In 1564, Jews owned six buildings in the town, and in 1616 – 17. Little information has been preserved on the establishment of an official Jewish community in Warta. An independent kehilla was certainly not founded in the town until the end of the 16th century.

The wars and natural disasters of the second half of the 17th century brought a deep crisis to the town and resulted in a rise of tensions between the previously amicable local communities of Jews and Christians. During the Swedish Deluge, Warta remained loyal to the Polish king. Its entire population was decimated, but the Jewish community suffered particularly great losses, with many of its members killed at the hands of both the Swedes and the troops of Stefan Czarniecki. A fire broke out in Warta in 1656, destroying the Jewish part of the town. Nonetheless, the community was revived several years later, with throngs of Jewish newcomers arriving in Warta (in 1660). In 1671, the local Jews sent a delegation to King Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki to defend their rights. Following a royal intervention, the town authorities restored their right to slaughter animals and trade in meat and allowed Jewish furriers to produce furs and hats. The ongoing conflict with the Christian townsmen resulted in the adoption of restrictions on Jewish trade in beer and vodka in the 18th century. Nevertheless, the same period saw a steady increase in the share of Jews in Warta’s population. Following the foundation of the Commission of National Education, the elementary school in Warta run by the Bernardines started to accept Jewish pupils (the facility did not collect tuition). During the reign of Stanisław August Poniatowski and the Partitions of Poland, the Jewish community of Warta was dominated by Hasidim. The local rabbis originated from the tzaddik dynasties of Peshischa (Przysucha), Lublin, and Ger (Góra Kalwaria).

According to the 1800 census, Warta had 388 Jewish residents (41% of the total population). In the second half of the 19th century, the size of the community amounted to over 2,000 people, slightly exceeding the number of Christians living in the town – they constituted between 56% (1864) and 52% (1881) of the population. In the interwar period, their share fell below 50% of all 4,000 inhabitants of Warta.

The Jews of Warta worked in numerous artisan professions, mainly tailoring, furriery, and glass-making. They were also doctors, dentists, and hairdressers, and were the dominant force among local merchants and wholesalers. The 19th century saw the establishment of a number of small Jewish-owned industrial plants (oil mills, tanneries, a sugar factory, soda and matches factories, and a cloth factory). Ca. 20 Jewish families made a living from renting farms.

The most popular Jewish political force in interwar Warta were the Zionists, mainly from Poale Zion (they opened a library and a drama club in the town). Another influential party was the Orthodox Agudath, which ran a Beit Yaakov school for girls. The left-wing Bund also had quite a large following in Warta.

In September 1939, the Warta synagogue was set on fire by the Germans (it was demolished a year later). In the autumn, after the town had been incorporated into the Reich (Reichsgau Wartheland), preparations started for mass displacement of Jews from Warta, but the plan was eventually abandoned. Instead, a ghetto was established in the town in February of the following year. It was located in the north-western part of Warka, within the area of today’s streets 1 Maja, Paszkowskiego, Sadowa, Kaliska, Piekarska, Kościuszki. The district was administered by the Judenrat (Jewish Council). It was not fenced off, and its boundaries were only marked by boom barriers placed at the ends of streets. The ghetto population initially comprised ca. 2,800 people. Forced labour regime was imposed for all prisoners aged 14 to 60. They worked in various establishments in Warta and in the camps in Gostyń, Potarzyca, and Pawłowice. Following the deportations to labour camps in Leszno, Żabików, and Janikowo carried out in 1941, the number of Jews residing in Warta decreased by over a half. The only people allowed to work in their profession were tailors, shoemakers, and furriers, though only on the condition that the Germans would hold the right of first refusal in the purchase of their products. Several “workshops” were set up in the ghetto, tasked with producing goods for the Wehrmacht. The mayor of Warta employed a small group of young Jews to work on formerly Jewish-owned farms.

The Warka Ghetto was liquidated in August 1942. The deportation action was preceded by a public execution of ten representatives of the community’s elite. It was carried out in April on the square left behind by the demolished synagogue. Among the victims were Rabbi Eliasz Laskowski and Izaak Landau, chairman of the Judenrat. In the summer, most of the ghetto inhabitants were transported to the extermination camp in Chełmno nad Nerem (Kulmhof). A group of 400 young and healthy people fit for work was deported to the Łódź Ghetto. It is estimated that only 50–200 Jews from Warka survived the Holocaust. The few who returned to their hometown after the war left in December 1945, after two Jews (suspected of cooperating with the communist authorities) were killed by a patrol of the Underground Polish Army.

The old Jewish cemetery in Warta, located in Górna Street, was completely destroyed by the Germans during World War II. The plot was developed with residential houses and a kindergarten in the period of the Polish People’s Republic.

The Description

The new Jewish cemetery, covering an area of 1.7 ha, is located at the junction of Sadowa Street and Deczyńskiego Street. It was established in 1800. The oldest preserved tombstone at the site, placed on the grave of Abraham, dates back to 1812. The last recorded burial in the necropolis took place in 1942. During the occupation, the cemetery was destroyed by the Germans, who tore out many tombstones and used them to pave squares and streets around Warta. In the 1980s, the municipal self-government began to liquidate the neglected necropolis, removing all remaining matzevot from the site. The broken tombstones were to be assembled into a lapidarium. Thanks to Ireneusz Ślipek’s initiative and his intervention with the central authorities, the plans were abandoned. Scattered matzevot (preserved in whole or in fragments) were returned to the cemetery grounds. Ca. 320 tombstones were registered during the inventory of the necropolis carried out in the first decade of the 21st century. Some of them still bear rich decorations and inscriptions in Hebrew, Yiddish, and Polish. Several memorial sites have also been established in the cemetery. In 1992, Leon Klinowski founded a monument commemorating the ten Jews publicly executed before the liquidation of the ghetto. In 1995, two granite stones in memory of the same event were placed at the site on the initiative of Bronka Ajzensztajn-Rosen.

Właściciel praw autorskich do opisu: Muzeum Historii Żydów Polskich POLIN.