[Page 377]

Year	Population	Jews
1765	?	229
1880	1,347	416
1890	1,343	378
1900	1,430	340
1910	1,506	348
1921	1,170	211

Stara Sól is first mentioned as an urban settlement in 1421. Its residents were primarily occupied in agriculture and salt mining. Regarding the origins of the Jews of Stara Sól: a royal charter of rights was given to the residents of the city of Stara Sól in 1615, stating that the Jews were forbidden from owning private houses and from working in agriculture and commerce. Despite this ban, Jews continued to live in the city, and were economically active. Sources from 1617 speak of the “Jew Moshe of Stara Sól” who apparently worked in salt mining and salt trade. In 1701–1704, Shmuel Chajmowicz was the primary lessee of the manufacture and trade of salt in the place.

[Page 378]

He exported 18,00 barrels of salt annually to the commercial centers of Poland.

In 1776, a large fire destroyed a sizable portion of the houses of the city. Many Jewish homes were also damaged in the fire. For a time, Jews were forbidden from building new houses. At the end of the 18th century, the number of permanent Jewish residents of Stara Sól declined to 21. However, a strengthening of the economic activity of the Jews of the city began in the middle of the 19^th century, and the size of the community grew noticeably. They continued in the salt business, and broadened their fields of commerce to include agricultural products. Flourmills and sawmills in the town and the area were under Jewish ownership. In the 1860s, Rabbi Avraham Moshe the son of Rabbi Efraim Tzvi served as the rabbi of the community. Rabbi David the son of Rabbi Yehoshua Reis occupied the rabbinical seat in 1870. Rabbi Pinchas the son of Rabbi Shimon–Elimelech Rimalt served as rabbi of Stara Sól at the beginning of the 1890s. After the First World War, Rabbi Ephraim Langnaur served there. He also served as the rabbi of several other cities of the region.

Between the two world wars, the Jews of Stara Sól were in a perpetual economic crisis. The government monopoly of salt manufacturing and marketing affected the primary source of livelihood of the members of the community. Many families left the place and moved to larger settlements.

Ten shekels were sold in Stara Sól before the 14^th Zionist Congress. In 1927, only five were sold. For the 17^th Zionist Congress in 1939, 14 votes were cast for the General Zionists, and 1 for the Revisionists.

Stara Sól was under Soviet rule from 1939–1941. The Jews suffered the usual tribulations of that era.

The Germans entered Stara Sól on July 2, 1941. Even prior to their entry, after the Soviets evacuated the district at the end of June, the Ukrainians began to oppress the Jewish population. A number of Jews who were “accused of Communism” were removed from the settlement, and their traces disappeared. They were apparently murdered by the Ukrainian policemen. Hunger and illness were the lot of the Jews of Stara Sól in the autumn and winter of 1941–1942. German policemen would arrive from Stary Sambor from time to time, pillage the property of the Jews, and snatch them for forced labor. In the wake of this constant oppression, Jewish families began to abandon the place and join their relatives in the larger communities of Stary Sambor and Sambor. In March 1942, a group of Jews was deported to the Sambor Ghetto. The last members of the community were moved from Stara Sól to Sambor at the beginning of August 1942, where they joined those who were deported to the Belzec Death Camp.

Sources

Yad Vashem Archives: M–1/E, 105/45, M–1/E 1818/1682
Hamitzpeh January 30, 1919

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