Pinkas Hakehillot Polin: Rzgow, Poland

"Rzgów" - Encyclopedia of Jewish
Communities in Poland, Volume I
(Poland)
51°40' / 19°30'

Translation of the "Rzgów" chapter from
Pinkas Hakehillot Polin

Published in Jerusalem

Acknowledgments
Project Coordinator
Morris Wirth

Our sincere appreciation to Yad Vashem for permission
to put this material on the JewishGen web site.

This is a translation from: Pinkas Hakehillot: Encyclopedia of Jewish Communities, Poland,
Volume I, pages 105-106, published by Yad Vashem, Jerusalem

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(pages 105-106)

Rzgów
(District of Łódź)

Translated by Morris Wirth

Year	General Population	Jewish Population
1808	893	94
1827	949	65
1857	1,091	122
1897	1,631	202
1921	1,808	93

In 1467, Rzgów was granted the status of a town, and in the beginning, it was property of the church. Afterwards, the town became property of the secular authorities. Then, Jews were allowed to settle without restrictions in Rzgów. However, there wasn't anything attracting people to settle there. Because of this, the town didn't develop, and the Jewish community remained small well into the 20^th century.

It is likely that a large fire in 1917 contributed to the decline in the number of Jews. By 1921, there were just 93 Jews (5.1 % of the total population), living in Rzgów. Twelve years later, in September 1929, a second huge fire took place.

Rzgów was small and was never able to employ a rabbi or even a dayan (judge). In matters of Kashruth, the shochet (ritual slaughterer) passed judgement.

For sometime, the 'Admor', Moshe, set up a court in Rzgów. Moshe was the son of Emanuel and the grandson of Rabbi Yeshaya of Przedbórz. Afterwards, Moshe moved the court from Kock to Pabianice and then in the 1930's to Łódź. After World War II started, the Jewish population didn't last very long. It is safe to say that at the end of 1939, the Jews from Rzgów (like other municipal settlements in the District of Łódź) were expelled to the General Government or escaped from Rzgów.

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