SWIDNICA

SWIDNICA (Ger. Schweidnitz ), town in Silesia, Poland. A synagogue existed in Swidnica in 1285 and a cemetery also served neighboring communities, its oldest gravestone dating from 1289. At the end of 1301 a dispute arose between a Christian butcher and the Jews; this was settled in early 1302 when six Jews were given limited slaughtering rights. In 1328 Duke Bolko ii of Schweidnitz confirmed the liberal privileges granted by his grandfather in 1295, including the right to trade and to lend money without restriction, thus protecting the moneylending Jews after they were excluded from other trades by the guilds. A commission was constituted of four Jewish community leaders ("der Viere") which possessed wide powers; among other accomplishments, it foiled the town's attempt to open a brothel on the Jews' street. During the *Black Death the community was annihilated. In 1370 the new community was permitted to open a synagogue. Swidnica maintained an important yeshivah at which R. Israel *Isserlein and David Falkind, teacher of R. Israel *Bruna, were active. In 1453 John of *Capistrano appeared at Swidnica and accused the Jews of desecrating the *Host; 17 were burnt and the rest expelled. There was no community for three centuries and the synagogue was converted into a chapel.

A new community, organized in 1859, increased from 137 to 339 in 1880, and a synagogue was consecrated in 1877. The community declined to 130 by 1925 and came to an end under the Nazis.

After World War ii the community was renewed by Polish Jews; in 1962 a Jewish producers' cooperative was recorded. After the Six-Day War (1967) communal life practically ceased to exist.

bibliography:

M. Brann, Geschichte der Juden in Schlesien, 6 vols. (1896–1917), passim; fjw, 95; A. Grotte, Synagogenspuren in schlesischen Kirchen (1937), 25–36; ajyb, 63 (1962), 376–7; Germ Jud, 2 (1968), 754–5; pk, Germanyah.