Encyclopedia of Strzyżów

Names of the town

Society

Polish: Strzyżów (older Strzezów); Yiddish: Strizhov or Strizev (סטריזוב); Hebrew: סטז'יז'וב; German: Strezow; Russian: Стшижув; Ukrainian: Стрижів. Records also write Strzyzow, Strizhuv, Strishuv, Strisev, Strizov and Schizuv, and Hasidim speak of the Strizhover rebbes. Two folk explanations of the name exist, from strzec, "to guard", and strzyc, "to shear"; neither is proven.^{[4][1][10][9]}

Origins and charter

Events

Strzyżów is first named in 1279, in a document about church tithes. It received town rights between 1373 and 1397, according to the town's own history; the county archive gives 1427, a date no other source confirms. It was founded again after a fire in 1480. It was a private town of noble families, among them the Strzeżowskis, Wielopolskis, Radziwiłłs and Skrzyńskis. The clothmakers' guild statute of 1491 survives; a royal privilege of 1684 granted four yearly fairs.^[4][17]

Galicia under Austria, 1772–1918

Events

After the First Partition of Poland in 1772 the town came under Austrian rule, in the crown land of Galicia. A German-language school for Jewish children opened in 1792 and the Rzeszów–Krosno road was built in 1794–1798. The last of nine great fires, in 1895, led to rebuilding in brick. The railway from Rzeszów to Jasło arrived in 1890, and in 1896 Strzyżów became a county seat.^[5][4][1]

First Jews

Events

The earliest record of a Jew in Strzyżów dates from 1606: Dawid of Lubowla complained that two townsmen had not paid him for oxen. By 1673 there were 20 Jewish families, and by 1747 Jews were about half the town.^[1]

Community and institutions

Society

By the late 17th century the town had a kehilla (organized Jewish community), a wooden synagogue and a cheder. Its rabbi also served the Jews of Czudec, Niebylec, Domaradz, Wielopole and Frysztak. In 1870 the community kept two rabbis, a synagogue, a Hasidic kloyz, a bathhouse, a poorhouse and a cemetery. A Jewish credit society was founded in 1892; between the wars there were a free-loan fund, a cooperative bank and a library of 1,250 books.^[1]

Trade and crafts

Society

In 1747 the town had 26 weavers, 13 bakers, 8 butchers and 8 shoemakers, and Jews dominated the buying of farm produce. In the 19th century Jewish merchants traded in flax, hemp and grain, and 13 Jewish goldsmiths made inexpensive jewelry.^[1]

Rabbis and Hasidic dynasties

People

Strzyżów's rabbis came from two great Hasidic families. Rabbis of the Dynów (Shapiro) line included Tzvi Elimelech Shapiro, Eleazar Shapiro and Shlomo Shapiro (1831–1893), who served about 1857–1882 before leaving for Munkács; his grandson Chaim Elazar Shapiro, later the Munkácser Rebbe, grew up here. From 1882 the rabbi was Alter Zev Horowitz of the Ropczyce (Ropshitz) line, who died on 12 April 1930 and is buried in the town; his grandson Kalonymus Horowitz followed him. Naftali Zvi of Ropczyce served briefly. Followers of the two families long disputed the rabbinate.^{[1][8][14][15]}

See also: Jewish cemetery.

Pogroms of 1918–1919

Events

On 5 November 1918, as Poland regained independence, rioters looted Jewish shops and killed three Jews. On 21 April 1919 a false ritual-murder rumor set off a second riot in which one Jew was killed.^[1]

Population

Society

See the table below. Sources disagree on the last pre-war figure: 1,300 Jews of 2,905 inhabitants (Virtual Shtetl), 1,200–1,300 (Teatr NN, after the USHMM and Yad Vashem encyclopedias) or 1,050 (Marzena Dubiel). The memorial book's figure of about 6,000 people, half of them Jews, is a survivor's estimate and does not match the censuses.^{[1][7][3][5][19][9]}

Emigration to America

Society

More than a hundred Strzyżów Jews are recorded arriving in New York between 1892 and 1924, the Auerhan family among the town's emigrants. On 17 February 1909 the Strzyzower Sick Mutual Aid Society was incorporated in New York City.^[6]

See also: The Auerhan family.

German occupation, 1939

Events

Sources disagree on when the Germans entered Strzyżów: 8–10 September 1939 according to Teatr NN, which follows the USHMM and Yad Vashem encyclopedias, or 15 September according to Virtual Shtetl. Nearby Rzeszów fell on 10 September, so the earlier date is likelier. On 15 September soldiers shot four Jews outside the town for refusing to sweep the streets on the Sabbath. About 200 Jews fled east with the rabbi. A Judenrat headed by Abraham Braw was imposed, and Jews deported from Łódź, Kalisz, Rzeszów and Germany were sent to the town.^[3][1][7]

The railway tunnel and forced labor

Places

In 1940–1941 Jewish forced laborers, many brought from Warsaw (about 1,000 according to Teatr NN, about 2,500 according to Virtual Shtetl), built a 438-metre railway shelter tunnel under Żarnowska Góra for Hitler's field headquarters. Hitler's train stood there on 27–28 August 1941, during his meeting with Mussolini. Jews were also made to pave the market square with gravestones from the Jewish cemetery.^[12][3][1]

Ghetto and deportation, 1942

Events

A ghetto was set up in December 1941 or February 1942; Teatr NN gives both dates. On 15 May 1942 SS men from Rzeszów shot eight Jews in the town. In late June 1942 the Jews were taken in farm carts to the Rzeszów ghetto; the old and sick were killed on the way. The dates differ by source: 24–26 June (Virtual Shtetl and the local historian Marzena Dubiel), 25–27 June (USHMM encyclopedia, Rzeszów entry) or 26–28 June (Teatr NN). In Rzeszów the ghetto swelled to about 22,000 people. Between 7 and 18 July 1942, in four stages (7–8, 11, 14–15 and 17–18 July), most were marched to the railway station at Staroniwa (Starowina in the USHMM text) and deported to the Bełżec death camp, and about 1,000 people judged unfit for work were murdered in the forest between Rzeszów and Głogów (the Rodna forest in the USHMM text); others were shot in the Głogów forest or at Pustków, or died when the Rzeszów ghetto was destroyed in 1943. Well over a thousand Strzyżów Jews were murdered; no exact total is known.^{[3][1][7][16]}

See also: Survivors.

Hiding, rescue and survivors

People

Jews found in hiding were shot as late as 1944. In June 1943 the Germans murdered seven Poles in nearby Wiśniowa for helping Jews. The local historian Marzena Dubiel lists 17 surnames of known survivors: Acht, Apperman, Berglas, Diamant, Dienstag, Deutsch, Feit, Felber, Frenkel, Frydman, Goldberg, Heschel, Hoff, Mendel, Neubart, Proseisen and Sterngast.^[7]

The synagogue

Places

The brick synagogue of the 18th century survives at ul. Przecławczyka 6. The Germans used it as a warehouse; after the war it stored fertilizer. Since 1964 it has housed the town's public library, and today also a branch of the municipal museum with an exhibition on the town's Jews. Original wall paintings survive.^{[11][1][13][7]}

Jewish cemeteries

Places

The town had three Jewish cemeteries. The oldest, near the synagogue, is now a town square, and the second is a school sports field. The third, founded in 1850 on Żarnowska Góra (ul. Żarnowska 2), survives: about 109 gravestones were set up again in 1990 and 1995, and an ohel over the grave of Rabbi Alter Zev Horowitz was dedicated on 20 August 1996.^[2][18][6]

See also: Rabbis.

The memorial book

Records

Survivors published Sefer Strizhuv ve-ha-seviva in Tel Aviv in 1969. Harry Langsam's English translation, The Book of Strzyzow and Vicinity (1990), is free to read on JewishGen. It is testimony: the memories of survivors, invaluable for the life of the town but not a reliable source of dates, which should be checked against records. This encyclopedia cites it as memoir.^[9]

Records for families

Records

Begin with JRI-Poland's index of Jewish births, marriages and deaths, the JewishGen KehilaLinks pages (the 1900 census summary, a 1891 business directory, Ellis Island arrivals and a cemetery list) and the memorial book's name index. Check where the original registers are kept, on szukajwarchiwach.gov.pl, before ordering copies.^[6][9]

The town today

Places

Strzyżów is the seat of Strzyżów County in Podkarpackie Voivodeship, with about 8,600 people (2021 census). Places to see include the former synagogue, the Jewish cemetery on Żarnowska Góra, the municipal museum and the railway tunnel.^{[19][13][12][18]}