KROSNO

KROSNO , town in Rzeszow province, S.E. Poland. Jewish presence in Krosno is mentioned before 1434. In spite of the privilege de non tolerandis Judaeis granted to the town by King Sigismund ii Augustus (1548–72), Jews were allowed to settle there as tenants of taverns, leading to a complaint by the inhabitants to the authorities in 1655. As Jews from the neighboring towns of *Rymanow and Dukla visited the annual fairs of Krosno, disregarding the prevailing prohibition, the municipal council issued an order that the robbing and even the murder of a Rymanow Jew was to go unpunished. The restrictions on Jewish residence in the town were not abolished until 1860. With the development of the oil and petroleum industry, there was increased economic activity in the town and vicinity. In 1880 the Jewish community of Krosno numbered 327 (12% of the total population), while there were 4,612 Jews (6.6%) in the whole district; in 1900 there were 961 (22%) in the town and 5,839 (7.2%) in the district, rising to 1,559 (28%) in the town and 6,253 (7.2%) in the district in 1910, and 1,725 (27%) in the town and 4,861 (6%) in the district in 1921. At that time there were 55 Jewish workshops in Krosno. Between the two world wars Krosno Jews were engaged in petty trade, weaving, tailoring, and shoemaking. During this period antisemitism increased and economic boycotts were common. Before World War ii 2,500 Jews lived in Krosno with another 5,870 in nearby smaller places.

Holocaust Period

The Germans arrived on September 9, 1941. In August 1942 they executed the sick and old and then deported 1,000 Jews to the Belzec death camp. Another 300–600 were put in a ghetto and sent to work in the nearby airfield and quarries. On December 4 they were deported to *Rzeszow, where they shared the fate of the local Jews.

bibliography:

I. Schiper, Studja nad stosunkani gospodarczymi żydów Polsce podczas Śedniowiecza (1911), index; idem, Dzieje handlu żydowskiege na ziemiach polskich (1937), index; B. Wasiutyński, Ludność żydowska w Polsce w xix i xx wiekach (1930), 96, 107, 115; Kortshin – Sefer Yizkor (Yid., 1967); E. Podhorizer-Sandel, in: bŻih, 30 (1959). add. bibliography: J. Garbacik, Krosno, Studja z dziejow miasta i regionu (1975); pk.

[Stefan Krakowski]