The first mention of Jews in Pułtusk dates back to 1483, when Jewish families expelled from Warsaw settled in the town. Soon afterwards, however, Pułtusk was granted the de non tolerandis Judaeis privilege, which remained in force until 1802.

In 1808, 56 Jews from nearby villages, including Popowo and Popławy, settled in Pułtusk. In 1810, there were already as many as 118 Jewish people living in the town. In the period of Congress Poland, Jews from Pułtusk were subordinate to the Maków community, one of the largest Jewish communities in Mazovia. With time, however, they started to consider gaining autonomy and sought permission from the authorities to establish a synagogue supervisory board in Pułtusk. At that time, Jews constituted quite a large community, consisting of 96 families. They had a cemetery, established on the plot donated by Zelman Lubranitzer, and in 1825 they completed the construction of a brick, one-storey synagogue at Waliszewo Street. At the end of the 1820s, their efforts to found their own synagogue supervisory board finally came to fruition.

In 1816, the national authorities started to plan the establishment of a Jewish quarter in Pułtusk. It was eventually decided that the district would be located in the Old Town. All local Jews had to move there before 1822.

The first rabbi of Pułtusk was Lejzer Kohn from Warka. In the years 1850–1861, the function was performed by Israel Jehoszua Trunk, a halakhist and member of the Hovevei Zion movement. He did not enjoy the support of the community, and was accused of financial mismanagement and ignoring the needs of the poor. In the 1870s and 1880s, Henoch Zundel Grodziński was the rabbi of Pułtusk. Even though he opposed Hasidism, he was able to gain the respect of the Orthodox inhabitants of the town. He was succeeded in 1891 by Symcha Bunim-Epstein, a supporter of the tzaddik from Góra Kalwaria. In the early 20^th century, the position of the rabbi was held by Chaim Kojman-Otterman. He was fluent in Russian and translated psalms into that language.

In 1875, the town was ravaged by a great fire. Many houses burned down, including in the Jewish quarter. The second Jewish cemetery was established in Pułtusk in the second half of the 19^th century or in the early 20^th century.

In 1893, members of the synagogue supervisory board were elected, among them: Icek Merkufel [Markusfeld? – editor’s note] – 128 votes, Mordka Wasercud – 119 votes, Szymek Rozenowski – 89 votes. The next elections were held in 1905, with the following people winning seats: Szlama Dawid Wajcberg – 162, Abram Kamiński – 13, Całko Majersdorf – 8, Icek Markusfeld – 8. In 1910, at the request of the local Hasidim, the community was granted permission to open a new synagogue. At the beginning of the 20^th century, there were 27 cheders in Pułtusk, attended by a total of 48 students in 1900.

Before World War I, a number of credit cooperatives was established in Pułtusk. In 1908, the Jewish Savings and Loan Association with 872 members was opened in the town, followed by the Pułtusk Mutual Credit Association two years later. Chaim Engelman became chairman of the Supervisory Board of the association, with Efraim Rosenberg serving as the chairman of the Management Board.

In 1914, the territories of northern Mazovia became the arena of Russian-German fights. Tsarist authorities evacuated the residents of many towns, especially Jews, who were suspected of secretly supporting Germans. Many refugees arrived to Pułtusk. The community established the Jewish Rescue Committee, which provided accommodation for the refugees, as well as medicine, food, and clothes. The tsarist authorities officially thanked the rabbi of Pułtusk for the undertaking. In order to maintain order in the town, a group of local Jews – Dawid Hirsz, Berl Silberbaum, Hirsz Nutkiewicz, and Jehoszua Brzeziński – founded a unit of Citizen’s Militia.

Germans seized Pułtusk at the end of July 1915. The area was no longer marred by battles and the political situation began to stabilise, which prompted many refugees to return to their homes. Interim municipal authorities were established. The new occupier was eager to appoint Jews, especially those who knew German, to positions in the local government. Germans were lenient towards Jewish merchants and entrepreneurs, many of whom were granted permits to travel to Germany for commercial purposes. In 1916, one of the beneficiaries of such permits was Mendel Mint, the owner of a local iron foundry and an agricultural machinery factory which burned down during the war. Mintz was able to buy new equipment abroad and rebuild his factory.

In 1904, Chaim Kojman-Otterman became the rabbi of Pułtusk. He held the post until his death. In 1924, his former deputy, Mordka Dyrektor, was appointed rabbi. After one year, Chaim Meszulam ha-Kohen took over the position. In the 1930s, Israel Ber Loewenthal became the last rabbi of Pułtusk.

Upon the establishment of the Second Polish Republic, Jewish residents of the newly independent country were a very diverse group with a multitude of different political and social views. Some supported the Russian revolution, hoping it would spread around the Polish territory. Following the trend of establishing communist councils, the Council of Workers’ Delegates of the Jews of Pułtusk, with 450 members, was founded in the town. Communists were active in Pułtusk throughout the entire interwar period. Among the leaders of the local party committee at the beginning of the 1930s were: shoemakers Jechuda Rybojad, Moszek Brodacz, and Chuna Fogielman, tailors Moszek Berla and Perla Koprowicz. Other activists included: Ela Cykoria, Ela Fogelman, Daniel Uszel, Majer Buchendler, Aron Sokół, Maria Fisz. The activity of the communists intensified in the mid-1930s. In the summer and autumn of 1936, they organised a strike of Jewish apprentices at carpentry, shoemaking, and stonemasonry workshops.

The communists, however, were not the dominant political force among the Jews of Pułtusk. The most popular ideas were those promoted by Zionists and socialists, which often went hand in hand. Both movements were widely represented in the town by various parties and organisations. In 1919, a unit of Poale Zion-Right was established. Among its members were Jakub Szczupak, Icek Dąb, Chaim Inwentarz, and Icek Bocian. They often cooperated with members of HeHalutz and the League to Support Workers in Palestine. In 1927, Poale Zion-Left opened a social club in Pułtusk.

The General Jewish Labour Bund also operated in the town. Its local branch had 60 members. It sought to attract new supporters through cultural activities, for instance opening libraries and workers’ clubs. The B. Grosser Labour Club in Pułtusk had 150 members.

The Orthodox Agudath party was also active in the town. In 1922, its local branch opened a school for girls. In the 1930s, a branch of the “Mizrachi” Orthodox Zionist Organization operated in Pułtusk.

Under the tsarist rule, the cooperative movement enjoyed great popularity among the Jews of Mazovia. A credit cooperative established at the beginning of the century operated in Pułtusk until 1927 under the name of the Second Loans and Savings Society. In 1919, the cooperative's management board consisted of clockmaker Moszek Szperling, trader Mendel Rozenowicz, merchant Szlama Borensztein, and shoemaker Fajwel Melnik. The supervisory board included: merchants Hersz Nutowicz, Chiel Braf, and fisherman Mosze Zelmel. The Merchants’ Fund, with ca. 350 members, operated in the town in the years 1929–1936. Its management board consisted of Abram Arol, Moszek Goldberg, and Szmul Frenkiel. Another credit cooperative was established in 1931.

In 1922, private cheders and a Talmud-Torah school for children from poor families operated in the town. Jewish children could also attend the seven-grade Public School No. 3 at 4 Kotlarska Street. In the school year 1930/1931, 601 Jewish students attended the school. One of the teachers, Mordechaj Sztern, was Jewish. In the years 1918–1928, a private co-educational middle school operated on the same street. Eliasz Koen was the principal. He was later succeeded by Maria Friedman-Podwina. In the school year 1921/1922, 88 girls and 22 boys were enrolled in the school. Some young Jews attended Pułtusk’s public middle schools, for example the Piotr Skarga State Middle School for Boys. In the years 1919–1936, many Jewish girls attended the Klaudyna Potocka State Middle School for Girls.

In 1928, Yiddish magazine Undzer Wort was published and edited by Sz. Don. Another newspaper published around the same time was Do Pracy (1927–1929). Express Mazowiecki was issued from 1930 until 1936, while the Pułtuski Kurier Codzienny 5 groszy daily was available since 1936 until the outbreak of the war.

Those interested in sports could pursue their passion in the “Maccabi” Jewish Sports Association, operating in Pułtusk since 1924. In 1927, the management board of the association consisted of Lejb Sinowłoga, Hersz Melnik, Szmul Szymberg, Daniel Josko, and Idel Czerniawski. In 1930, Jewish athletes from Maccabi and cultural activists of the Music Lovers’ Club joined forces to form the “HaKoach” Jewish Music and Sports Club. They organised numerous cultural events for the Jewish inhabitants of Pułtusk.

From the mid-19^th century until the outbreak of World War II, the Jewish community in Pułtusk constituted 40–50% of the total population. In 1931, 6,400 Jews lived in the town.

Pułtusk experienced the wave of intensifying anti-Semitic sentiments in the 1930s. In the summer of 1934, the local branch of ONR-Falanga (National Radical Camp) was established in the town. ONR activists came to the market square to destroy Jewish stalls, persecute their owners, and urge Polish residents to boycott Jewish trade. Although they did not manage to win the support of most residents of Pułtusk, many Jews decided to migrate from the town. In 1938, for example, 70 Jewish people left the town for good.

The German army seized Pułtusk on 7 September 1939, and a month later the town was incorporated into Germany under the name of Ostenburg. As a German town, it had to be Judenrein – “free from Jews.” The persecution of the Jewish population began almost immediately. Germans searched Jewish houses, robbed, beat and murdered their victims. Twelve members of the community were shot. Four days after entering the town, Germans expelled ca. 300 local Jews, followed by a thousands more on 26 September. The exiled were stripped off jewellery, beaten and humiliated. They were harassed when crossing the bridge on the Narew River. Some were ordered to swim across the river; many drowned, others were shot dead. Ca. 100 people died on that day.

Josef Brandszpigiel, then a young child, was crossing the bridge with his father:

“We had to cross a bridge, a very long bridge. [...] They threw whoever they wanted into the Narew River. When we reached the bridge and the Germans shouted “Schnell!,” my father took me in his arms. The Germans always stood in twos or threes. [...] One of the Germans tried to take me out of my father’s arms, and the rest tried to throw my father into the water. One of the soldiers even grabbed his neck. But then a young German told them: “Leave him alone, can’t you see he has a child, a small child?”. After that they let go of my father’s neck and let us go. But they beat my father with a stick.”

Some of the exiled Jews arrived to Warsaw, others to Białystok, from where they planned to reach the USSR. The Soviet Union accepted Jewish refugees but treated them with distrust. Many were considered a potential “subversive element” and transported to remote regions of the country, where they were to undergo “socialist rehabilitation.”

At the end of 1939, only ca. 500 Jews were left in the entire Pułtusk District. They were used as slave labour by the German occupier. In 1941, Germans opened a labour camp in the Pułtusk synagogue; it was one of 31 camps established at that time in northern Mazovia. The victims were later killed in the Holocaust and the community was never reborn.

Bibliography

• Szczepański J., Społeczność żydowska Mazowsza w XIX–XX wieku, Pułtusk 2005.
• “Pultusk,” [in] The Encyclopedia of Jewish Life Before and During the Holocaust, eds. S. Spector, G. Wigoder, vol. 2: K–Sered, New York 2001, p. 1039.