Polska / śląskie
|Synagogues, prayer houses and others||Cemeteries||Sites of martyrdom||Judaica in museums||Andere|
|Province:||śląskie / inne (before 1939)|
|County:||gliwicki / gliwicki (before 1939)|
|Community:||Gliwice / Gleiwitz (before 1939)|
|Other names:||Glivitium [łacina]|
Gleiwitz [j. niemiecki]
Hlivice [j. czeski]
Гливице [j. rosyjski]
Adam Marczewski /
The town of Gliwice, seat of Gliwice County, is located in southern Poland, Śląskie Province. It is located in the Silesian Highlands, by Kłodnica River, its right tributary Bytomka and Gliwicki Canal.
Between 1582 and 1584, Emperor Rudolph II confirmed the earlier edict ordering Jews to leave the Habsubrg hereditary lands and settle only in special enclaves. The ban on Jewish settlement in the town of Gliwice must have been associated with this edict (however, it is impossible to determine how long it was in force).
The Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648) led to the depopulation of many Silesian towns. Aiming at improving the financial situation of the country, Emperor Ferdinand tempered the policy towards Jews in 1627. He issued an edict allowing them to resettle in towns after paying a special fee of 40 thousand guldens. The edict also allowed a selected group of privileged Jews (privilegire Juden), who were also called court Jews (Hofjuden), to carry out conditional trade and craft. The emperor also gave them permission to lease the collection of taxes and duties and to purchase houses as their own properties .
The first documented records of Jews living in Gliwice date back to 1698, the year when an eighteen-year-old Jewish girl called Anna Maria Renata was baptized .
In May 1713, Emperor Charles VI issued a tolerance edict (Toleranzpatent), which allowed Jews to settle in Silesia after paying a special tolerance tax. The edict divided the Jewish community into two groups: (1) those who did and those who did not own land properties (they paid lower taxes) and (2) tolerated Jews. The Jews from Głogów and Biała Prudnicka were exempt from the tolerance tax . In 1715, the Jews received the privilege to run taverns in the town.
In October 1726, the Chief District Office in Silesia issued the “Wegen der Juden” patent, which prohibited Jews from settling in places and houses they had not previously lived in. This way, new Jews (the so-called strangers) were forbidden to settle in Silesia. The patent also introduced "the inkolat rule", according to which only one son of each Jewish family was permitted to marry and was given the right to settle (inkolae). The remaining sons were considered strangers and after coming of age, they had to leave the country . The implementation of this law increased Jewish settlement in Silesia. What is interesting is that the Jews settling here carried out their own business activities. This created a strong opposition and protests on
The first mention about the settlement dates back to the end of the 13th century. Gliwice received the city rights before 1276. . It had an advantageous location at the crossing of two important trade routes– one joining Krakow with Wroclaw, the second; so called Amber Route, leading from the south of Europe to the Baltic Sea. It was the location that influenced development. In 1327, Prince Władysław Bytomski (1277-1352) rendered homeage to the Bohemian king and since then, Gliwice came under Bohemian sovereignty, sharing the political fait of Silesia. In 1431, the Hussites took over Gliwice, changing it into one of their centers. . The town’s ramparts were constructed during that time. Louis II Jagiellon (1506-1526), King of Hungary and Bohemia, died in 1526, without issue, thus the Bohemian throne was given to Archduke Ferdinand of Austria, from the Habsburg dynasty. Gliwice came under the rule of the Habsburg dynasty, during those times, a brewery, hop trade and clothing trade developed. In successive fires of 1711, 1730 and 1735, the brewery burnt down and, as a result, this lucrative branch declined. In 1711, local clothing trade collapsed due to the custom war between Prussia and Austria. Since 1742, Gliwice belonged to the Prussian state and was named “Gleiwitz”. Prussian authorities developed and modified old trade routes and means of transportation. Between 1792 and 1804, the Kłodnica Canal was constructed, in order to transport coal to the Odra River. The coal from Gliwice was cheaper than the English one and took over the Berlin market. In 1796, state owned steel mill was opened (Huta Królewska „Gliwice”); it became famous all over Europe, not only for its artistic casts, but also for its armament production. In 1845, a railway connection between Opole and Wroclaw was established. In 1848, a new steel mill “Hermina” (presently “Łabędy”) was opened. Good economic situation influenced town’s rapid development. In 1871, there were 13, 130 inhabitants, while in 1914 the amount rose up to 70, 160. . During the IWW, the main industry, supporting the economy was armaments production, however some plants were closed and the unemployment increased.
In the inter war period, the city of Gleiwitz, as a result of 1921referendum, remained within the German borders. In 1938, the construction of th
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