First Jews may have appeared in Janowiec as early as the 14^th century and certainly in the first half of the 16^th century.[1.1] The earliest historical source to mention Jews residing in the town (they had probably come to the town from nearby Kazimierz) dates back to 1571.[1.2]

As there are no sources covering the early period of Jewish settlement in Janowiec, it is impossible to set out a detailed timeline of the community’s demographic development. However, we know that a kehilla was founded in the town in the second half of the 16^th century. It had autonomy in all decisions concerning religion, worship, administration of justice, education, and social security. A Jewish cemetery and a synagogue were established in Janowiec before 1581. No records have been preserved to confirm whether the synagogue was a wooden or a brick building.

In the ordinance of 1580, Andrzej Firlej confirmed the right of Jews to buy land and buildings in town. He also allowed them to engage in trade, crafts, and production of alcoholic beverages.[1.3] However, Jews did not hold municipal citizenship, and did not have suffrage. Separate privileges for the Jewish community were issued by the local governor, Grand Treasurer of the Crown Jan Firlej. He confirmed the right of Jews to buy land and build houses in the Market Square and all other parts of the town.

In the first half of the 17^th century, Jewish and Christian merchants from Janowiec were actively involved in the grain trade. They also floated various goods – such as leather, wax, and canvas – down the Vistula to Gdańsk and imported herring, spices, wine, and vinegar from the seaside.[1.4]

In 1655, Jerzy Sebastian Lubomirski, the new owner of the town, confirmed the earlier privileges of the Jews from Janowiec. He also regulated their legal status, allowing them to freely purchase and sell land and all kind of goods. Jews were also granted the right to sell mead, wine, and beer in their inns, for which they were obliged to pay taxes equal to Christians. Lubomirski exempted Jews from compulsory participation in repair works on roads and street, instead imposing a fee on Jewish tenants. In the document confirming the privilege, the town owner emphasised that Jews living on his estate remained under his special protection. He obliged local authorities and local officials to give any help to Jews from Janowiec if necessary and to protect them if insulted.[1.5]

In 1662, the Janowiec kehilla comprised the town and its adjoining suburbs. However, there are no preserved records concerning the activities of the communal institutions or personal details of local rabbis. Data providing the exact number of Jews belonging to the Janowiec community is only included in documents from as late as the second half of the 17^th century. In 1662, 58 Jews paid the poll tax in Janowiec, in 1674 – 61, and in 1748 – as many as 362.[1.6]

Although at the end of the 18^th century Janowiec was in a relatively good economic condition, it was a primarily agricultural settlement. Most of the Christian inhabitants dealt with farming, while Jews controlled the local trade and ran inns. The town became a safe haven for Jews expelled from royal cities and migrants from Ukraine, which at the time was affected by exacerbating ethnic conflicts.[1.7] Tax registers compiled in the years 1765–1790 showed that Janowiec had 175 Jewish residents, among whom there were eight tailors, six butchers, two goldsmiths, three capmakers, two bachelors, one trader, glass-maker, baker, barber-surgeon, potter, shkolnik, and caretaker.[1.8] There were 53 Jewish-owned buildings in the town, including one synagogue.[1.9]

After 1810, when Janowiec was under Austrian rule, local Jews were forced to assume state-assigned surnames. However, these names only started to be included in the vital records of Janowiec in 1821, after the adoption of an edict issued by the Russian authorities. In the 19^th century, the Russian administration took many efforts to audit the operation of Jewish religious communities, at the time referred to as synagogue supervisions. Many documents compiled at the time have been preserved to the present day. As it transpires from the data contained therein, Janowiec had ca. 300 Jewish residents in 1827, constituting almost 33% of the entire population.[1.10]

In 1862, Jews living in the Kingdom of Poland were partially emancipated. At the time, Janowiec had 360 Jewish residents, accounting for 36.5% of the town’s population.[1.11] According to vital records from the first half of the 19^th century, most Jews from Janowiec traded in cattle, hides, salt, wood, flour, wool, and grain as well as in spices and foodstuffs. Some Jewish people were tenants of windmills and mills not only in Janowiec, but also in other localities of the municipality: in Łaguszów, Oblasy, Góra Puławska, Łagów, Janowice, Rudki, and Baryczka. The largest group among craftsmen were tailors, while shoemaking was a relatively rare choice compared to other Jewish communities. There were also a few capmakers and butchers and one furrier in the town. The Eisen family were bakers and the Nissenbaums were cart drivers. The barber-surgeon was an important figure in the community. Jews also earned their living from operating a crossing on the Vistula, producing pitch and wine, as well as running inns and selling alcoholic beverages. Documents from the first half of the 19^th century also mention Jewish families dealing with farming. Jewish women from Janowiec worked as midwives and sold poultry and dairy.[1.12]

Even though there is not much evidence in source documents to support this hypothesis, it can be assumed that the Janowiec community was influenced by Hasidism in the second half of the 19^th century, as the nearby town of Kazimierz was the seat of famous tzaddik Ezechiel Taub. This is all the more probable as one of Taub’s sons settled in nearby Zwoleń, where he founded his own dynasty.

In the interwar period, Janowiec was a typical shtetl where Christians and Jews lived side by side. The urban space was dominated by two religious buildings – the synagogue and the church. There were two market squares in the city centre – the main market and the Jewish one. Catholics mainly inhabited the western part of Janowiec; its central axis was Radomska Street, running to the Catholic cemetery established in the 19^th century. The Jewish district was located in the eastern part of the town, along Kościelna and Młynarska Streets, all the way to the Vistula crossing. At the eastern market place there was a brick synagogue, a beth midrash (a house of study and prayer), a mikveh, and a ritual slaughterhouse; the Jewish cemetery was located at the very eastern edge of Janowiec.[1.13]

After the outbreak of World War II, in September 1939, Janowiec was seized by German troops. The Jews of Janowiec suffered the same fate as the entire Jewish community of Poland. Along with other localities on the left bank of the Vistula, Janowiec became part of Radom District in the General Government. In October 1939, all Jews between the age of 14 and 60 were placed under forced labour regime. A month later, all Jews were ordered to wear armbands with the Star of David. The same symbol was used to mark all Jewish-run enterprises.

In October 1940, the Nazis set fire to the synagogue and burnt precious books and documents stored inside. The beth midrash with the rabbi’s apartment, which was situated next to the synagogue, survived the fire but was destroyed later on, in 1942. The Jewish cemetery was vandalised, with the matzevot used to pave roads and build culverts over the Nieciecz rivulet. The only Jewish building to survive the war was the mikveh, situated far away from the synagogue.[1.14]

A ghetto was established in Janowiec in 1940. It encompassed the entire area of the town as it had proven impossible to separate Catholics from Jews. In the spring of 1940, after the bridge in Puławy had been closed for civil traffic, the only route across the river ran between Janowiec and Kazimierz. The area soon was flocked with large numbers of displaced people who desired to cross the border between Radom District of and Lublin District. Many refugees from bigger towns would settle there permanently, as they believed that living in provincial areas would give them a better chance of survival. Most of the newcomers were paupers as well as ill and destitute people.[1.15]

In mid-1941, the situation of Jews in Janowiec was truly tragic. The town was overpopulated, people were starving, epidemics were spreading, and there was a shortage of clothes and shoes. Yet even in those dramatic circumstances new social initiatives arose to help the needy. Social activists from Janowiec founded the Committee for the Support of Refugees and Poor People (probably active since May 1941), operating under the auspices of the local Judenrat. It was a starting point for the creation of the Janowiec Agency of the Jewish Self-Help (Delegatura Żydowskiej Samopomocy Społecznej – ŻSS) in June 1942. The organisation coordinated charity undertakings in the General Government. On the initiative of young people from Janowiec, a soup kitchen was opened in the town, providing 17 meals a day for the most needy. Towards the end of July, an infectious hospital was established, but it lacked any medicine and had only 15 beds.[1.16]

Despite all attempts to provide aid to the local population, the situation of Jews at the turn of 1941 was truly desperate, becoming worse with every month. The hardships stemmed from a variety of factors, including the ghetto’s overpopulation – in June, it had a population of 2,000, that is five as many inhabitants as before the outbreak of the war.

At the end of August 1942, the police authorities of Radom District made the decision to liquidate the ghetto in Janowiec. The Jews were resettled to Zwoleń. Some of them were probably incorporated into groups of forced workers sent to labour camps in Skarżysko-Kamienna, Dęblin, and Kurów. However, most Jews from Janowiec, together with inhabitants of the ghetto in Zwoleń, were deported to the Nazi German extermination camp in Treblinka on 29 September 1942.[1.17]

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