Jews had already settled in Szczuczyn by the 18^th century[1.1]. In the 1870s, they made up 75% of the town’s population. They were mainly petty merchants; some of them traded in horses during fairs. There was also a significant number of craftsmen, in particular shoemakers and tailors, some of whom owned small workshops. At the turn of the 20^th century, Szczuczyn became a popular resort for holidaymakers from Warsaw and other big cities. Most of them were Jewish.

Around 1820, an independent kehilla was established in Szczuczyn. The community erected a synagogue and a wooden beth midrash. In 1858, both buildings were renovated and another study hall was constructed. Some of Szczuczyn’s most prominent rabbis included Jehoszua Heszl and his successor Noah Chaim Eisenstadt. When Rabbi Menachem Mendel Astrinski died in 1904, a dispute erupted between the supporters of his son and the supporters of his son-in-law. After two years, the post of the rabbi was given to Astrinski’s son, Juda Haleib Hassman. He served in the town for twenty years and founded the local yeshiva. During World War I, his followers scattered around the region and Rabbi Hassman himself settled in inner Russia. He returned in 1921, but he left Szczuczyn seven years later and migrated to Hebron.

In the early 19^th century, a cheder was established in the town, followed by a two-grade Jewish public school attended by a significant number of girls. The local children attended cheders until the end of the 19^th century.

The first Jewish political organisations appeared in Szczuczyn in the late 19^th century. The local Zionist group was established in 1898. At the beginning of the 20^th century, the branches of the Bund and Poale Zion were opened, followed by cultural and social institutions such as a library, a theatre group, and a charity organisation.

Social and political movements started to thrive among the Szczuczyn Jews during World War I. The Zionist Federation was established in 1916; it came to boast several hundred members. The town also saw the establishment of the Bet Am social and cultural centre. It had a reading room and was a venue for lectures and other meetings. A soup kitchen for the poor was also opened. Towards the end of the war, the local library was split in two sections: one for Bundists and the other one for Zionists. 

In the interwar period, most Jews worked as small traders or craftsmen. Only one of the bakeries in the town did not have Jewish owners. Jews were also engaged in larger industrial undertakings, for example farming fish which were later sold in large cities. However, the economic situation of the Jewish community was rather difficult. This resulted from the widespread poverty in the entire country, particularly among peasants – the main customers of the local Jews. The situation was exacerbated by the boycott of Jewish companies organised by nationalists.

In 1929, a fire broke out in the town, destroying numerous houses and leaving many families without a roof over their head. They had to turn to the Kupat Gemilut Chasidim organisation for help. The Co-operative Bank, opened in 1925, offered loans to the local population, while the kehilla provided livelihood to its poorest members. Other charity organisations were also founded: Linas Hatsedek, Bikur Cholim, and Hachnasat Orchim.

In the interwar period, a large portion of the local Jews left Szczuczyn. Most migrants were young people leaving for bigger cities. Nevertheless, the outflow of Jewish people from the town did not subdue the development of the social and cultural life. A Hebrew school run by the Tarbut association with 350 students was opened in 1921. A school with Yiddish as the language of instruction started to operate in 1923. It was closed seven years later due to lack of funding. The year 1925 saw the foundation of a school for girls operating under the auspices of the Orthodox Agudath.

In the 1920, the Maccabi club – uniting all Jewish sports groups in the town – was founded in Szczuczyn. However, most of its members left the town in 1927, which led to the organisation suspending its operation. It was revived in 1930.

At the beginning of World War II, Germans sent some 350 Jews to forced labour. After five months, only thirty survivors returned, as most had been killed during an attempt to cross the Soviet-German border (Szczuczyn ultimately became part of the Soviet occupation zone)[1.2]. Germans burnt down the synagogue and the schools and would routinely beat and rob Jews.

During the Soviet occupation, some 20 Jewish families were deported to other towns and eventually sent to Siberia in 1941.

On 22 June 1941, Szczuczyn was bombed by the Werhrmacht. A unit of the German army made a short appearance in the town. Local blacksmith Stanisław Peniuk was appointed mayor by the Germans, and post office worker Kosmowski become the commander of the German-controlled Polish Blue Police. In October 1940, Mieczyslaw Kosmowski (one of three Kosmowski brothers, it is unknown whether he was the same one who headed the police) started to work as an agent of the German Secret Police. He took part in inciting the local community against Jews. On 27 and 28 June 1941, a group of Poles organised by Peniuk and the Kosmowski brothers attacked Jews in four locations in the town and brutally murdered some 300–400 people[1.1.2]. The perpetrators dumped the bodies into ditches and announced that they would kill every single Jew in the town. Jewish women asked the local priest and sympathetic Poles for help, but no aid was given to the Jewish population. The Wehrmacht, bribed by the Jewish women with soap and coffee, stepped in and temporarily stopped the pogroms[1.3]. However, the local police murdered another 100 Jews on the order of an SS officer on 14–28 July 1941.

In August 1941, a group of Jews was placed in the newly formed ghetto, while the rest were killed. The ghetto was liquidated on 2 November 1942. Two hundred people were transported to the Bogusze camp; most of them were eventually transported to Treblinka (2,500 to 3,000 people), while a small group was sent to Auschwitz. Ca. 10 Szczuczyn Jews survived the Holocaust.

Sixteen Poles were prosecuted for war crimes soon after the war. Only one person was convicted and sentenced to death[1.1.3].

Bibliography

• Crago L., “Szczuczyn,” [in] Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos 1939–1945, vol. II, Ghettos in German-Occupied Eastern Europe, pt. A, eds. P. Megargee, M. Dean, Bloomington 2012, p. 969.
• “Szczuczyn,” [in] Encyclopedia of Jewish Life Before and During the Holocaust, vol. III, eds. Sh. Spector, New York 2001, p. 1276.