The golden age of Kazimierz Dolny ended in February 1656, when Swedish troops under King Charles X Gustav burned and ransacked the town. The number of inhabitants declined, and King John III Sobieski tried to improve the situation, by allowing in 1677 Armenian, Greek and Jewish merchants to settle in Kazimierz Dolny. Meanwhile, the profitable Vistula river trade came to an end, as there was no demand for Polish grains in Western Europe.
There were already immigrants in the town by then. A small Jewish community was present in the city from the time of Casimir III the Great in the 14th century. The king granted the Jews a writ of rights which caused the town to become a focal point for Jewish immigration. When John III Sobieski became King in 1674, he granted the Jews of Poland a respite from taxes. Sobieski also reconfirmed for the Jews all the rights they had been granted by previous kings. During his reign, the housing restrictions were abolished and the Jewish community began to flourish again.
The Polish kings brought Jews to Poland, but maybe did not make them popular. Like much of Eastern Poland, this small town was half Jewish before WWII. The cemetary here has some very unique styles of grave stones, and despite the occupation of the town by the Nazis, there are quite a few stones that are in excellent condition. There is so little known about the Jewish people who disappeared from Poland in WWII, their cultural differences from region to region, and why their remembrances of their dead were identifiable by region. It reminds me of cloth weavings in Guatemala--you can tell the town of the wearer if you know what you are looking for. I suspect that is true of graves in Poland, from what little I have seen. The stone carvers had their own styles. I wish I knew more about that.
The golden age of Kazimierz Dolny ended in February 1656, when Swedish troops under King Charles X Gustav burned and ransacked the town. The number of inhabitants declined, and King John III Sobieski tried to improve the situation, by allowing in 1677 Armenian, Greek and Jewish merchants to settle in Kazimierz Dolny. Meanwhile, the profitable Vistula river trade came to an end, as there was no demand for Polish grains in Western Europe.
There were already immigrants in the town by then. A small Jewish community was present in the city from the time of Casimir III the Great in the 14th century. The king granted the Jews a writ of rights which caused the town to become a focal point for Jewish immigration. When John III Sobieski became King in 1674, he granted the Jews of Poland a respite from taxes. Sobieski also reconfirmed for the Jews all the rights they had been granted by previous kings. During his reign, the housing restrictions were abolished and the Jewish community began to flourish again.
The Polish kings brought Jews to Poland, but maybe did not make them popular. Like much of Eastern Poland, this small town was half Jewish before WWII. The cemetary here has some very unique styles of grave stones, and despite the occupation of the town by the Nazis, there are quite a few stones that are in excellent condition. There is so little known about the Jewish people who disappeared from Poland in WWII, their cultural differences from region to region, and why their remembrances of their dead were identifiable by region. It reminds me of cloth weavings in Guatemala--you can tell the town of the wearer if you know what you are looking for. I suspect that is true of graves in Poland, from what little I have seen. The stone carvers had their own styles. I wish I knew more about that.
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