PIASECZNO

PIASECZNO, town in Warszawa province, Poland. During the 18th century there was a Jewish settlement in the town, but in 1740 King Augustus III prohibited the residence of Jews. In 1789 they were also forbidden to trade or be innkeepers in the town. After the abolition of this decree by the Russian government, the population of the town increased from 1,328 in 1865 to 5,604 in 1921. The latter figure included 2,256 Jews. An active Jewish life began after World War I and in 1932 a Zionist delegate was elected to head the community. Among the ẓaddikim of Piaseczno, R. Israel Jehiel Kalish (whose father R. Simḥah Bunem Kalish of Otwock died in Tiberias in 1907) was renowned at the beginning of the 20th century. (Shimshon Leib Kirshenboim) -Holocaust Period Before the outbreak of World War II, there were about 3,000 Jews in Piaseczno. The Jewish community was liquidated on Jan. 22–27, 1941, when all the Jews were deported to warsaw and shared the fate of that community. After the war the Jewish community was not reconstituted. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: K.K. Shapiro, Sefer Esh Kodesh (1960); M. Piekarz, Ha-Te'udah ha-Ḥasidit ha-Sifrutit ha-Akharona al Admath Polin, Divrei ha-Rabbi mi-Piaseczno be-Getto Varsha (1979).