KRASNYSTAW

KRASNYSTAW (Rus. Krasnostav), town in Lublin province, E. Poland. The customs records of the town for 1548 show that Jews were living in Krasnystaw then. In 1554 Jews were prohibited from owning dwelling houses in the town and suburbs, and in 1584 they were allowed to reside in the suburbs only. In 1761 three Jews from Wojslawice and one from Czarnoloz were convicted in a blood libel trial in Krasnystaw; another accused, the rabbi of Wojslawice, committed suicide in prison. In the first half of the 19th century there was a bitter struggle between the Jews and the townsmen, who wished to keep their privilege of de non tolerandis Judaeis. In 1824, Jews were permitted to reside temporarily in several villages near the town, but the last restrictions on Jewish residence in Krasnystaw were not abolished until 1862. From 11 Jews residing in the suburbs in 1827, the community grew to 151 (4% of the total population) in 1857, and 1,176 (25% of the total) in 1897. At that time four-fifths of the local trade was in Jewish hands. In 1921 the 1,754 Jews still constituted 20% of the town's population. In the whole district, including the town, there were 10,494 Jews (9% of the total population). The old synagogue, which still stood at the beginning of the 20th century, retained 14th- and 15th-century architectural features (probably relics of a building which had formerly served another purpose). The Germans set up a ghetto for around 2,000 Jews including refugees in August 1942. All were deported to Izbica and from there mostly to the belzec death camp. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Warsaw, Archiwum Akt Dawnych, Akty Komisji spraw wewnętrznych, nos. 97, 107, 185, 188; Halpern, Pinkas, index; B. Wasiutyński, Ludność żydowska w Polsce w XIX i XX wiekach (1930), 33, 61, 76; I. Schiper, Dzieje handlu żydowskiego na ziemiach polskich (1937), index; A. Strunzeiger (ed.), Yisker tsum Ondenk fun di Kdoyshi Krasnystaw (1948); Sefer Turbin (1967), 74–79.