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An Invitation from the Jewish Center

The Jewish Center is organizing the following events in the 2003/2004 school year:

1. Introduction to Judaism. The major aspects of Jewish tradition and culture.

The meeting will cover the origins and basic facts from the history of Judaism, including such concepts as halakha, the Ashkenazy, the Sefardim, Yiddish, Hebrew, the yarmulke, fringed garment, tefillim, and so on; the sacred Jewish religious books, Torah and Talmud; the doctrinal basis of belief, the synagogue and its importance; the Jewish year with the most important holy days; and the basis of customs and observances in Judaism.

2. The Jews in Oświęcim Through the Centuries.

The meeting will present the basic facts and dates in the history of the city’s Jewish population and a brief introduction to the history of the Jews in Poland; a visit to an exhibition on the history of the Jews in Oświęcim; and a visit to the Chewra Lomdej Misznajot synagogue, covering its history and present use accompanied by the documentary film Wspomnienia z Oświęcimia [Memories of Oświęcim] (15 min.), in which former residents recall their childhoods.

3. Vestiges of the Oświęcim Jews: A Walk Through the Town and the Cemetery.

This event is a chance to visit places associated before the war with Jewish history and culture in Oświęcim. The walk will take in Jan Skarbek Square, ulica Berka Joselewicza (the old Jewish street), the Main Square, ulica Mickiewicza, and the Jewish Center. At the cemetery, the participants will visit the Scharf family ohel, see the oldest gravestones, and learn about the symbolism of selected gravestones. Aside from the lectures, the Center also offers showings of films on the history and culture of the Jews. It is open to cooperation in education programs with schools, non-government organizations, and informal groups, according to its director, Tomasz Kuncewicz.

The Chewra Lomdej Misznajot synagogue and Jewish Education Center are located at 3-5 Plac ks. Jana Skarba in Oświęcim, and are open from 8:30 AM to 8:00 PM from March to October, and from 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM from November through February. The synagogue and Educational Center are closed on Saturdays and Jewish holy days.

The Oświęcim Jews

Through the middle of the fifteenth century, the only Jews in the Duchy of Oświęcim were non-permanent residents. Only after the purchase of the Duchy by the King of Poland in 1457 did they gain the right of permanent residence.

In order to regulate the influx of Jews to Oświęcim, King Sigismund August issued a document in 1563 forbidding any further increase in their numbers and banning them from buying or building houses on the main square. The first wooden synagogue was erected in 1588. In 1636, King Ladislaus IV Vasa granted the Oświęcim Jews privileges including the right of residence, the right to own buildings and property within and without the city walls, and the right to the use of a synagogue and cemetery.

In the second half of the eighteenth century, many Jews from Żywiec and Wadowice moved to Oświęcim and founded a Wadowice center here. The Jewish cemetery was founded at its present site around 1800. A new synagogue was built in the early twentieth century; the Germans destroyed it in September 1939.

At the start of the Second World War, Jews made up more than half of Oświęcim’s population of over 12,000. The Third Reich annexed parts of Poland, including the Bielsko district, which contained Oświęcim, in October 1939. The Germans expelled all Jewish members from the city council. They dissolved the council in mid-November and the city came totally under German authority.

The Germans forced approximately 300 Oświęcim Jews to labor at preparing the site of the future Auschwitz Concentration Camp in 1940. All Jews were expelled from Oświęcim in 1941, with most of them being sent to the ghettos in Chrzanów, Sosnowiec, and Będzin, as part of the preparations for the construction of the IG Farben plant. In September 1945, the Jewish community in Oświęcim numbered 186 souls. The Jews who arrived here after the war opted for emigration, mainly to Germany, the USA, and Israel.

Szymon Klueger, the last living Jew in Oświęcim, died there in May 2000. Four months later, in 2000, the Chewra Lomdej Misznajot synagogue was reopened near his house.