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Kazimierz Dolny
[Yiddish, Kuzmir] - A city in the Lublin voivodship, on the Vistula river. King Kazimierz III the Great is regarded as the city's founder, and it was he also who is said to have built the Kazimierz castle, as well as that in nearby Bochotnica, where, as legend has it, his lover Esterka of Opoczno lived. There was a customs office in Kazimierz Dolny, which is located at a place where the Vistula river was crossed. The city grew especially much during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, thanks to its location along a navigable river and role in the grain trade. Beer brewing also was economically important.
In the mid-sixteenth century, Kazimierz Dolny had about 2,000 inhabitants, many of whom were Jews; it was the second-largest city in the Lublin voivodship. In the mid-seventeenth century, the city was seriously damaged as a result of wars and the plague. In order to rebuild the city, Jan III Sobieski granted its Jews a privilege in 1676 that allowed them to run inexpensive restaurants, produce beer, and trade in various goods, including foodstuffs. During that same period, Kazimierz Dolny was granted the right to organize fairs.
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In the eighteenth century, it gradually lost significance as that of Pulawy, the Czartoryski family seat, grew. The city's economic position was reduced further by the collapse in the grain trade and by another outbreak of the plague. In 1815, the city became part of the Kingdom of Poland; during this period it became one of the centers of Chasidism (Chasidim of Kazimierz). In 1880, 1,784 Jews lived here (54% of its total population). Most of them were involved in crafts and small-scale trade. The town had 42 shops at that time, most of which were Jewish.
From the mid-nineteenth century, Kazimierz Dolny became increasingly popular as a summer holiday and tourist destination. During the interwar period, Jewish filmmakers also realized the town held many possibilities for them. Lengthy sequences from the film Jidel gra na skrzypcach (Yidel Plays the Violin) were filmed there.
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on the internet
Text from Alina Cala, Hanna Wegrzynek and Gabriela Zalewska:
"Historia i kultura Zydow polskich. Slownik",
edited by WSiP
A ghetto was created in 1940 after the Germans took the city. About two thousand Jews were crowded into it; the ghetto was liquidated in just one day in March 1943, when most of its residents were killed on the square. Jews working in the nearby quarries were taken to the ghetto in Opole Lubelskie.
Today, Kazimierz Dolny still has its eighteenth-century synagogue, which currently houses a cinema. Part of its cemetery has also survived, where a lapidarium was created in the 1970's. The museum in Kazimierz boasts many items of Jewish ornamental art made of silver.
(H.W./CM)
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