ZWOLEN

ZWOLEN (Pol. Zwoleń ; Rus. Zvolen ), town in Kielce province, E. central Poland. In 1578 King Stephen Bathory permitted the Jews to settle and trade in the town. In 1591 King Sigismund iii prohibited the Jews of Zwolen from acquiring more than ten houses; they nevertheless owned more houses. In 1815 Zwolen was included in Congress Poland, and henceforth its Jewish population gradually increased, numbering 629 (33% of the total) in 1827; 1,350 (49%) in 1856; 3,242 (56%) in 1897; and 3,787 (51%) in 1921. Apart from petty trade, the Jews of Zwolen engaged in the manufacture of clothes and shoes, in tanning, and foodstuff production.

[Shimshon Leib Kirshenboim]

Holocaust Period

With the beginning of the German occupation in September 1939 the Jews were subjected to economic restrictions, confiscation of property, and forced payments of money. In 1941 people were seized and sent to the Pustkow labor camp. In the summer of 1942 transports of men and women capable of working were sent to the *Skarzysko-Kamienna labor camp. At the end of October 1942 deportations to the extermination camps began. In the process of assembling people about 100 were killed, especially the elderly and sick who could not carry out the Nazi orders. The deportees were sent to *Treblinka. Over 100 Jews who were engaged in putting deportees' property in order for the Germans remained in the city and were later transferred to labor camps.

[Aharon Weiss]

bibliography:

Halpern, Pinkas, index; B. Wasiutyński, Ludność żydowska w Polsce w wiekach xix i xx (1930), 32; Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego, 14 (1895), 700.