In 1765, 44 Jewish families lived here, and a synagogue was built. In 1773, Stanisław Łętowski, the next owner of the city, issued a privilege that clarified the legal status of Jews.

In the 19th century, there was a significant decline in population due to natural disasters, crop failures, a cholera epidemic, a town fire and emigration of residents for economic purposes. Despite this, at that time Bobowa was one of the largest centers of Hasidism in Poland. The first tzadik was Szlomo ben Meyer Natan Halberstam (1847–1906), who arrived in the town in 1893. After his death, his only son, Bencjon Halberstam (1874–1941), called the Bobover Rebe, known in the interwar period, became the tzadik. The Hasidic trend, called Bobov or Bobover, functions to this day, and its center is located in Brooklyn, New York.

After the outbreak of World War II, Bobowa was occupied by German troops, who started persecution, harassment, attacks and robbery of Jewish property. In 1940, there were only 710 Jews in the town, but in 1941 this number increased to 1,272 with the influx of refugees from the area. The German occupier established a Judenrat, which established a Social Welfare Committee and a folk kitchen. A ghetto was then established in the centre of the town. It also included Jews from smaller towns, including Brzana, Mszanka, Bielanka, and Gładyszów.

The ghetto was liquidated by the Germans in 1942. The occupiers shot many Jews and took the rest to, among others, the labor camp in Szebnie and the ghettos in Gorlice and Biecz, from where they were further transported to the German Nazi extermination camp in Bełżec. After devastated the town, the Germans dismantled 82 houses in Bobowa and sent the obtained material by train to the Reich.

The Description

The Jewish cemetery in Bobowa was established in the 18th century. It is situated in a very picturesque location, on a hill at the end of Wichrowa street. In 1988, the Nissenbaum Family Foundation restored the access road that had been closed after the war; the area was also tidied up and the whole area was fenced.

The most important object of the cemetery is the ohel of the tzadik Szlomo Halberstam and his son-in-law Chaim Yakub Teitelbaum, which is still a pilgrimage destination for Hasidim from Bobowa from all over the world. There are also over 100 tombstones made of marble, granite and sandstone, with typical decorations and inscriptions in Hebrew script. The cemetery also contains a plot of Jewish soldiers from Hungary who died during World War I and mass graves of Jews shot in 1939–1945. A monument was founded in honor of the victims of the Holocaust.

Author of the note: Magda Lucima

Właściciel praw autorskich do opisu: Muzeum Historii Żydów Polskich POLIN.