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Jews first settled in Lask in the late 16th century. For the
next 200 years the Jews of Lask enjoyed the protection of the owners of the
town. Jews were allowed to engage in crafts, grain and livestock
trades, and to operate inns, but were barred from owning property in the area of the
market square. In 1624, and again in 1747, fires destroyed much of the town,
including Jewish homes, the ancient synagogue and Jewish cemetery. According to the
1765 census, there were 891 Jews in Lask, and 276 Jews living in the 54
surrounding settlements subordinate to Lask.
After the increased industrialization of Poland during the early to
mid-19th century, the Jews of Zdunska Wola and Pabianice set up their own kehillot,
independent of Lask's Jewish community.
From the mid-19th century on, most Jews in Lask were Chassidim
of Kotsk or Warka. The Jewish population was influenced by the socialist and
Zionist movements. In 1919, two of the fourteen members of the municipal council
were Jews. In the inter-war period, there were two Jewish libraries, a cheder
(founded in 1927) and a number of Hebrew schools and sports societies. An
economic boycott against the Jews in Lask was imposed after the economic crisis of 1929.
Continued in The Holocaust>>
Jewish Population of Lask
|
Year |
Number of Jews |
% of Total Population |
| 1765 |
891 |
|
| 1827 |
1,270 |
64% |
| 1897 |
2,862 |
68% |
| 1921 |
2,623 |
53.6% |
| 1939 |
3,864 |
64.4% |
Source
Encyclopaedia Judaica. Jerusalem: Keter, 1971.
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