The first source documents confirming Jewish presence in Przemyśl date back as far as 1030. These are the earliest records referring to Jews living in Poland.

Subsequent mention of Jews living in Przemyśl was made 1367. The municipal court records of 1402–1452 contain 305 entries referring to Jews. By 1419, a Jewish street had been established in the town, most likely in the area specifically designated for the Jewish population. The first mention of a synagogue in Przemyśl appeared nearly one hundred years later, in 1518. In 1521, there were five Jewish houses in the town, and the first record of a mikveh comes from 1538. By 1542, there were 18 Jewish families in Przemyśl. The presence of a wooden synagogue in the town was recorded in 1550. King Sigismund II Augustus granted the local Jewish community separate rights in 1559, allowing them to engage in business activities in the town. The first recorded anti-Jewish riot in Przemyśl occurred on 28 March 1561, when the townsfolk set fire to the synagogue and plundered Jewish apartments.

In 1563, 169 Jewish families lived in Przemyśl; in 1578, the number amounted to 206. The first Jewish cemetery was established in 1568 outside the town walls. In 1567, King Stephen Báthory issued an ordinance regulating the relationship between the Przemyśl kehilla and national authorities. In 1590–1594, the early wooden synagogue (erected at the site at least 20 years before) was replaced with a brick building with the permission of Bishop Wawrzyniec Gostyński. In 1595, the Przemyśl municipal government concluded an agreement with the elders of the kehilla concerning the co-financing of the fortifications of the town by Jews. In 1618, the Jewish population accused Wojciech Wojna and Łukasz Trzebnicki of organising an armed raid on Żydowska Street and of occupying the house where the elders were holding their meetings. According to the pre-parliament instruction issued in 1625, there were more Jews in the town than Christians. In 1629, they owned 64 tenement houses and buildings in the town and managed a charitable society. According to some estimates, Przemyśl had ca. 900 Jewish inhabitants in the 1650s.

In the 17^th century, the Przemyśl community headed the Red Ruthenian Jewish Zemstvo. In 1638, King Władysław IV granted a privilege to the kehilla under which all communities in the area were obliged to “recognise [Przemyśl] as the oldest, bury the dead there, perform rituals in the Przemyśl synagogue, pay taxes to the town, take etrogim from the town, collect a tax of 3 zloty from each tenant for the salary of doctors and rabbis, make all appeals concerning the trials to this very rabbi…”

The leader of the Przemyśl kehilla in the early 17^th century was Samuel Szmelke, who also served as the local rosh yeshiva. He died in 1628 and was succeeded by Moszko Jakubowicz Stryjski, a leaseholder of the Stryj Eldership, the salt mines near Stary Sambor, and the Przemyśl duties. The privilege issued by Władysław IV in 1638 expanded the Przemyśl kehilla to include Jews living in the districts of Dynowski, Jarosławski, Kańczucki, and Pruchnicki. The Jewish population residing in this area was required to pay taxes to the kehilla and remained under the jurisdiction of the local rabbi.

In 1630, a Jew from Przemyśl called Moszko Szmuklerz was accused of desecrating the host. After a long trial and torture, he was sentenced to death at the stake. In 1646, Alderman Birczy Sieńko accused Jelonek, one of the local Jews, of ritual murder of his daughter. When the trial failed to prove him guilty, the alderman was sentenced to death as a slanderer. Around 1692, a Jew named Jehuda was accused of sacrilege and hanged after undergoing torture. A total of nine anti-Jewish riots broke out in the town between the mid-16^th and the mid-18^th century, each accompanied with looting of Jewish property. The largest incident of that kind took place in 1746, when students of the Jesuit College raided the Jewish district and robbed many local houses, including the home of Rabbi Moszko Szmujłowicz. They also ransacked the synagogue, destroying 22 parchment Torah scrolls. The Society of Jesus later compensated the Jewish community with a sum of 15,000 Polish guilders.

When the town was besieged during the Swedish “Deluge,” Jews took part in the defence of Przemyśl. They did the same during the Tartar invasion in 1672. In the second half of the 17^th century, Jews gained the right to establish their own guilds. Historical documents mention a furriers’ guild operating in the town in 1654 and a tailors’ guild functioning in 1689. Over the following years, several extensions were added to the synagogue. They housed the yeshiva, a Torah study hall, two prayer halls, and the house of prayer (kloyz) of the Tailors’ Guild.

In 1777, Jews from Przemyśl paid a tolerance tax of 2,418 zloty, the highest among all the towns located in area now making up Podkarpackie Province. In 1785, 1,750 Jews lived in the town (ca. 27% of the whole population). In the 18^th century, the rabbis of Przemyśl hailed first from the Teumin family and later from the Szmujłowicz family. Towards the end of the century, Jews owned 95 out of the total of 286 houses in the town[1.1]. The Jewish community also had a bath house and a hospital (or rather an almshouse).

In 1869, there were 5,962 Jews living in the community. It had four synagogues, three rabbis, two cemeteries, a school, and two charitable societies. In 1865, Abraham Mojżesz Sarter founded a two-grade boys’ school with Polish as the language of instruction. Ten years later, it boasted 140 pupils. The Agudath Achim society ran an evening handicrafts school which in 1883 was attended by 170 students. In 1894, a five-grade school for boys was founded by Awigdor Marmelstein; it bore the name of Tikvath Israel (“Hope of Israel”).

In 1886, Mojżesz Scheinbach founded a synagogue on Jagiellońska Street. Designed by Marcel Pilecki, it was erected in an eclectic Moorish Revival style and opened in 1890. It had stunning stained-glass windows and was regarded as one of the most beautiful synagogues in all of Poland. Two years later, the construction of a synagogue in Zasań commenced; it was opened for public in 1909. In 1905, another Moorish Revival synagogue, this time designed by Stanisław Majerski, was constructed on Słowackiego Street.

The first Zionist party in Przemyśl – Palestinian Yishuv – was established in 1875. In 1884, the supporters of the Belzer tzaddik founded the Machzike Hadath association. The local branch of Hibat Zion was founded in 1893. The cell of the Jewish Social-Democratic Party was founded in 1905, while Poale Zion opened its operations in Przemyśl a year later. The Jewish Drama Club was created in 1910. The year 1928 saw the foundation of the “Yuval” Jewish Music and Drama Society. Towards the end of the 19^th century, Jews had three financial institutions in the town: the Bank Association, which was set up in 1882 and headed by Juliusz Reiniger; the Giro and Credit Union, which was established in 1890 and chaired by Maurycy Krug; and the Commercial Advance Payment Society, which was founded in 1895 and whose chairman was Simon Bernstein.

In 1890, 110 localities fell under the jurisdiction of the Jewish kehilla in Przemyśl. In 1900, it had 17,321 members. It was the biggest Jewish community in today’s Podkarpackie Province and the fifth largest in Galicia. It ran a number of institutions, including three religious schools, one secular school, four foundations, a health-insurance fund, a hospital, a restaurant, and a seven-grade male Jewish school called Yesodei HaTorah. In 1902, the Toynbenhala Jewish People’s University was founded in Przemyśl. In 1912, a club of the Bernard Goldman Folk School Society was opened in the town; it organised Polish courses and ran a library and a newspaper reading room.

At the beginning of the 19^th century, the local Hasidic community, originally established by Tzaddik Mendel of Przemyśl, started to play an important role in the town. Przemyśl was the birthplace of Moshe Teitelbaum (1754–1841), who went on to be known as a famous tzaddik and founder of a Hasidic dynasty in Ujhely, Upper Hungary (today a part of Slovakia). The Przemyśl Hasidim were first led by Tzaddik Meier Frenkiel and later on by his son Zvi Hirsh. Other tzaddikim working in the town were Menachem Mendel, Yecheskel Shraga Halberstam from Sieniawa, Abraham Yehoshua Heshl Koreach. In 1860, the post was assumed by Joseph Mosche Teicher, who moved to Przemyśl from Żołynia. In 1919, the town became the residence of Tzaddik Joshua Shapiro from Rybotycze, son of Zvi Elimelech of Błażowa. He set up a prayer house on Kopernika Street. In the interwar period, the local followers of the Sadigura dynasty were led by Tzaddik Mordechai Shalom Joseph Friedmann (1897–1969), who was a descendant of Dov Ber and moved to Tel Aviv in 1939. The Belz dynasty also enjoyed quite a large following. Aron Rokeach (1880–1957) provided financial support to the Beth Talmud Jewish School Association in Przemyśl.

At the beginning of November 1918, the Jewish People’s Council was set up. It replaced the former administrative structures of the Jewish kehilla. During the Polish-Ukrainian battles over the town, the Jews remained neutral, even though both sides suspected them of supporting the opponent. This resulted in the outbreak of anti-Jewish violence on 11 November 1918. The riots lasted for several days and resulted in the death of one Jew, injuries suffered by ten people, and looting of 140 flats and Jewish shops. However, there were also many Jews who were openly pro-Polish. Numerous Jewish soldiers died in the defence of Polish borders in the years 1918–1820, for instance during the war with the Bolsheviks in 1920. Józef Mantel, a Jewish lawyer, was a designated representative of the Jewish Social-Democratic Party who signed one of the agreements ending the Polish-Ukrainian fights over the town.

In 1921, the town had 18,360 Jewish inhabitants, constituting 38.3% of the total population. There were 22,427 Jews living in the entire district. Over the following decade, the number of Jews in the town decreased by 1,000 due to migration, including a large number of people leaving for Palestine. In 1928, Dr. Henryk Reichman was elected vice-mayor of the town, which sparked protests from the local National Democratic Party.

In 1939, 20,000 Jews lived in Przemyśl, constituting 34.1% of the whole population. They owned 30.1% of the town's buildings (as of 1932), including as much as 68.4% of the buildings in the downtown. In 1926, ca. 90% of retail outlets in the town were owned by the Jews, which decreased to about 80% by the end of the interwar period. In 1930, 40 stallholders lost their concessions since they did not meet hygiene standards.

A branch of the Jewish Agricultural Association operated in Przemyśl in the interwar period. At the time, the head of the Traders’ Association was Szymon Morgenroth; the association had 512 members in 1939. The Yad Charuzim Association of Jewish Craftsmen, headed by Leon Nussenfeld, had ca. 250 members. Baker apprentices formed the Chesed Uemed Charitable Association of Baker Assistants. Other associations and organisations active in the town were the Union of Professional Workers Baking Matzo, the Association of Jewish Master Sewers, the Union of Professional Master Tailors, the Association of Butchers, the Professional Association of Jewish Traders, and the Professional Association of Private Jewish Clerks, which had 209 members in 1938. The local intelligentsia met at the Jewish Social Club and the Academic Reading Room. The Traders’ Association founded the Cooperative Merchants’ and Industrialists’ Bank. There were also other financial institutions: the Discount Association, a credit union with 988 members in 1932, the Credit Bank Association, the Bank Association for Trade and Industry, the Cooperative Commercial Bank with 490 shareholders in 1938, and the Gemilut Chesed funds.

Przemyśl boasted a total of eight synagogues used by the community and various Jewish associations. These were: the Old Synagogue, erected in 1590 in the downtown area in Żydowska Street, decorated with polychromic paintings from 1810 and renovated in 1910–1914; the synagogue in Zasań; the Tempel synagogue which was used by the Progressive Tempel Association; the Scheinbach synagogue in Słowackiego Street; the synagogue in Unii Brzeskiej Street, used by the Association of the New Jewish Temple; the synagogue in Serbińska Street owned the Klaus Association; the synagogue in Wałowa Street, which belonged to the Great Beth Midrash Association; and the synagogue in Serbińska Street funded by the Baron Maurice de Hirsch Foundation.

There were two Jewish cemeteries in Przemyśl: the Old Cemetery, dating back to the 16^th century, and the New Cemetery, established in 1822. Before the destruction of the Old Cemetery, it housed 27 matzevot from the 17^th century, with the oldest tombstone dated 1574. The cemetery also included the 1628 tombstone of Samuel Szmelke, head of the Przemyśl kehilla and the patriarch of the Jews of Przemyśl Land. The community and local Jewish associations also owned many other objects with religious and educational functions, including ritual bath houses, kosher slaughterhouses, almshouses, orphanages for Jewish children, and a co-educational lower secondary school. The Craftsmen’s Workshops Society ran a female tailoring school, while the Jewish Public School Society financed a co-educational secondary school. A religious school was run by the Beth Talmud Jewish School Association in Przemyśl, which, as mentioned above, was supported financially by Tzaddik Aron Rokeach of Belz. Four foundations provided aid to the needy: the Mojżesz Schiffer Foundation, the Fischler Goldman Foundation, the Perla Tombak Foundation, and the Foundation for the Poor Jewish Youth.

After seizing Przemyśl, the Nazis arrested and killed 600 Jews, mostly members of the intelligentsia. On 15 September 1939, they murdered ca. 500 Jews in Medyka and executed another 102 people four days later, including two rabbis – Hersz Glezer and Seide Safrin[1.2]. Another victim of the same massacre was probably Izrael Oestersetzer, a historian and philosopher, renowned Talmudic expert and associate professor of the Institute of the Judaic Sciences in Warsaw; he was in Przemyśl when the war started. The bodies of the murdered people were buried at the site of the execution. In 1944, their remains were exhumed and cremated. In September 1939, the Germans set fire to the Old Synagogue and the Tempel. On 26 and 27 September, almost all of the Jews from Zasań were driven to Soviet occupation zone (the German-Soviet demarcation line ran through the middle of the town). The remaining 66 people were forced to live in two buildings surrounded by a barbed-wire fence. They were ultimately murdered in Kuńkowce in June 1942.

At the end of September 1939, the Nazis expelled ca. 20,000 Jews from the Przemyśl District and neighbouring areas to the Soviet occupation zone. The property of the kehilla located in the Soviet-controlled part of the town was nationalised and any activity of Jewish societies and parties was prohibited. The synagogues were converted into aid centres for the poor. Jewish orphanages, hospitals, and nursing homes were all taken over by the state. In April and May 1940, the Soviet authorities deported ca. 7,000 Jews to remote regions of Russia. At that time, the commissar of the Soviet part of Przemyśl was Orlenko, a Jew originally called Alter.

In June 1941, after capturing the right-bank sector of the town, the Nazis shot 45 Jews in a mass execution. One of the victims was Helena Landau, an outstanding pianist and musicologist who conducted piano classes in the Jewish Music Society in Krakow before the war. On 16 May 1942, 1,050 Jews were transported from Przemyśl to the Janowska camp near Lviv. On 3 June 1942, 70 Jews were executed in the Łętownia fort. On 20 June, a group of ca. 1,000 men was sent by railway to the Janowska camp.

A ghetto was established in Przemyśl on 16 July 1942. Its population comprised ca. 22,000 Jews from the entire Przemyśl District. The Nazis soon formed the Judenrat. Its first president was Rephan, succeeded by Herman Goldman and, finally, by Dr. Ignacy Duldig. Under the directive of 10 November 1942, five community ghettos were set up in the Kraków District. One of them was located in Przemyśl.

After the liquidation of the ghetto, over 10,000 Jews were deported to the Bełżec camp on 27 July, 31 July, and 3 August. During the operation, several hundred women, children, and old men were executed in the woods in Grochowice. On 17 November 1942, another 3,500 Jews were taken to the camp in Bełżec. On 18 November 1942, all the Jews from Przemyśl District living outside the ghetto were ordered to move to the Jewish quarter. At the beginning of September 1943, more than 3,000 Jews were taken to Auschwitz and several hundred were sent to the camp in Szebnie. On 11 September 1943, 1,580 Jews from Przemyśl were shot in the yard of the school in Kopernika Street[1.3].

The final liquidation of the ghetto took place in October 1943 and February 1944. The prisoners were taken to the camps in Szebnie, Stalowa Wola, Rzeszów, and Płaszów. The last German commanding officer of the Przemyśl Ghetto, Josef Schwammberger, was notorious for his cruelty; he personally shot at least 110 Jews. On 20 May 1944, the Ukrainian police in Przemyśl murdered 23 Jews discovered hiding in Liegenschaft Mylnów[1.4]. On 27 July 27, 1944, the Gestapo murdered 27 Jews captured in the woods near Krasiczyn and the Polish Kurpiel family which was helping them.

Thanks to the help provided to Jews by Poles and Ukrainians and by religious congregations, 500 Jews survived the Holocaust in Przemyśl and neighbouring towns. The nuns of Podgórze gave shelter to 13 Jews. Aniela Szarkiewicz saved two Jewish children.

After the Nazis had seized Bełz, the last tzaddik of the town, Aron Rokeach (1880–1957), moved to the right bank of Przemyśl. He stayed there until the town was captured by the Germans, who then murdered 33 of his family members. The tzaddik himself survived and ultimately emigrated to Palestine in 1944 with the help of Home Army messengers who transported him to Turkey[1.5].

Przemyśl was seized by the Red Army towards the end of July 1944, and the aforementioned Orlenko became its first commissar. In 1945, there were 28,144 people living in the town, with the population comprising 415 Jews, including 60 Jewish orphans. At that time, Bernard Borys Schildhaus vel Bolesław Krzywiński, a Jew, was the chief of the District Office of Public Security.

In 1946, one of the nine provincial offices of the Central Committee of Jews in Poland operated in the town. On 18 and 21 June 1946, unknown perpetrators murdered five Jews in Przemyśl. In April 1947, 593 Jews lived in the town, most of whom eventually migrated abroad. In March 1966, the local branch of the Jewish Social and Cultural Association had 350 members. Currently, the community is non-existent.

Bibliography

• Motylewicz J., “Żydzi w miastach ziemi przemyskiej i sanockiej w drugiej połowie XVII i w XVIII w.,” [in] Żydzi w Małopolsce, Przemyśl 1991.
• “Przemysl,” [in] Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933–1945, Bloomington – Indianapolis 2012, pp. 555–558.
• “Przemysl,” [in] Encyclopedia of Jewish Life Before and During the Holocaust, vol. II, New York 2001, pp. 1033–1035.
• “Przemysl,” [in] Encyclopaedia Judaica, eds. F. Skolnik, M. Berenbaum, vol. 16, Detroit 2007, pp. 659–660.
• Schorr M., Żydzi w Przemyślu do końca XVIII wieku, Jerusalem 1991 (reprint of original edition of 1903).