped off in freight trains to the eastern border on the San River. They were ordered to cross the river to the Soviet zone.

The Jewish inhabitants of Upper Silesia were to be displaced to the General Government; eventually however, ghettos were formed in the region instead. They were to serve as “reserves of workforce”, with people kept in the ghettos sent out to labour camps throughout Sielsia.

In the summer of 1941, a ghetto was formed in Bielsko. It was dissolved in June 1942, when all its inhabitants were deported to the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp.

After the war, Jews started to return to Bielsko and Biała. In order to meet their needs, the Jewish Committee was established in February 1945. Interestingly, two Jewish Committees existed in Bielsko in Biała at the same time – they were subordinate to two different Provincial Jewish Committees. Bielsko remained under the jurisdiction of the Katowice committee, and Biała – the Kraków committee. The most important tasks of Jewish Committees were to arrange shelters for repatriates, open canteens and distribute hot meals, as well as provide repatriates with apartments, jobs, health care, etc. The activities of the committees was financed by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and the National Repatriation Office.

The first Jews registered with the Bielsko Jewish Committee on 13 March 1945. By the end of April there were 261 registered people, in September – over 1,000, and toward the end of the year – 1,589. This group consisted mainly of former prisoners of Nazi death camps (841 people), military men (120 people, six out of whom returned from service in the Red Army and seven from partisan units) and the Jews who survived the war hiding under “Aryan papers” (22 people). Many of those who returned were former residents of Bielsko (421 people), Biała (179 people) and other nearby localities. Most of these people were craftsmen by profession (barbers, tailors, shop assistants, merchants); a few of them were intellectuals: physicians, lawyers or teachers. Apart from that, four rabbis registered with the Jewish Committee: two from Sanok, one from Halicz and Izaak Stern, born in Biała on 28 October 1918; he arrived in the town in 1946, coming back from the USSR.

A meeting of all Jewish inhabitants of Bielsko took place in April 1945 in order to elect the Board of the Jewish Committee. The following people were elected: Hugon Bachner as president, Henryk Karter as his deputy, Zygfryd Rapaport as a treasurer, and six regular members. The Committee’s office was located in a building at 21 Mickiewicza Street, while the canteen was located at 26 Mickiewicza Street. The kitchen was opened and first meals were given out on 14 May 1945. The Committee also set up a spot for distributing food, dressing materials and medicaments for people arriving to the town in trains. An orphanage was opened at 22 Mickiewicza Street. Following the example of other towns, Bielsko and Biała established their own Organisation for the Development of Creativity (Polish abbreviated form: ORT), as well as the Health Protection Society (TOZ). A local medical centre was set up at 43 Mickiewicza Street. It employed two physicians, Dr. Tramer and Dr. Reach, as well as one nurse, Stella Metzendorf. The centre was in operation until 1950. The ORT organised various courses preparing for such professions as shoemaking, tailoring, glass making, car mechanics and others. The ORT operated until 1960 and its last manager was Maksymilian Metzendorf.

 In order to meet the religious needs of the community, a meeting was held in 1945 with the aim of selecting the leaders of the Religious Association in Bielsko (transformed into the Jewish Faith Congregation a year later). Its presidents in subsequent years were Markowicz, Kellermann, Herman, Ginsburg, Edelman, and M. Metzendorf (until 1993). A prayer room was arranged in a private building at 26 Mickiewicza Street.

The Chevra Kadisha Society was also reactivated, but it never regained its pre-war greatness and was treated as a section of the Jewish Faith Congregation. In 1949, it was headed by Jakub Engel and Samuel Löwy. The preserved documents show that in the early 1960s, Franciszek Edelman was the president of the Society, while Hersz Steiner and Leon Metzendorf served as members of the board. The last reference to Chevra Kadisha in Bielsko-Biała dates back to 1963.

In the years 1945–1950, all aspects of Jewish life in Poland were coordinated by the Central Committee of Polish Jews (Polish abbreviation: CKŻP). In agreement with the Polish government, a decision was taken to build a Jewish settlement in Lower Silesia. As a result, transports with Jewish repatriates from the USSR were sent to Lower Silesia. The repatriation was most intense in the spring of 1946, but it lost steam after the Kielce pogrom (6 July 1946), which resulted in increased emigration of Jews from Poland.

At the turn of 1950, the Communist authorities dissolved or nationalised most Jewish institutions and establishments in Poland. In 1950, the Central Committee of Polish Jews (CKŻP) and the Jewish Cultural Society merged to create the Social and Cultural Society of Jews in Poland (TSKŻ). Soon afterwards, a branch of the TSKŻ was established in Bielsko. It organised ideological workshops, cultural classes for children and youth, as well as courses in household management or dressmaking. A theatre group established by the Zitzmans was very active in the town. In 1956, there were 469 people registered in the TSKŻ.

In 1951, Bielsko and Biała were merged to form the single administrative unit of Bielsko-Biała. About 3,366 Jews lived in the area at that time. In 1955, the Bielsko-Biała branch of the Jewish Community of Katowice became an independent kehilla. In 1957, it gained more members in the form of Jewish repatriates from the USRR. The situation changed after the Israeli-Arab war in 1967 and the events of March 1968, when most Jews left Bielsko-Biała.

The revival of the Jewish life of Bielsko-Biała began with the end of the Communist rule in Poland. In 1993, the Jewish congregation in Bielsko-Biała was transformed into the Bielsko-Biała Jewish Community, subordinate to the Jewish Community of Katowice. It became independent in 1995 and now belongs to the Union of Jewish Religious Communities (Polish abbreviation: ZGWŻ). The Bielsko-Biała branch of the TSKŻ is still active today.

Bibliography:

• Steinert A., Geschichte der Juden in Oppeln, Oppeln 1922, s. 23; Walerjański D., Z dziejów Żydów na Górnym Śląsku do 1812 roku, „Orbis Interior: pismo muzealno-humanistyczne” 2005, t. 5, s. 33.
• Polak J., Najdawniejsze dzieje Żydów w Białej (do 1765 r.), [w:] Żydzi w Bielsku, Białej i okolicy, red. J. Polak, J. Spyra, Bielsko-Biała 1996, s. 13.
• Spyra J., Powstanie i rozwój żydowskiej gminy wyznaniowej w Bielsku w XIX w., [w:] Żydzi w Bielsku, Białej i okolicy, red. J. Polak, J. Spyra, Bielsko-Biała 1996, s. 23.
• Małysz W., Ziemia Obiecana nad Białą, „Kronika Beskidzka” 2008, nr 51/52, s. 30.
• Spyra J., Zarys dziejów ludności żydowskiej w Cieszynie i okolicach, [w:] Żydowskie zabytki Cieszyna i Czeskiego Cieszyna, red. J. Spyra, Cieszyn 1999, ss. 7-27; Spyra J., Żydzi, Urząd Miejski w Cieszynie [online] http://www.cieszyn.pl/?p=categoriesShow&iCategory=10 [dostęp: 31.03.2014].
• Polak J., Dwa miasta, trzy narody, „Dziennik Zachodni” 2001, nr 127, s. 12.
• Proszyk J., Cmentarz Żydowski w Bielsku-Białej, Bielsko-Biała 2002, s. 41.
• Polak J., Przewodnik po Bielsku-Białej, Bielsko-Biała 2000, ss. 17–19.
• Kenig P., Wkład Żydów w rozwój przemysłu wełnianego Bielska i Białej do końca XIX w., [w:] Żydzi w Bielsku, Białej i okolicy, red. J. Polak, J. Spyra, Bielsko-Biała 1996, s. 52.
• Chojecka E., Artystyczna geneza synagog Bielska i Białej, [w:] Żydzi w Bielsku, Białej i okolicy, red. J. Polak, J. Spyra, Bielsko-Biała 1996, ss. 75–79.
• Proszyk J., Cmentarz Żydowski w Bielsku-Białej, Bielsko-Biała 2002, ss. 226-227.
• Jaworski W., Ruch syjonistyczny w Bielsku, [w:] Żydzi w Bielsku, Białej i okolicy, red. J. Polak, J. Spyra, Bielsko-Biała 1996, s. 121.
• Fuchs T., Goldmann S., „Hakoach” po polsku znaczy „Siła”, [w:] Żydzi w Bielsku, Białej i okolicy, red. Polak J., Spyra J., Bielsko-Biała 1996, s. 149.
• Małysz W., Ziemia Obiecana nad Białą, „Kronika Beskidzka” 2008, nr 51/52, s. 30.
• Jaworski J.., Żydzi w Bielsku w latach 1918–1939, „Bielsko-Bialskie Studia Muzealne” 1993, t. 1, s. 176.
• Jaworski W., Prasa żydowska w woj. śląskim (1922–1939), „Biuletyn Żydowskiego Instytutu Historycznego” 1991, nr 4(160), ss. 15–19.
• Leszczyński J., Pauperyzacja mas żydowskich w Polsce, „Iwo Bleter” 1934, t. 5, ss. 201–208; Berenstein T., Walka KPP przeciwko pogromom, „Biuletyn Żydowskiego Instytutu Historycznego” 1955, nr 15–16, s. 12.
• Finder Paweł, [w:] Słownik biograficzny działaczy polskiego ruchu robotniczego, t. 2: E–J, red. nacz. F. Tych, Warszawa 1987, ss. 104–106.
• rchiwum Państwowe w Katowicach, Akta miasta Tarnowskie Góry, sygn. 3311, k. 75; Gwóźdź K., Żydzi, [w:] Historia Tarnowskich Gór, red. J. Drabina, Tarnowskie Góry 2000, s. 432.
• Świerkosz K., Żydzi w obozach hitlerowskich na Śląsku Opolskim podczas II wojny światowej, [w:] 45. Rocznica powstania w getcie warszawskim (1943–1988). Materiały z sesji popularno-naukowej, Opole 1988, ss. 97-98.
• Wiewióra D., Kilka uwag o losach społeczności żydowskiej w Bielsku-Białej po 1945 r., [w:] Żydzi w Bielsku, Białej i okolicy, red. J. Polak, J. Spyra, Bielsko-Biała 1996, ss. 131-133
• Borkowski M., Kirmiel A., Włodarczyk T., Śladami Żydów: Dolny Śląsk, Opolszczyzna, Ziemia Lubuska, Warszawa 2008, s. 9.