It was likely around that time that the first Jewish settlers arrived in the town, as there were already five Jewish families living there in 1566. In 1583, Krzysztof Pilecki – the owner of Łańcut – issued a document prohibiting Jews from settling in the town. They were also forbidden to engage in trade and crafts. Historical data shows, however, that the prohibition was not rigidly enforced, since five Jewish taxpayers were recorded in the town in 1600. In 1624, there were already 18 Jewish families living in Łańcut.

The situation changed in the mid-18th century. The erstwhile owner of Łańcut, Stanisław Lubomirski, started to encourage Jews to settle and buy houses in his estate. At that time, the local Jewish community probably already owned a burial place and a wooden synagogue.

The Description

The Jewish cemetery was established on a hill outside the town walls (between today’s Moniuszki Street and Grunwaldzka Street). The development of the Jewish community was hampered by the wars and invasions of the mid-17th century. It was only at the end of the century that the Jewish population started to recover from the damages. Sources from 1684 show that there were already as many as 33 Jewish families living in Łańcut. In 1765, the town was inhabited by 829 Jews. In the second half of the 18th century, Łańcut became an important centre of the Hasidic movement. Elimelech ben Eleazar Lipmann of Lizhensk (Leżajsk) arrived to the town in 1770 and settle there for two years. Another important Hasidic figure associated with Łańcut was Yaakov Yitzchak HaLevi Horowitz, called the Seer of Lublin, who resided in the town in the 1790s.

With the growing size of the Jewish community, the local cemetery needed to be enlarged several time. The site was completely devastated during World War II and only fragments of matzevot have survived to the present day. At the end of the 20th century, two ohelim were reconstructed on the initiative of Rabbi Mendel Reichberg. The larger ohel stands over the grave of Tzaddik Naftali Zvi Horowitz of Ropshitz (Ropczyce), while the smaller one was erected over the grave of Tzaddik Eleazar, son of Zvi Elimelech Spira of Dinov (Dynów). The cemetery was surrounded with a fence.

In the 19th century, the continuously developing Łańcut community maintained two synagogues. The population was growing in size. In 1870, the Jewish community had 1,778 members, and in 1900 – as many as 2,588, of whom 1,940 lived in Łańcut itself.

The old cemetery started to fill up as early as ca. 1860. Decision was therefore made to establish another Jewish cemetery in Łańcut. It was founded in the southern part of the town, at today’s Traugutta Street. This necropolis, too, was devastated by the Germans during World War II. In 1942, it was used as a site of executions of the Jewish population. At least 120 people were murdered there. After 1945, a new fence was erected. A monument commemorating the victims of the Holocaust was placed by the cemetery wall, bearing the inscription: “Site of mass executions of victims of fascism, 1941–1944.” The site continued to fall into decline in the post-war years, with local residents plundering the preserved matzevot. Only scattered fragments of tombstones and grave copings remain at the cemetery, many of them hidden between bushes or covered with turf. Pieces of several dozen tombstones are stored in the vestibule of the Łańcut synagogue. The cemetery plot covers an area of 0,75 ha; it is not fully fenced.

Description copyright owner: POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews