Pinczow

PINCZOW (Pol. Pínczów; Rus. Pinchov; Yid. Pinchev), town in Kielce province, S.E. Poland. During the 16^th–18^th centuries Pinczow was a busy market town in Sandomierz province. The date of the foundation of the Jewish community is unknown, but the fact that it sent representatives to the *Councils of the Lands testifies to its significance in the 17^th century. During the attacks led by the Polish hetman S. *Czarniecki (1656), the Jews of Pinczow suffered comparatively little since they took refuge with the local margrave, and were defended by his troops. The Pinczow district (galil) was included in the province of *Lesser Poland. One of the most interesting relics possessed by the community is the hand-written prayer book which was completed (according to an inscription) by a scribe named Elijah b. Samuel Gronenn in January 1614 (published by S. Dubnow in Voskhod, 14, no. 4 (1894), 149–50). Other records of later years mention martyrs who died as a result of blood libel accusations and during the massacres in the 1640s and 1650s. In 1765 there were 2,862 Jews registered in the district, most of whom lived in the town itself; there were 2,877 Jews (70% of the total population) in the town in 1856 and 5,194 in 1897; in the latter years there were 13,716 Jews in the whole district.

Holocaust Period

At the outbreak of World War II there were about 3,500 Jews in Pinczow. In October 1942, 3,000 Jews were deported to *Treblinka death camp. During the deportation, hundreds of Jews fled into the surrounding forests. About 100 joined the two Jewish partisan units headed by Michal Majtek and Zalman Fajnsztat. These units merged and operated in the vicinity until February 1944, when they incurred heavy losses near Pawlowice. After the war the Jewish community of Pinczow was not reconstituted.

Sources: Encyclopaedia Judaica. © 2007 The Gale Group. All Rights Reserved.