Jews started to settle in Piotrków Trybunalski as early as the 16th century. However, this period ended with the pogrom of Jews by the crown army in April 1657, as Jews were suspected of supporting and helping Swedish troops. Nearly 50 families were killed during the pogrom[1.1].

Jews started to settle permanently in the area under the jurisdiction of Starocin from 1679. It was possible thanks to King John III Sobieski, who issued a privilege stating that Jewish community was allowed to live in Piotrków and its outskirts. As a result, a large district called “The Town” or “Jewish Town” expanded in the vicinity of Piotrków Trybunalski. [1.2]. Jews settled mainly along Żydowska (Jewish) Street. Some baptism records of people of Jewish origin can be found in parish archives from 1636. According to parish records, 53 Jews were baptized between 1727 and 1796. The age of these Jews vacillated between 4 and 40. However, the majority of them were young people being between 10 and 18 years of age. [1.3].

The Jewish Town was merged with Piotrków Trybunalski in 1840. At the end of the 18th century, Jews were occupied with petty trade and house craft. In the 19th century, they started to establish first factories in the town.

Many printing houses were active in Piotrków Trybunalski. They printed the Bible, Talmud, rabbinic literature, as well as works of Hebrew and Jewish literature. First printing house was established in 1864 by Fajwl Bełchatowski and Chaim Frenkl and was located at 1 Plac Maryjny (currently Rynek Trybunalski). Among newspapers which were printed here during World War I were for example Di Piotrkower Shtime whose editor was Mojżesz Feinkind. Another well-known printing house, whose owner was Jakub Cederbaum, was located at 8 Zamurowa Street. Yet another important printing house, which belonged to Mojżesz Rozensztajn, was located at 4 Plac Trybunalski. Among other famous printing houses in Piotrków Trybunalski there were also those owned by: Abram Markus Horowicz at 2 Plac Maślany (currently Plac Czarnieckiego), Joachim Iser Szternfeld at 13 Garncarska Street, Salomon Blum (printing house called “Popularna”) at 69 Piłsudskiego Street (currently Wojska Polskiego Street), in Moskiewska Street (currently Wojsko Polskie Street), and printing house established by Eliasz Pański, which was then taken over by his father, located at Bankowa Street (currently Dąbrowskiego Street) )[1.4]. Thanks to the numerous printing houses, Piotrków Trybunalski had great press publishing traditions. Among press which was published here were the following titles: Głos żydowski (Jewish Voice), Unzer Yudishe Shtime (Our Jewish Voice), Literatur un Lebn (Literature and Life), Di Yudishe Shtime (Jewish Voice), Piotrków Yidishe Shtime (Jewish Voice from Piotrków), Piotrkower Veker (Piotrków Weekly), Unzer Tsaytung (Our Newspaper), Radomer Shtime (Voice of Radom), Tomaszower Vert (“Tomaszów Words”), Tomaszower Vokhnblat (“Tomaszów Weekly”).

Jewish community in Piotrków Trybunalski gathered through the centuries many talented and outstanding individuals. Among them, there were: Tewele Berliner, a well-known Talmudist, Eliezer Paczanowski and Eliezer Urbach, the author of Talmudic work entitled Chidushe Ru. Jews from Piotrków Trybunalski had eminent rabbis, among whom there were: Meir Getz (1685-1732), a prominent Talmudist Chananja Lipe Majzels (aka Hanania Liepmann Miesels), Abraham Zvi Pacanowski (1777-1819), Izaak Kaczka, Eliezer Szulim Morgenstern, Chaim Elizer Waks – one of the first Zionists (1820-1889), Simcha Jair Rosenfeld (1831-1911), Menachem Mendel Temkin (1861-1922), Jehuda Meir Szapira - a rabbi in Piotrków from 1924 (1887-1934). Jehuda Meir Szapira was also a well-known political activist and member of parliament.  The last rabbi in Piotrków was from 1936 Mosze Chaim Lau (born in 1892 in Lvov). He was the co-creator of school for girls Beys Yaakov.

Moreover, tzadikim who were famous and respected in Jewish circles also stayed in Piotrków. Among them, there were: Chaim Dawid Bernard (died in 1858), Mojsze Brukman (nicknamed after his profession, and it meant literally “somebody who lays pavements”; Brukman died in 1880), Berysz Tornhajm from Wolbórz (died in 1887) and a Talmudist Meier Finkler from Radoszyce (died in 1924). The most famous was Chaim Dawid Bernard, called Działoszyner, who run at the same time a Jewish hospital established in 1804. Local Jews erected an ohel at the local cemetery in order to commemorate him[1.5].

In the interwar period, Jews from Piotrków were also active in local government. In 1916, they won 14 out of 50 seats during their first elections. Those who were government members included: Jakub Berliner, Mojżesz Feinkind, Aleksander Landsberg, Markus Majeran, Icek Muszyński, Abram Pinkusiewicz, Zelman Staszewski, Załma vel Zelman Tenenberg and Abram Wajshof.

The local branch of Zionist organization - Chovevei Zion - was already established in 1886. During the interwar period, until 1936, Aguda, founded in Piotrków towards the end of World War I, predominated in politics. In 1937, the Bund achieved its first considerable success in elections.

In 1928, out of all registered craftsmen and traders, 65% were Jewish. Well-known companies at that time were:

• Soda Water Manufacturer owned by Majer Grozberg (218 Piłsudskiego Street)
• Non-automatic Tannery owned by Lajbus Szafran (97 Słowackiego Street)
• Oil Factory owned by Mosiek Brinbaum (10 Zamurowa Street)
• Iron Foundry owned by Ryterbaum and Szternfeld (104 Piłsudskiego Street)
• Soft Leather Tannery owned by Kuba Prajzerowicz (18 Wolborska Street)
• Carpenter’s Workshop owned by Jakub Milsztain (12 Rycerska Street)
• Sawmill owned by Mordka Goldblum (Wyścigowa Street)
• Brick Factory owned by M. Flakiewicz (68 Sulejowska Street)
• Plywood Factory owned by Izrael Cukier (46 Przedborska Street)
• Steam Sawmill owned by Goldblum (Aleje 3-Maja)
• Barrel Factory owned by M. Goldblum (3 Żwirki Street)
• Mill “Świat” owned by M. Rozenblum (36 Słowackiego Street)
• Mill “Polonias” owned by Mordek Klajm
• Manufactory “Bugaj” – its board was located in Łódź at 40 Piłsudskiego Street

During the economic crisis in the 1920s and1930s, the craft sector was ruined. It started to regain stability after 1938, when two Christian and three Jewish assistance funds were established[1.6].

The Germans invaded Piotrków on 5 September 1939. On 1 October 1939, Civil Administration Governor of Radom District – issued a directive concerning Poles and Jews over 16 years of age. The directive obliged them to exchange their ID cards for identification information cards. District governor of Piotrków County, Buss, issued on that same day a supplementary order in which he demanded to write race in the “religion” space. “A” stood for Aryan race whereas “J” for Jewish. According to the register from 1940, there were 20,421 Jews in Piotrków County.

A Jewish ghetto was established in Piotrków Trybunalski on 5 October 1939. Its establishment was the result of a directive issued by Lord Mayor and Commissar of the town of Piotrków – Dechsel. It was the first ghetto in the occupied Poland[1.7]. Initially, the ghetto consisted of 182 houses and encircled 28 streets. The area was reduced to 24 streets in February 1942. On 31 March 1942, another directive was issued – it ordered all Jews living outside the ghetto to move inside it.

The ghetto had the Judenrat and the Jewish Ghetto Police. It is estimated that around 500 people worked in the Judenrat authorities and in the police[1.8].The first chairman of the Council of Elders was Zalma Tenenberg, who was arrested on 5 July 1941. His successor was Szymon Warszawski, who was deported to the camp in Buchenwald in December 1944. He was taken from the labour camp located in the buildings of glassworks called “Kara”.

At the beginning, the ghetto had 9,376 inhabitants, who were mainly people living in Piotrków. Other Jews – from Łódź, places near Łódź, Poznań, Gniezno, Bydgoszcz, Nakło, Szubin and Kalisz – were transported here at the turn of 1939 and 1940. 4,770 Jews were sent here until the middle of 1940. At the time of the dissolution, the ghetto in Piotrków Trybunalski had 29,000 inhabitants. Nearly 3,000 were kept until 1944 in the so-called “little ghetto”.

The Special Court functioned in Piotrków Trybunalski from 22 September 1939 and its chairman was a man called Wollmann. Special Courts were established in the General Government following the directive of Hans Frank. They were supposed to judge persons accused of political crimes. First suspects from Piotrków heard their sentences in October 1939. Genowefa and Władysław Rutkowski from Chodnów were sentenced to death for hiding Jews in 1943. Władysław Rutkowski was executed on 29 December 1943. His wife, however, was not killed but imprisoned. Izrael Perel from Piotrków was sentenced for three months in prison for the possession and trading of butter. Special Court sentenced to death those Jews who wilfully left the ghetto in search for food. Jenta Friedman, who was detained on 11 December 1941, was sentenced to death by shooting. Józef Herszkowicz was sentenced for three years in prison but died after only three months in the cell in Piotrków. The cause of his death was hunger. Jews, who left the ghetto, were killed without any trials, and among the killed ones there were: Szajdle Baharier, Godel Zalmanowicz, Rachmil Skluta, Ber Rabinowicz i Icek Honigstock[1.9]

The ghetto in Piotrków Trybunalski was dissolved on 15-21 October 1942. The German Nazis killed 60 people in the Raków forests between July and September 1942. During the dissolution of the ghetto, approximately 22,000 people were deported to the extermination camp in Treblinka. 150 people were executed and 2,400 people were confined in forced labour camps. People from the last mentioned camp were transported to camps in Buchenwald and Ravensbrück.

In 1945, Piotrków was inhabited by 372 Jews; however, the majority of them left the town over the next few years.

Bibliography:

• Dzieje Piotrkowa Trybunalskiego, (1989).
• H. Żerek-Kleszcz, Życie religijne i kulturalne w XVI–XVIII w., in: Dzieje Piotrkowa Trybunalskiego, (1989),
• Okupacja hitlerowska w Piotrkowie. Materiały z sesji naukowej, (1998).
• Piotrkow Trybunalski, in: S. Spector, G. Wigoder 9 eds.), The Encyclopedia of Jewish Life Before and During the Holocaust, 2, (2001), 994–996.
• N. Lau-Lavie (ed.), Piotrkow Tribunalski ve-ha-sevivah: sefer zikaron, (1965).
• A. Rzędowska, B. Hałaczkiewicz, Historia Piotrkowskich Żydów (do 1939 roku), (2006).
• Cz. Pilichowski (ed.), Obozy hitlerowskie na ziemiach polskich 1939-1945. Informator encyklopedyczny, 1979