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Kołaczyce, Poland

(District of Jaslo, Region of Krakow)

Translated by Jerrold Landau

* including residents of the nearby villages

It was considered an urban settlement, but in reality was a village 10 kilometers away from Jaslo. At the beginning of the 14^th century, Kołaczyce was owned by the monastery of the city of Tyniec. In 1358, Kołaczyce is mentioned as a city under the private ownership of the nobility, but we do not know if it was given the status of a city. In 1473, the Hungarians conquered Kołaczyce and left behind great destruction. During the 18^th century, the residents conducted business in wool and textiles at the local fairs. During the 19^th century Kołaczyce was known for its home manufacturing of woolen blankets and earthenware vessels.

There were no Jews in Kołaczyce until the end of the 18^th century. A document of 1783 states that “There is not even one Jew in the city, and therefore, the situation of the citizens is better.” Jews settled in Kołaczyce during the first half of the 19^th century. At first, there were only a few families, who earned their livelihood from inns and taverns. Later, the Jews were also occupied in small-scale trade and peddling, especially at the fairs. By the 1860s, there were already several families in Kołaczyce. They were able to maintain a house of worship and a mikva (ritual bath); however, the settlement belonged to the nearby community of Jaslo for communal purposes. The Jewish population of Kołaczyce reached its peak during the latter part of the 18^th century. During that time, an independent community was organized, with its own rabbi. In 1890, Rabbi Yaakov Frankel-Teomim was appointed as the rabbi of Kołaczyce. He served there until 1902, when he moved to Podgórze. Apparently, the rabbinical seat of Kołaczyce was regarded as a steppingstone to a more prominent position in a larger, more honorable community; for the next rabbi as well, Rabbi Sinai Halberstam, only remained in Kołaczyce for a few years. He moved to serve in the community of Żmigród in 1907. A few years before the First World War, the rabbi of Kołaczyce was Rabbi Chona Halberstam, of the dynasty of the Admorim of Sanz. He also led his Hassidic flock in Kołaczyce, and was known as the Admor of Kolishitz. He left Kołaczyce during the war, and settled in Rzeszow. He perished in Frysztak during the Holocaust.

The local ruffians perpetrated a pogrom against the Jews of Kołaczyce in 1892. The disturbances lasted for two days. The window panes of the Beis Midrash were shattered, and the shops and inns were pillaged. In addition to the pillaging, the ruffians destroyed a great deal of property. A Torah scroll was also stolen from a certain Jew (apparently, he maintained a minyan in his home).

The pogroms in Kołaczyce were repeated during the wave of disturbances and pogroms that spread through the Jewish communities of Western Galicia in 1898. In 1901, the mayor forbade the Jews from bathing at the place where the Christians bathed in the Wislok River that was next to the town. The Jews protested against this to the authorities in Jaslo, and later even in the capital of Vienna, albeit with no positive results. The security of the Jews of Kołaczyce was further shaken during the final years before the Second World War. A group of ruffians of the National Democratic (Endek) Party operated there for a few months, often breaking the window panes of Jewish shops. The Jews of Kołaczyce were forbidden from maintaining even one kosher butcher shop in the wake of the ban on kosher slaughter in 1936.

A traditional, Hassidic environment pervaded in the town even during the interwar period. When a chapter of the Akiva Zionist youth group was founded in 1933, its few members were considered as “goyim” (gentiles), and “wanton people” by the Hassidim. This impeded the development of the chapter.

Information on the fate of the Jews of Kołaczyce during the Holocaust era is scanty. It is known that a Judenrat was appointed in the town in December 1939, and the J.S.S. offered aid to the needy. All the Jews of Kołaczyce and its environs, approximately 260 souls, were murdered on August 12, 1942. The murder was perpetrated by the Germans in the Podzamze Forest next to the village of Krajowice

Bibliography:

Yad Vashem Archives: 016/1650, 016/4698.
AMT'Y: HM/9527g
Community of Beicz Ramat Gan, 5720 (1960, page 164.
“Hamagid” June 23, 1892, June 16, 1898, October 31, 1901.
“ Gazeta Żydowska” August 25, 1941; “Chwila Wieczorna” December 26, 1936, “Diwrej Akiba” December 22, 1933; “Nowy Dziennik” October 18, 1934, January 8, 1937, December 14, 1937, April 8, 1938.

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Updated 12 Jul 2014 by LA