Tykocin was one of the most important Jewish centres in the First Polish Republic. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the community was considered to be “the second in importance after the community of Kraków”[1.1].

The first Jews settled in Tykocin in 1522, when the town was under the Lithuanian rule, being a hereditary property of Gasztołd family[1.2]. They settled in the oldest Podlaskie town under the privilege granted by Olbracht Gasztołd, a Great Lithuanian Chancellor and a then future provincial governor of the Wilno and Trakai Province. Under the power of a privilege given by Olbracht Gasztołd, the governor of the Wileński and Trocki provinces, 10 Jews from Grodno settled in the Kaczorowo district located west of the town market and beyond the bridge on the Motława river. According to Wojciech Roszkowski, they were allowed to build market stalls and develop trade “as they wished”[1.3]. Gasztołt granted Jews a square located on an island surrounded by a pond(for defensive reasons), where they could build a synagogue and up on a nearby hill - a graveyard.

In a document issued to Jewish settlers, Olbracht Gasztołd granted them Ostrów, an island surrounded by a pond, where they are to build a synagogue. (…) It is possible that the synagogue was initially surrounded by water. This is suggested by the spindle-shaped network of streets omitting the centre of Kaczorów. The proof for the existence of previous defensive synagogues echoes in the tower of  brick house of prayer[1.4].

The first rabbi became Dawid who was described as ”doktór” ( an educated person)[1.5].

Under the provision of further privileges that were granted to Tykocin Jews in 1536 by Gosztołd, the members of the Tykocin community were excluded from the jurisdiction of magistrates’ and town courts and remained under the exclusive jurisdiction and care of the town's owner. These privileges were confirmed in 1576 by king Stefan Batory who additionally granted permission to the Tykocin Jews to trade in all royal cities and villages and also on private grounds belonging to the nobility and the clergy[1.6] 

The location of Tykocin at the cross of trade routes and the importance of the Narvia river as communication artery, connecting the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Rus with Gdańsk and western markets contributed to the trade development[1.7]. Local Jews were mostly occupied with trade of salt, spices and textiles on a local, national and international scale as well as with conducting financial operations. The district that they inhabited - Kaczorowo - became a centre of local exchange. Ewa Wroczyńska i Andrzej Lechowski provide the following examples of  it:

In 1537, the Tykociny merchants’ agent from Mohylew purchased tallow and transported it to Warsaw. Ilja Mosiejewicz Doktorowicz conducted transactions with the Nuremberg traders in 1541. Aron Bosko was active at Vilinius, Kowno, Poznań and Lublin markets. At that time, the Tykocin Jews became involved in leasing of duties as well as of income of the Duke and Royal Treasury, which was a very lucrative business[1.8].

The incorporation of Tykocin into the royal property, becoming a hereditary property of  Zygmunt August (Podlasie was then incorporated into the Crown), who built a defensive castle, marked the golden age of development of Tykocin. At that time, the town was inhabited by several dozen Jewish families(15% of the total population).The area inhabited by Jews was gradually enlarged towards the centre of town. The Jewish community gained significance and became the capital of region (Galil Titkin), spreading over the perimeter of 100 km. Siemiatycze, Orlej, Boćki, Zabłudowie, Choroszcza, Gródek accepted to be under Tykociny rule[1.9]. The local community sent its representatives to the Sejm of the Jews of the Crown, which was an indication of the community importance[1.1.9].

Tykocin was famous for being an important cultural and Talmudic educational centre. Many famous rabbis and experts on Torah lived in Tykocin, including Mordechaj Titkiner, Szmuel Eliezer Eidels „Maharszal” and Aron Charif)[1.10]. This is also the place of birth of Rywka Tiktiner (Rebeka Tykocińska), a daughter of rabbi Meir Tiktiner, a Jewish scholar and writer writing in Hebrew and Yiddish, and the author of a work entitled "Meneket Rivke" about a Jewish female’s role and her place in the social system of that time, as well as about child upbringing. The book was published after her death in 1609 in Prague and next in 1618 in Kraków and is well-known in Western Europe thanks to Konrad Luft from Nuremberg, the author of the thesis entiled De Rebecca Polona eruditorum in gente Judaica Foeminarum rariori exemplo published in 1719; the song of  Rebeka for Simchat Tora holiday has been preserved to date[1.11]. Rywka Titkiner was an exceptional person because women of that time did not study Torah and were not involved in education.

In the 17th century, the extensive privileges and liberties of Tykocin Jews were confirmed by: Zygmunt III Waza in 1601, Władysław IV in 1633 and in 1639 and by Jan Kazimierz in 1650[1.12]. In 1642, a new synagogue in the baroque style was built in the place of an old wooden synagogue in the centre of Kaczorowo, modelled probably on defensive synagogue in Pińsk. The synagogue has stood the test of time and currently it houses a Judaica Museum. In the 17th and 18th century, the Tykocin synagogue was the second biggest and most impressive synagogue in the country after the Kraków one. In 1522, a cemetery was established, which is currently one of the oldest preserved Jewish cemeteries in Poland[1.13].

Despite the fact that the town - together with the Jewish District - was largely destroyed during the Swedish Deluge in 1660(the brick synagogue survived), local society managed to stand on its feet.

When Tykocin became a private town in 1661, first as a property of Crown Hetman Stefan Czarnecki, and then as a property of the Branicki family, it remained one of the wealthiest communities in Podlasie and north-eastern Mazovia[1.14]. Jews from Tykocin were occupied with trade and craft as well as with usury and lease. There were Jewish confraternities which were similar to Christian craftsmen's guilds. The tailor confraternity gained a particularly high position with its own synagogue and court. As Wroczyńska i Lechowski write:

"The dominant role of Tykocin Jews among the Jewish communities in Podlasie, parts of Mazovia and Lithuana went hand in hand with the economic expansion inside and outside the town. Jewish merchants monopolized the whole local and foreign trade. They maintained contacts in Gdańsk, Królewiec and Wrocław. They owned the biggest capitals in Podlasie. They imported various commodities, including cloth, various textiles, roots, colonial goods, metals and chemicals, fish, herring, wine and vodka. The richest merchant families in the second half of the 18th century were: Gołdowie, Choroszuchowie, Siemiatyccy, Surascy. The same families were also involved in leasing and conducting credit and monetary transactions, which proved to be a very lucrative business. The representatives of the families were also members of the kehilla’s authorities, which enabled them to occupy a high positon in the town."[1.15]

The Tykocin kehilla controlled economic sectors indicated by the owner, including production and sale of beer and vodka, butchery, meat trade, tanning and leasing of nearby land estates(whole villages)  and inns[1.16].

In the 17th and 18th century, many famous Talmud experts were active in Tykocin, among them Menachem Dawid ben Icchak, Joszua ben Josef, Elijahu Szapira and Szalom Eliezer Rokeach[1.17].

In the first half of the 18th century, Tykocin was the place of many struggles between Polish and Lithuanian Jews which resulted in 1739 in false accusation of Lithuanian Jews of forcibly converting Christians to Judaism. After a long interrogation the accusations were rejected.

Towards the end of the 18th century, the Jewish population constituted half of the total town population. The importance of the community was increasing. During partitions, as the result of unfavourable occupants’ policy, Tykocin lost its old position to Białystok and the local municipality started to fall into decline. Tykocin estates were divided between the occupants. Trade routes were changed. At the time of Prussian reign (1795-1807), the taxes were significantly raised, and a ban on changing professions and an obligation to use last names were introduced. As Tykocin became a part of the Russian partition, the autonomy of kehilla  was significantly restricted.

Timber trade was the most important sector of economy for the Jewish community under the Russian rule. At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, Tykocin became also the centre of tallit production. Lewi Lejb, a.k.a. Talitmacher settled in the town. He opened a weaving mill and told the well-known mystery regarding production to one of local weavers, Icchak Zvi Świeczkowski, who then moved to the US in order to begun there the production of “Tykocin tallits”[1.18].

As a consequence of right restriction and economic stagnation, in the 19th century there was a massive emigration of Jews from Tykocin searching for jobs and better living conditions, mainly to North America, which contributed to the town’s fall. At that time, charities were established, including Somech Noflim association, which collected donation for the poorest. Linat ha-Cedek and Bikur Cholim were also founded[1.19].

In 1886, the Tykocin townspeople established a joint Christian-Jewish elementary school[1.20]. The end of the 19th, century saw the development of the Zionist movement. Youth(He-Chaluc, Ha-Szmoer ha-Cair), social and cultural organizations were established. In 1921, first members of  He-Chaluc and Ha-Szmoer ha-Cairc left the town for Palestine. A housing estate called “Osiedle Tykocińskie” was established in Tel Aviv[1.21].

In the interwar period, the Tykocin municipality didn’t manage to regain its former glory, suffering from the marches of the Polish and Soviet armies in 1919-1920. The majority of local Jews were occupied with small trade and craft but in town there were also many Jewish mills, breweries, a tallit factory and a paintbrush and brush factory. Within the Jewish community in Tykocin, there were many parties and political-social organizations. Next to the Orthodox Jews in Aguda, and the assimilationists under the lead of Szlomo Rosenberg and Chaim Saul Pines, the strongest political and socio-cultural environment was the Zionist movement. From 1920, a state Jewish elementary school started to function[1.22].

Before the outbreak of World War II, there were around 2,000 Jews in Tykocin - around 44% of total town population. The majority of them lived in the so-called Jewish market in the western part of the Kaczorowo district in Holendry and Piłsudski Streets. The majority of  kehillas institutions, the rabbi’s house, the smaller houses of prayer, and the mikveh were located by the Mołtawa river, right at the place of its estuary into the Narew river. The difficult economic situation at that time contributed to the labour emigration to America and – due to the popularity of the Zionist movement – to Palestine[1.23].

In 1939, Tykocin was shortly occupied by the Germans. Repressions aimed at Jews immediately began, including plundering of their property and imprisonment of Polish and Jewish men in a church[1.1.22]. During the Soviet occupation between 1939-1941, Tykocin took in Jewish refugees from lands occupied by the Germans[1.24].

After the re-entering the town by the German army in June 1941, there was plundering of Jewish property by the Polish inhabitants of the town and of nearby villages[1.25]. On 25 and 26 August, there was a massive execution of the Jewish population from Tykocin conducted by Sonderkommando SS Bezirk Białystok under the command of Wolfgang Burker. All Jews were instructed to gather together in the market, where after selection they were rushed barefoot to the small town of Zawady. From there, Jews were driven away to a forest near Łopuchowo and shot. Corpses were buried in previously prepared holes. Around 1,400 people were killed(according to E. Wroczyńska i A. Lechowski – 2500)[1.1.24] and the remaining150 Jews were transported to the Białystok ghetto from where the majority ended up in an extermination camp in Treblinka[1.26]. Only a few Jews managed to survive the massacre: Eliezer Fryc, Lejbel Fryc, Menachem-Mendel Turek, Mosze Ture, Eliezer Olsztejn, Zyskin Olsztejn, Fiszel Zilbersztejn, Tauba Zilbersztejn, Mordechaj Brener, Szmul Feler, Becalel Wilga, Icchak Feler, Chaszka Ismach with two children, Lejzer Choroszucha, Alter Kac, and also those who were transported to the USSR: Abram Turek, his wife Sara, their son Icchak and grandchildren Chana and Józef, as well as the wife and two children of  Meir Tenenbojm (hairdresser),  Józef Łucki, Szmul Jachlachowicz (a son of Welwel, a butcher), and Gerszon Żelazo with his wife and daughter[1.27]. Names of murdered Jewish inhabitants of Tykocin can be found on a plaque on the western wall of town synagogue.

Abram Kapica, one of the survivors, described the massacre as follows:

On one side women, old people and children were grouped, and on the other side - men able to walk. Formed them into a series of fours. At the head walked tall people: Chackiel di Hojcher, Jakub Choroszucha - timber merchant, and his father-in law Mojsze Gar. They were followed by klezmers: tailor Daniel Dojcz, who plays the trumpet, Szmelke Sokołowicz, drummer and Eli Kawka, violinist. Gestapo officers told them to play the song Hatikva ("Hope"), and then forced them to sing along with them German song: "When Jewish blood flows, Germany wins the war." Line stretched over a kilometer (...). Many of them run out of steam. Shot Szmula Babecki, an old man who had stopped on the way. At the same time, ended up loading of women on trucks (...) (which went in the direction of Zawady village[1.28].

Even though a few Jews, who managed to survive, decided to come back to Tykocin, they quickly became objects of attacks by Polish nationalists and soon emigrated to Palestine. [1.29]. 

Bibliography:

• Chlebowski B., Tykocin, [w:] Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów słowiańskich, 1883, t. XII, s. 695 [online] https://dir.icm.edu.pl/pl/Slownik_geograficzny/Tom_XII/695 [dostęp: 20.06.2023].
• Kirshenboim S.L., Tykocin, [w:] Encyclopaedia Judaica, red. F. Skolnik, M. Berenbaum, Vol. 20, Detroit – New York – San Francisco – New Haven – Waterville – London 2007.
• Roszkowski W., Tykocin – miasteczko-bajeczka, Białystok 2003.
• Turek M., Życie i zagłada Żydów podczas niemieckiej okupacji, Kirkuty.pl [online] http://cmentarze-zydowskie.pl/tykocinzeznania.htm [dostęp: 10.06.2023].
• Weiss A., Tykocin. Holocaust Period and After [w:] Encyclopaedia Judaica, red. F. Skolnik, M. Berenbaum, vol. 20, Detroit – New York – San Francisco – New Haven – Waterville – London 2007, s. 211.
• Węgrzynek H., Tykocin, [w:] Cała A., Węgrzynek H., Zalewska G., Historia i kultura Żydów polskich. Słownik, Warszawa 2000, ss. 357–358.
• Wroczyńska E., Lechowski A., Wielka synagoga w Tykocinie, Białystok 2004.