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As we stand close to finishing the first historical part of our Pinkas Zamość, we find it necessary to introduce two pieces of correspondence from Zamość, which were produced about a hundred years ago. Both appeared int eh Jewish newspaper, written in Polish, of that era, called Jutrzenka [sic: The Morning Star]. This was the first Jewish newspaper published in Polish. This periodical, which appeared weekly, was founded by Daniel Neufeld (Born 1814, Died 1874) and appeared in the years 1861-1863 in Warsaw. The paper was closed by the Czarist administration, and the editor was exiled to Siberia.

The editor, D. Neufeld, himself a community activist and researcher, who made an effort to show the importance of Jewish community life in Poland, encouraged Jutrzenka to publish historical monographs about special Jewish communities. He requested that these various materials be sent to him, acts and documents having to do with Jewish history in Poland.

Two pieces of correspondence appeared there from Zamość, both by Y. Altberg. Dr. Yaakov Shatzky mentions him in a couple of places (in his works that appear in our Pinkas). In one instance he calls him Yehoshua Altberg. In his footnote 30 to his work ‘Sephardim in Zamość,’ he says:

‘This document (referring to the privilege from Jan Zamoyski of the year 1588, for the Sephardic Jews, which appeared before on pp. 88-89) was first recollected in a notice in the weekly ‘Jutrzenka.’ The Zamość Maskil, Yehoshua Altberg, a relative of Peretz, submitted the full text to the editor of ‘Jutrzenka.’ (see previously on p. 92).’

In a second place – in his work, ‘Haskala in Zamość,’ he writes: ‘… he (Yehoshua Margolis) participated in the general life of the city, and participated in revolutionary activities. Together with his relative, Joseph Altberg (1801-1873), a correspondent of ‘Jutrzenka,’ he took part in the Jewish delegation to a Polish patriotic demonstration…⁽ (see previously p. 201).

Whether he was called Yehoshua or Joseph, it is clear – he was a relative of Peretz, and a local community activist.

The first piece of Zamość correspondence appeared in No. 20 of November 15, 1861, and was dedicated to The History of the Jewish Community in Zamość.

The second piece of correspondence was in No. 22 of May 30, 1862, and told of The Jewish Agricultural Colony of Zdanów Near Zamość.

These works, truthfully, were cited in a number of prior chapters, but they are brought here to complete the picture of the Jewish settlement in Zamość a hundred years ago.

We received copies of this correspondence from the Jewish Historical Institute of Warsaw. We have translated them into Yiddish [sic: presumably from Polish].

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“Good deeds are repaid with praise.”
Jan Kachanovsky

Recording the various (Jewish) cities, and their charitable institutions, the various Hevras, and their founders, serves a double purpose.

First, the gratitude that we owe to the various founders of these charitable foundations places a certain obligation on us, that we should set down written thoughts, which should enumerate their heroic endeavors, to express that gratitude, as is the case with other societies (folk organizations). With us, where it has not been the custom to produce physical evidence of such gratitude, we commemorated the good deeds of our heroes by means of historical memorials in which their fine deeds were described. This public recognition on the altar of immortality, that we grant to those doers of good deeds, and what they have earned, is a rather limited form of gratitude, if it is possible at all, in our power, to even thank these benefactors.

The sanctified author of the Psalms, in blessing those who do good deeds, says: ‘The memory of a righteous one is eternal.’ Our Sages, in the Mishnah, in the first chapter of the Seder Pe'ah, express it in this way:

‘Here are the things from which a man enjoys the fruits in this world…’ and there are other things that remain to be reaped in the World to Come: showing respect for elders, and doing of good deeds – and….

Apart from setting up the rules for charitable activities, here is an example of other such deeds: it provides a stimulus for others to do the same, at the time that they see, that even in this world, the results of these good deeds can be seen through public recognition in appropriately allocated respect.

We do not subscribe to the position that a stout-hearted person does his good deeds for one or another reason – it is not our concern whether he does it for his own benefit (honor). There is not only one institution that can thank its existence for the efforts of such people.

The first use is for the writers, and the second use for the readers. It is a known fact that such records are both important and necessary.

Therefore, it raises the question: -- we, who have in almost every town all manner of charitable Hevras, (in the larger cities, hospitals, and in the smaller towns, all manner of Hevras) – where for example, for poor people who are too embarrassed to go door-to-door to collect funds to marry off a daughter; or a free loan society, etc., why have we not, with the exception of Warsaw and Czestochowa, created any record of these institutions and their founders?

This matter relates to the situation of our writers, and we can perhaps make sense of it by observing that up till now we have not had our own organ, a special periodical, which would be dedicated to such matters. It is understandable, that from the available periodicals of the country (the non-Jewish ones), which do open their pages to us in connection with specific matters, we cannot rely on them to provide a forum for details about (Jewish) affairs, which would not interest the general (non-Jewish) reader at all.

Now, however, that the long-awaited ‘Jutrzenka’ has appeared on our horizon, and we now have our organ; now, I say, the obligation of every one of us, everyone of us who is vitally interested in the welfare of our co-religionists; that a writeup of the institutions be sent in from every city, where a charitable institution exists; and the names of the founders be enumerated; and we should record the significance of the successes and failures of the institution; first to serve as a model for others, and second to attract the requested submissions. The discussion elicited in this fashion can only, in this manner. Be a support to carry out needed reforms.

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Therefore, leaning on the familiar quote from Kachanovsky, ‘Each according to his means,’ I permit myself to emphasize a short summary about the condition of native (Jewish) residents and their charitable institutions, and limit myself to the Jewish settlement in Zamość, because the general history of the city itself, is covered by the local scholar Duke Kolaszynski.

It is difficult to accurately specify when Jews settled there, and what their exact number was, because there are no documents on which we can confidently rely. There is one, single document, which has survived to this day, and whose accuracy cannot be guaranteed, which indicates that Jews already lived in the city by 1588. That document states, that the founder of the city, Chancellor Jan Zamoyski permitted Jews to live in his city of Zamość. In that privilege, he gives to Jews, among others, the right: to chop wood from his forests for heating; to harvest forest lumber for purposes of building construction; the Jews have permission to engage in all branches of commerce and industry. The local Jews were not compelled to distinguish themselves from residents by any external symbols [sic: on their clothing], as was the case in other places; he permitted the Jews to select from among themselves, elders, who would settle disputes and punish the guilty. Local (Jewish) residents enjoyed these, and other privileges.

It is a pity that for lack of space, we cannot incorporate all of the rights, from which it would be seen that not only were the Jews tolerated by the founder, but also greatly valued.

It is also difficult to assess when the local synagogue was built, and from what sources of funding. A large number of details are missing. The assumption, that the letters d”ka, which can be found on the side of the wall, in part refer to the year in which the synagogue was built, cannot be accepted as being correct. In that year, d”ka, which means 1573, the city of Zamość did not yet exist. The city first came into being in 1580 (o”a), six years before the death of Stefan Batory, and the city was founded, as is shown by Duke Kolaszynsi in his work, the History of Zamość.

The previously mentioned document also reveals the erroneous nature of the assumption (that the synagogue was built in 1573), because it was only in the year 1588 that (the Jews) were allowed to build the synagogue.

It is worth recollecting, that this synagogue, with its wondrous appearance, its artistic internal design, with the diligent oversight of its Gabbaim, left nothing to be desired. The Bimah that is found in the Schul, which is made of wrought iron, and gilded, is the gift of R' Shmuel Barzel ע”ה. This Bimah is to this day, the reflection of wonder – both from an artistic standpoint, and from its great value.

The Bet HaMedrash is found next to the Schul, a house of knowledge, which has an outstanding library, having several thousand volumes – Talmud and its commentaries. As can be seen from an old synagogue book (Pinkas?), these spiritual houses were already in existence by 1662.

From those times, the city (the Jewish community) is especially indebted to one Hevra, which has remained essential to this day. This is the Hevra-Kadisha, which has incorporated into itself the Hevra: Bikkur Kholim, whose objective is to lighten the burden on members of the populace who are ill, providing the sick with food and standing watch over them. It is worth stopping at this point, to mention that in the statutes of this Hevra, there is a requirement that every member, when it comes to his turn, must spend a night at the bedside of a sick person, and nothing could release the member from that obligation. [It also incorporated] the Hevra of Pallbearers, who had the obligation of assuring that the poor were properly interred at its expense, providing burial shrouds, and during the days of mourning, to provide financial support to the needy bereaved, so they could attend to those first needs during the days of mourning.

This very deeply human Hevra, was first founded in the year 1688. The Pinkas, in which the various amendments pf the Hevra are recorded remains in existence to this day. And to this day, it remains a point of pride of every (Jewish) resident to belong to this refined Hevra.

It is indeed unfortunate that we cannot distinguish the names of those fine people who founded this Hevra, from what is written in the Pinkas.

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It is hard to establish the material condition of the Jews of those times, we have no trace of such information – but if we judge by the number of Torah scrolls donated as gifts, it is possible to infer that their situation was a good one – the number is close to 100.

The lives of our forefathers in that time flowed harmoniously, and if something interrupted that monotony, it was the changes to the political situation, whose disruption also had an effect on the Jews.

Among the native Jewish scholars, we come to cite, apart from the many who were outstanding in their Talmudic, and Biblical knowledge, who cannot even be counted, the renown Rabbi Israel Zamość, who received no formal schooling, and was expert not only in Talmud and its commentaries, but also in mathematics, philosophy, psychology and metaphysics. Later, he moved to Berlin, where he learned a number of classical languages, and became the teacher of the immortal [Moses] Mendelssohn. For this reason, Jewry can be grateful for its Socrates.

This famous man exerts himself in a variety of his works to illustrate that embracing science does not imply a need to reject (religious) belief, as fanatics would believe, but rather the opposite – the right education endows the individual with an ability to revere God. He illustrates this in the introduction to his book, ‘Netzakh Israel.’

After him, it is necessary to recall the renown Rabbi Yaakov, later the Maggid of Dubno, whose parables are known everywhere.

Again the familiar geographer, S. Bloch, who was the first one to publish in Hebrew, a geography book in a wonderfully beautiful style, that was very contemporary, about nature, and the way of life of the peoples of Asia and Africa. His book achieved great fame in Hebrew Literature. His brother, S. V. Bloch, as well as the famous V. B. Schiff, also merit being mentioned.

Joseph Zireles, or Zederbaum occupies a fine page in the history of the native Jews, the father of the editor of the Hebrew periodical, ‘HaMelitz,’ which appears in Odessa. He was a model of the most wonderful doers of good deeds. He was the central point around whom the principal forces of our native spiritual social life would gather.

It is sufficient to mention several people from that, shall we say, school, in order to present the brad knowledge of the native Sage, Yaakov Eichenbaum – the famed poet and mathematician, the member of several scientific academies, who with his famous work, ‘HaKrav’ earned himself a name throughout Europe.

Leon Kinderfreund, a beloved poet, whose work, ‘Various Poems,’ is a true original in Hebrew literature, both from its lofty style, and its realistic portraits of nature.

Further, we must mention Alexander Zederbaum, the editor of the Hebrew [periodical] ‘HaMelitz’ whom we have mentioned, and Dr. Ettinger, who earned a beloved place in our memories with his parables and stories.

After identifying all these well-known people, we have to mention a name that is practically unknown, and wasn't short of a good education, but earned eternal praise – that is R' Hirsch Schiff, the founder of the local Jewish hospital, which exists to this day.

This wondrous Rabbi Hirsch, following his own gentle heart, established the local hospital out of his own funds in 1800. By bringing this offering on the altar of human decency, this philanthropist showed that the sacred spark of decent humanity and generosity, which for generations has been a shining symbol of our people, had not been extinguished. Honor and praise to his memory!

No change occurred in the history of the institution from the time the hospital was founded until 1843, that is worth mentioning. The hospital lacked sanction by the regime (juridical recognition), which would have placed it under the protection of the law, and given it the right to develop further.

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From that year onward (1843), the institution came under the oversight of the Chief Council of Charitable Associations. Its rise must be reckoned from that point on.

Originally, the hospital consisted of one large room for the sick of both sexes, a room that was designated to be a kitchen, and a small room for laundry. However, given the extent to which the hospital became recognized in its vicinity, from where the sick were always brought there, the residents felt the need to expand and re-build the entire premises. They could not, however, carry out this plan for a very simple reason – they lacked the required funds.

It was first in the years 1846-1849, with the help of donations through a lottery, and the continuous work of the onetime chairman, S. Levin, ע”ה, who dedicated his entire energy and time to the institution, everything got done, in order to carry through all the necessary reconstruction work.

The institution was rebuilt, and now consists of four rooms – 2 for men, and 2 for women – with 24 beds, two rooms for the kitchen, two top floor rooms for the chancellery, pharmacy, and a room for laundry. Apart from this, there is a separate building for the municipal direction, which brings in a certain amount of revenue for the institution. It is not the size or appearance of the institution – it is really about its convenience, cleanliness, order, and in general provisioned with all the provisions that such an institution requires, in the full sense of this word.

The institution is indebted to its current chairman, Yeshaya Margolies, and Dr. Ettinger, who passed away not long ago, for having its own pharmacy, that apart from being a great saving for the institution, makes it possible for it to dispense prescriptions without charge for the poor who are sick (apart from those who are patients in the hospital).The institution truly did not change its external appearance since 1849, but in a measure of the needs, which would manifest themselves in local relationships, significant advances were made. In the past year, through the efforts of the highly energetic honorary member of the leadership, D. Steinberg, the entire roof of the building was re-worked.

In the following year, the entire interior of the building was renovated through the efforts of the previously mentioned member (D. Steinberg), together with the Honorable M. Cahan and F. Koppleman, honorary member of the leadership. The local residents, recognizing the benefits brought to them by the institution, support it with continuous donations, which is clear to see from the government order of 1859. In that year, from donations and flowers alone, the treasury of the hospital received an amount of 1,008 rubles. This is a very large amount, taking into account that our city has only several thousand (Jewish) souls, especially since the majority of the residents are not in a particularly substantial material circumstance. This is yet another indication of how Jews relate to charitable works.

Among the members (who direct the hospital), who distinguish themselves with their work on behalf of the hospital, and therefore deserve to be mentioned, is Mr. Yeshaya Margolies, who stands in the first rank for his love of good works, and does not stint on making any sacrifice or expending work, in order to bring support to the institution.

Using his great influence with the populace, which lifts its morale, Mr. Z. Gold has worked for seven years on behalf of the institution.

Mr. D. Steinberg has done very much on behalf of the institution whose work and accomplishments span 12 years.

Apart from the charitable institutions already mentioned, there is an array of others which are appropriate for us to mention:

Hevra Gemilut Hasadim, which has the objective of assisting the needy, covering their needs, and assumes the task of looking after orphans;

Hevrat Talmud-Torah, which assures the children of needy parents a proper religious education, and also assists the elderly in the pursuit of study;

Hevrat Hakhnasat Orkhim, which helps out the needy who have come from faraway, who are too embarrassed to beg. They provide food, a domicile, and a specific amount of money, sufficient for them to reach yet another destination.

These Hevra organizations are in existence for a long time already. The names of their founders are not known. They sustain themselves through the voluntary contributions of the residents.

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The readiness of the native (Jewish) residents to participate in charity, is not limited only to assistance rendered to Jews, and every noble activity has a counterpart in Zamość that wants to emulate it. And it is in this manner, that this year, when news came about the expenditure on the part of the Warsaw (Jewish) residents of the amount of 9,200 gulden for Christians, the gentlemen: Y. Korngold, Max Kinderfreund and E. Luxembourg collected several hundred gulden in a matter of a few hours from the local (Jewish) residents, and distributed it among the needy Christians.

In my second letter, I will provide information about community life, and the spiritual interests of today's Jews, and also about the Jewish agricultural colonies near Zamość.

Où la critique n'est pas permise le louange est sans dignité^[1]
(De la Rochefoucault)

I don't have a specific impression when I sit down to write about the present condition pf the local Jews, and their social and spiritual life. This is because we took such great pleasure in portraying the Jews of former times (in Jutrzenka No. 20 of last year), so it is with resistance that one comes to mentioning the present ones.

Those men, who understood the purpose of life, have vanished, who were able to integrate the many-faceted aspects of education with religious traditionalism; on the side of the highest of the folk good deeds, they also counted the ideals of human progress. There is only one comfort, that critical and objective assessments, which are spoken in good faith, have a value; that those words of criticism, no matter how bitter, how truthful, will be of use.

After the death of the one whom we praised so highly in our prior evaluation, Joseph Zederbaum, who died in 1832, our city lost in its meaning, that which projected it into the front ranks among others on the road to progress; she lost the one who raised the concept of modern civilization; the one who was illuminated by the rays of the Mendelssohn school and who drove away the darkness that reigned in the surrounding area. In place of a thirst for knowledge, after he died, the residents were seized with a slowdown. A darkness, under the mask of religion, dominated thought processes, and an unwillingness to know – the antithesis to progress.

One must mourn the fact that the seedlings of civilization, planted with such tender caring hands of such a man, did not produce the intended fruit. The place of the love for learning was assumed by a hostility, and something of a aversion. What is even more painful is, that under the false veneer of a so-called respect for the tradition, it is established that religion cannot go hand in hand with science. It is hard to understand how the character and temperament of the people could have been altered in so short a period of time – the friends of education became hostile to it; the disciples of erudition became opponents of knowledge.

Since this transformation, no personalities have arisen with a talent in the field of Talmud, or in general in the field of human knowledge, as was the case in former times – there are none of this kind to be found now. Only memories of those times remain. Residents may take justifiable pride in the proud past, their forbears, whose struggles no one today will seek to continue.

We would however, do the city a great injustice, if we did not mention that we have outstanding people – there are people who struggle to be educated, people with progressive inclinations; those who are loyal to the ideals of civilization, who do not stint on any effort in the amount of what they will do, in order to spread education among their fellow co-religionists, and give their children an upbringing that is in keeping with the spirit of the times.

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And we need to reprove everyone from yet another standpoint, especially our native co-religionists, who thanks to their education which they received from their forbears, there remains a love for their close ones, and for philanthropy, and there are many facts to be told about this. Among the many facts, we will present the following:

In the year 1854, want reached its highest point, in the form of high prices which placed pressure on the poorer classes, bringing them literally to the brink of danger from starvation. One of those among us, together with Mr. Yeshaya Margolies, bought close to 800 kortz of flour, facilitated the baking of bread, and sold it at half price compared to the normal price. The bread was sold to poor people, without consideration for religious belief. This fact requires no further commentary.

The material condition of the native residents causes us to take note of the truth, that in the measure of spiritual development, material relationships also undergo change.

The community life of the native residents does not present an object for assessment – it is one-dimensional. If one had taken the life of bygone times, and made a faithful copy of it, he would be able to establish that in time, nothing had changed.

Their relations with their Christian neighbors were always quiet and friendly. The native Jews in the year 1846, still denied the offense made against the Jews, that they were only good at commerce, and have an aversion to working the land.

In that same year, the brothers, Joseph and Hirsch Cahan, David Engelsberg, Moshe Hertz, Yehuda Sobol and others, a total of 14 families, established a colony 5 kilometers from the city. It is located south and east of Zamość, and is called Zdanów, and has an area of 592 morg.

The previously mentioned colonists concluded an agreement with the Zamość Province for a 30 year [lease]. On the strength of that contract, they obligated themselves to pay an annual fee, apart from the national taxes, of 4 gulden 15 groschen and 5 gulden 15 groschen for each morg – depending on the type of managed area.

There were no buildings there. By there own means, they took the lumber provided by the province, and built several tens of houses in a row. Each house had from 4 to 6 large-sized rooms. Behind each house, there was a yard, surrounded by an orchard, in which there were found a variety of estate buildings, such as stables for horses, barns, etc.

Before the colonists took over the area, it was in bad shape. Despite the fact that it was close to the city, none of the Christian peasants wanted to manage it. Lying fallow for a long period, unworked, the land was overgrown with thorns, and wild grass, like an uncultivated steppe. Our colonists were not deterred by these difficulties. They resolved to combat all manner of deficiencies, and become useful agricultural workers. They survived in their idealistic struggle. I required a huge measure of patience, in the broadest sense of the word, in order to carry through with this undertaking. The fields required an indescribable strain involving work and energy and inhuman exertions (in order to till the soil, it was necessary to harness 4 pairs of oxen to a plow). The worthless and difficult terrain did not yield anything in return for the energy and cost that was put into it for a long time. Raising animals there, which was so essential for working the land, was also impossible, because there were no pasture areas in the wilderness.

Paying no attention to this, they struggled for several years, with all these obstacles and sweat running down their faces, in order to overcome everything. There, the muse also had its companion: Dr. Ettinger, ע”ה, and F. Szyfer^[2], the author

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of the biography of Napoleon I in Hebrew, in whose portrayal, the pure air flew full of beautiful images of village life, which is so finely expressed in his, ‘Mateh LaShem.’

But like everything else in the world that vanishes, and with the best intentions of the colonists, foundered against the ensuing obstacles to obtain additional capital, which had been exhausted to the end; the needed fee for the colony fell short; one failure followed another for the colonists; they were forced to retrench from their undertaking. To their great disappointment, they had to abandon the place, where they had invested several years if very hard, decent work.

The difficult points of the contract with the Province, which were generally unfair to the peasant and the manager, nearly drove the colonists to ruin.

In this way, the colony also belongs to the past.

There is an addendum to this correspondence. It is not clear if it is from the correspondent Altberg, or the editor.

In order that Jewish colonization be implemented, it must be a labor of love for near ones, and a love of the land and not a matter of financial speculation. To demand of our brother co-religionists that they should engage themselves in colonization, we have the sense, that a village populace needs to be created, skilled, thought out carefully, and work-ready – an element that our Christian peasants will not achieve even in 100 years. The Jewish peasant could become the model for his Christian neighbors, and in the course of about 20 years, one Jewish peasant could re-educate ten Christians, teach them conservation, sobriety, and commitment to the land.

But the landowners of all faiths need the Jews, who colonize their land holdings, not thinking of their peasants, but only as estate managers; not as a means for immediate enlargement of their income and profits, but as a form of [human] capital that can earn interest for their children.

Therefore, the landowners need firstly to allocate fertile land for Jewish colonists, provide them with paternal relationships – not some sandy, swampy parcel, or a wilderness to scrabble over. This latter action was practiced, to frighten away the Jews from agriculture, and elicit all their resistance to it.

No plan for colonization will succeed, if we will forget that the Jews need first to study the science of agriculture. And with every teacher, one begins with the easiest material and ends with the hardest.

More about the Jewish colonization in the Zamość Province can be found in the article of Y. Bartys, in our Pinkas, p. 376-413.

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As is known, the Zamość Province was founded in 1589 by Jan Zamoyski, the Chancellor and Great Hetman of the Crown, on his personal, widespread estates.

The province had its own large archive, in which, beginning from the 18^th century, a special section was developed for matters pertaining to Jews who lived in the villages of the Zamość Province. The proceedings that relate to the Jews that lived in the villages were divided into sections according to circles (in the original, Kluczow, which literally translated means ‘keys’), and were designated by titles, for example: ‘Proceedings concerning Jews that lived in the Szczebrzeszyn Klucz.’ In the main, information about the Jewish colonization can be found in the volume with the name ‘Jewish Proceedings in General,’ which has the signature 4757. We find a variety of types of extracts from protocols from the sessions of the Zamość Province; correspondence from the central chancellery with the administration of the Zamość Province; requests by Jews for the subdivision of land areas; lists of the Jewish population by name; directions and instructions in connection with diverting those Jews from those villages, who are perceived by the leader of the circle as undesirable, and so forth. This volume is relevant to the years 1840-1854.

These referenced documents gave us the possibility to really delve, a part at a time, and become familiar with the condition and the fate of Jewish agriculture in the first half of the 19th century; the relationship of the administration of the Zamość Province to these Jewish peasants; the colonization planners of the administration and the central chancellery, etc. Regardless of the fragmentary character of these documents, they are an important, until-now-unknown complement to the history of Jewish colonization in Poland in the 19^th century.

The first information regarding Jewish peasants in the estates of the Zamość Province, dates from that time when the Province was part of Austria. In the list of the Jewish population of the year 1838-1839, the Jewish families that lived in the village of Karasinki, Kulna and Lipiny Gurna, are enumerated. The notation found besides these families informs us that these families settled there at the time of the Austrian regime, as a direct consequence of a general action assumed by the Austrian authority in the administration of the province. It also becomes know to us that these families received support in order to be able to settle (in these villages).

The first list of the Jewish population that lives in the villages of the Zamość Province, which has been preserved to this day, was compiled in the year 1838-1839. The list contains a great deal of detail about the Jews. The second list, dating from 1846-1847, is already not so detailed, because in this list, only the ‘heads’ (the oldest) of families are counted, their occupations, where they live, and remarks. These lists were compiled by someone appointed by the central administration, on the basis of reports from the leaders in each separate circle (‘Kluczy’), in order to be precise in identifying the number of these ‘terrible’ Jews, whom they immediately began to divert away from these villages. On the basis of these lists, we can estimate the size of the Jewish population, which lived in the villages of the Province, their social structure, and the number of Jewish peasants.

As shown by these lists, the general total of the Jewish population which lived in the villages of the Zamość Province in the year 1838-1839 came to 408 persons (74 families). The size of the percentage growth of the Jewish population in the year 1846-1847, can be seen by the number of families, which was 96, which are in the list of that year, compiled by an appointed official. The actual number of the Jews in the villages of the Zamość Province in those years looked to be larger (see Table 1, p. 378).

As is evidenced by the information in this table, the majority of the Jews lived in the circles of: Szczebrzeszyn, Turobin, and Kzczeczow-Tarnogrod and it is only in these circles that we observe a meaningful growth in the year 1846-1847. The small number of children strikes the eye. If one calculates the number of 6.4 people per family, one concluded that the number of Jews that lived in the villages in the year 1846-1847, was approximately 615 souls.

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On the basis of these population lists, we can also arrive at the age-occupation structure of the Jews in the villages of the Zamość Province, which -- in general ways – follows the breakdown in Table 2, page 378.

We see therefore, that the largest portion of the Jewish populace in the villages, consisted of families engaged in agriculture, followed by factors, estate managers, and arbitrators (skilled Jews), weavers, tailors, etc. It is also necessary to take note of the fact that the number of workers is not quite accurate, because it is certain that members of the families, who engaged in agriculture, and also other non-skilled families, were hired to do this work by the wealthier Jews. Under the title, ‘Other Occupations,’ we included all those people, that were identified in the name lists, but were not designated as having a permanent occupation, such as: watchmen of the ponds, fishermen, bakers, fabric workers, laborers and other non-skilled Jews, totaled 85 percent of the rural Jewish population.

The rural Jewish population on the estates of the Zamość Province can be divided into the following seven occupational categories:

1. Those exclusively engaged in agriculture;
2. Those, who in addition to their agricultural work, engage in other work, factoring, running wagons, minor trade, and such;
3. Factors, engaged in buying up dairy produce from the villages, and later selling it in the cities;
4. Craftsmen, such as weavers, tailors, roofers, bakers, fishermen;
5. Laborers that hired themselves out to work the land, as servants, working in mills, etc.;
6. The estate managers and intermediaries that held the mills, eyers?, the fact of the entire circle, pitch works, nail factories – and also a glass factory;
7. Jews without an established occupation, who engaged in low level trade and jobbing;

This then is the employment structure of the rural Jews in the year 1846-1847. Therefore, 58 men and women were involved in working the land, which had 38 family members up to age 17; 34 men and women with 33 members of their family up to age 17 were engaged in – apart from agriculture, also with supplementary occupations such as the crafts (weaving, brick making, wall-building, etc.), as well as low level trade. In this second group, we find three skilled Jews, who apart from their agricultural work, were at the same time managers of mills, and one of them is in charge of the glass factory in Paari, and tills 70 morg of land. The comments that are found in the lists beside these names, permit us to deduce that these three wealthy men personally directed their own agricultural work.

The size of the parcels ranged from 3 to 22 morg of property (for each family). The Jewish colonists paid off their property obligations through instalments or by crop-sharing. Not rarely, they did both together – instalments and crop-sharing. Apart from this, they also paid all the applicable taxes. Each family, on average, had 2 children under the age of 17.

In the year 1838-1839, 30% of the rural Jews of the Zamość Province were engaged in agriculture. By the year 1846-1847, this ratio had grown by 36%. The number of Jewish families engaged in working the land had risen from 24 to 35. This testifies to the stubbornness of the Jews, who paying no mind to the subterfuges of the administration, were drawn to this hard, entirely thankless work of that time, in agriculture. No doubt there were other reasons at that time, apart from the focused intent, which drove them to this work, for example, the want in the towns, and the hope of finding a way out of the 25 year military service in the Czar's Army, etc.

Apart from this, it is necessary to underscore the disarray of the social amenities of Jewish agricultural life. The Zamość Province lacked a defined base of Jewish peasantry. The largest number of Jewish agricultural families was in one location, -- 7 (in the village of Zdanów in the year 1846-1847), and in the majority of instances we encounter one or two families of Jewish peasants in each of the villages. Without a doubt, this had a negative influence on the development of agriculture [sic: as an occupation] (among the Jews), as it is possible to see from Table Number 3 on

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page 378.

Regarding the relationship of the central chancellery and the administration of the Zamość Province, to the problem of Jewish colonization and Jewish peasants in general, the documents testify that there were a large number of amendments, instructions, and correspondence concerning Jewish peasants.

The first of these documents, from the year 1833, recollects the orders in the directive of 1828, which prohibits Jewish peasants from hiring Christian workers to assist them, and instructs the leader of the Janow-Tomaszow ‘Klucz,’ that he should monitor this matter.

It is necessary to note, that the Jews of this period would often hire Christians as helpers, not only to help with the field work, but also to learn the work of agriculture. This directive then became like a stone in the way of the Jewish land workers, and shows quite obviously the negative attitude of the administration to the [concept of] Jewish agricultural pursuits. It is necessary to recall here, that even the Czarist authority, with its ruling of the year 1844, permitted Jewish colonists to hire Christian helpers for a period of three years, with the objective of learning how to engage in agricultural work from them.

In the letter from the administration of the Zamość Province to the leader of the ‘Klucz,’ we read that in the event that such a ‘violation’ is confirmed, such a colonist is immediately to be expelled from the village.

In the year 1833, the directive intentionally expelled all the Jews from all the villages of the Province, and grouped them together in one village, that is, in Kalinowice (called Kelniewicz in the language of the local people of Zamość), near Zamość.

The organizer of this ‘abusive’ action on the part of the administration was designated to be the colonist Hirsch Neimanovich of Zdanów. Paying no mind to the fact that the land in the village of Kalinowice was not of a good quality, the Jews were not in any great rush to come together there, with the grant from the nobles for projected agricultural parcels (following the model of the allocation of the so-called Jewish sections in the cities). The failure of this action is shown in the listings of the year 1838-1839, from which we can see that in Kalinowice, there lived only one Jewish family, that of the goldsmith Yitzhak Hol[ho]lander, who owned the property. There is not even a single Jewish resident listed in the record of the Jewish population for the year 1846-1847.

The attitude of the administration underwent a fundamental change in 1840, when, in conjunction with a project to eliminate Jews from the villages, which had its basis in a very ‘zealous’ leader of a ‘Klucz,’ a special directive was issued to all the leaders pf the ‘Kluczki’ and the overseers of the district settlements.

In this directive, the administration of the Zamość Province proposes that one should not harass the Jews openly, and one should not confront them specifically. Rather, only the general administrative authority has the right – in the view of this directive – to decide on the fate of the Jewish populace that lives in the villages of the province. The obligation of the local leaders and overseers is only to monitor that the Jews ‘not engage in any occupations deleterious to the peasants,’ that they fulfill all their obligations, and that no take any steps to permit a Jew to become his neighbor. Apart from this, the leaders were supposed to engage in spying on the Jewish populace, and inform the administration of all instances when Jews violate the ordinances. These directives had the objective of restraining the flow of Jewish population to the villages, which consisted in the first place of the poor element from the cities that had no financial resources with which to construct their own domicile.

The remarks made by several of the leaders of the ‘Kluczki’ which are to be found in the lists for the year 1838-1839, about the Jewish agricultural workers, testify to the disorganized demeanor of the colonists. The non-positive relationship of specific leaders stands out sharply, in the meaning of a certain Strzemieczny, in which he writes about the Jewish colonists in this language: ‘…(I do not agree) that they will permanently be benign towards the peasants; these are leeches…’ This evaluation is in conflict with a prior notice recorded in different handwriting, where one can read that ‘ these (Jewish) peasants comport themselves peacefully, were not punished in any way for any violations, and they are minimally dangerous to the ‘Dominium’.’

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We see a notice of an entirely different character beside the name pf the Jewish peasant, Wola Olszanska. This notice affirms: ‘The poor Jewish peasant is qualified to be eliminated.’

We see a certain representation of good will by the Administration of the Zamość Province in the Year 1840, when the same vacated the plea of a Jew in Bialowola about annulling the decision to expel him from his property; it was simultaneously established that simply the suspicion that he was ‘a devil,’ was not an adequate basis on which to expel him.

In the year 1841, the central administration released the Jewish peasants that lived in the village of Zdanów, from their sales taxes, which they owed. On the basis of the representations made by the district leader of the ‘Klucz,’ concerning their disorganized management (of the Jewish peasants), and the losses from hail that befell those colonists.

These are only minor remarks about positive relations of the administration to Jewish colonists, who already rand households. In the same year, 1841, we stumble across a notice, that testifies to the continuity of the action to eliminate Jews from the villages.

The administration lays out a proposal to the overseers of Tworiczow and Turobin, which requires that the Jews of Rodecznic, Gruszka-Zaporoszka, Zhavna and Gai be diverted, and that they conform themselves to the instructions to divert Jews ‘without resorting to methods using force.’

The entire plan to drive the Jews out of the villages of the Province failed. The Jewish Land workers, of whom 90% were recruited from the poorer classes, showed special energy and stubbornness in struggling (as we will see later on), with the subterfuges of the administration of the Zamość Province. Despite of all the attempts to find things that Jews did that ‘were bad for the peasants,’ in order to expel them from the villages, the administration could rarely take an pride in ‘achieving’ this objective.

A certain number of families were expelled or relocated, in a couple of instances, peasant families, but in the majority of cases these were factors, people who did not have steady work, traders, and the like. As we have already said, in the years 1838-1847, the Jewish colonists not only did not diminish their base, but it was the opposite – they grew by a meaningful amount. Coincidentally, this was also the case with other occupational groups among Jews who lived in the villages. This is established in a list of the Jewish residents in the villages for the year 1846-1847 in a report about the movement of the population from July 23, 1845. In this report (from the Administration of the Zamość Province to the Central Chancellery), we read that as a result of the recommendation of the central chancellery to make it difficult for the Jews to settle in the villages, their number has significantly diminished. This, however, is not quite accurate. It is true that 13 families were removed from the settlements of Stary Zamość, Tworiczow, and Zwiezhinets. However, 9 new families came in. In total, there were only 4 families less. It is interesting that only in the case of 2 Jewish peasants – as becomes evident from the accounting – was the land taken back from them, but they could not be evicted from the villages. The thirteen that were expelled, were factors, and those that lived as neighbors in other people's homes. Two Jewish families were indeed evicted, but four Jewish families were put in their place.

About the course of a spontaneous Jewish colonization, the written evidence, or the exceptional notices tell us the attempts on the part of Jews to acquire parcels. We have made use here of the term, ‘spontaneous colonization,’ because the central chancellery and the administration of the Zamość Province even at the time of allocating the parcels procedurally, always exerted itself to make it difficult for Jews to establish and run a community. The shortcoming was not so great in the material help for the colonists, as it was in the various obstacles and pitfalls that ‘constrained’ the capacity of the Jews to remain in a village, as well as generally negative posture of the leadership of the Zamość Province, which inhibited the development of Jewish colonization.

The commitment of the Jewish colonists to the soil itself is seen from the 1845 report of the administration of the Zamość Province to the central chancellery. The report confirms that the Jewish land workers of the villages of Haraszinki and Jaszienik, paid no heed to the fact that their land was taken away from them, and that they were told to leave these villages, not only not obeying these orders, but, again, sowed the land that had been taken away from them. Apart from this, they undertook efforts to approach the police chief of the area, about permitting them to live in

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certain boundary strips of these same villages. The stubbornness of these two land workers, in confronting the decision of the central chancellery, about settling this manner in a legal fashion, manifested itself in an effective way. Both of these individuals continued to appear in the lists of the citizens for the year 1846-1847.

A similar incident took place in the village of Zapor, where, on the basis of the indication made by the central chancellery, the order came that the poor weaver, Wolf Oberweiss was to leave the village. This weaver, paid no heed to the statement, ‘pursue him often,’ and did not want to stir from the place; every time he received the order to vacate the village, he cried, ‘curded be the day I was born.’ The leader, in the end, was compelled to allocate an empty house for his use in the village of Gruszka Zaporska.

The acts of the Zamość Province that have any relationship to the Jewish populace consist of 18 requests or notices about the approach of Jews, who asked for an allocation of some land, and 2 documents, which describe collective approaches of a significant number of Jews who wanted to undertake agricultural work. The administration granted only four from among the petitioners, the rest of the requests were drowned in the sphere of unrealized projects, or more starkly, just outrightly refused.

It was in this fashion that the healthy and stikhish movement of the Jewish population was paralyzed by the leadership of the Province, which contended with the onetime medieval attitudes towards the Jews. They even gave up on meaningfully economic needs, which would have without a doubt helped the /Zamość Province, when Jews would have worked many hundreds of morg of otherwise fallow land. Such colonization would have definitely alleviated the overpopulation of the towns in the Province with the Jewish poor. The leaders of the Zamość Province rejected the requests of the Jews regarding the allocation of parcel of the land, which they could then work in accordance with the sharecropping system, or instalment payments for the land.

In 1835, the administration rejected the request of a Jew in Jozefów, for a parcel of land, and no motive for this refusal was given. In the same year, the administration puts forward to 10 Jews of Jozefów, who had made a request for land, that it will allocate land in Kalinowice, where it wanted to concentrate the Jews from all the villages in the Zamość Province. This proposal didn't smell right to these 10 candidates, understand, this was a prospect of living in a rural backwater, instead of a more urban one. Nothing came of this transaction.

In the year 1841, a (Jewish) resident of Szczebrzeszyn came with a request to the administration, that he should be allocated a parcel of land on instalment, and to provide assistance, in the form of a pair of oxen and a pair of horses, which he would return after a period of three years. This request was rejected without any reason being given. In the same year, the administration rejected the request of a Jew from Ruskie-Piaski, about receiving a parcel in the village of Horyzów, ‘because in Horyzów, there already is a goodly number of Jews, who are more evil than useful.’ The central motive of this rejection, however, was the state of poverty in which it found this Jew; there was considerable doubt that he could sustain the enterprise.

The request made by Kalman Zumerman, of November 16, 1841, that he should be allocated a parcel from the estate of ‘Pan Ciesz’ who died without heirs, was rejected by the administration. The collective approach by the Jews of Tarnogrod is again rejected, which they had submitted to the central chancellery in the year 1846, through the leadership, with a strenuous protest, in which they requested that they should be given larger parcels in the estate of Karkhov, which will be taken under supervision by a certain Joseph Goldman, who will divide the parcel among his landsleit from Tarnogrod, and he will collect all of the fees and taxes. This proposal, which would have been convenient for the administration, was also rejected, because, ‘it is not the wish of the Graf to reduce the size of his estate holdings.’

The fact that the name Israel Mendel Milkh is absent from the list for the year 1846-1847 testifies to the fact that his approach of November 22, 1846, to obtain a parcel in the village of Sukhin, was accorded the same fate as his prior approach. It was first in 1842, when a larger number of Jews from Zamość, and other cities, approached the Province with a request for parcels, that caused the administration to come forward with a proposal of its own, for a project to settle the Jews on land across a broad area.

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The large-scale movement of the Jewish population from the cities of the province was related to the law that was promulgated on August 26, 1827, regarding the military obligation of the Jews. Working the lad freed them from the 25-30 years of conscripted service in the Czar's Army. Recruits were sent to places that lay thousands of kilometers away from home. The Jews wished to protect themselves against the danger of divided families for long periods of time. It is therefore no wonder, that notwithstanding the negative posture of the administration and the central chancellery, that the Jewish population in the towns began, en masse to apply for parcels to be given to them, for [agricultural] work.

The administration proposed to the central chancellery that a tract of 900 morg be set aside to be divided among these Jews, in presently virgin lands that can be found in the villages. Each colonist-candidate had to make a deposit of from 100 to 200 Polish gulden, which was to be held by the administration, until such time that he did not build up a residence and other related buildings for economic use. Apart from this, the administration proposed that these colonists should be given building lumber at no cost for their buildings, and they should be held free of instalment payments for a period of 2 years. The administration underscored in its letter to the central chancellery that it wished to have a speedy reply in connection with this approach to the activity of the commission, which had complied the census (in connection with recruiting for the military). The Jewish candidates wanted to transfer to the villages from the cities as quickly as possible, before the list for military service is [finally] compiled.

Also, this project, to re-settle Jews to do agriculture, was at its root not appropriate for the majority of the Jewish populace, which was recruited from among the poor. For them, the required deposit was much too large. Apart from this, the central chancellery made the act more difficult for poor Jews from the cities to settle and undertake land work in the villages. In the letter of January 2, 1843, it permits Jews to settle on parcels, and to conclude contracts with them, but only in the instance where several families would go at one time, who would then take two ‘wolkas,’ of land (arable hectares). The central chancellery concurred with this approach, expecting that it this way, a purely Jewish colony would be formed, located on a specific parcel, far from the Christian villages. At their own expense, the colonists were required to build [sic: homes, buildings, etc.], in the course of three years, and they were not supposed to receive any sort of help or relief from instalment payments. Each of the colonist families were obligated to deposit a minimum of 200 Polish gulden as security.

In principle, the central chancellery rejected the approach of the poor Jewish people. The requirement to turn into the treasury of the Province, what for that time was so large a sum, in fact made it impossible to implement the settlement of candidates without means on the soil.

Further details about the fate of this project of the central chancellery are missing. One however can conclude, that if even a few or more willing candidates existed, who could meet the requirements of the administration, that they were exclusively Jews with some means.

As we have already stated, barely four families obtained the permission of the central chancellery and Administration to occupy vacant sectors of land. These requests had been made in the year 1842. In one of these requests, there is a peculiar remark, something like an instruction from the central chancellery, that it is ‘not at all opposed to taking on Jews to do agricultural work.’ This instruction brings the generalizations that relate to the matter of settling Jews on the soil to do agricultural work. These generalizations state that Jews may settle in only those villages where Jews already are located; that they are to receive a land parcel of no less than one wolk; that every candidate for such a colonization should have a good reference with regard to his prior occupation. Each of these positive emptied requests, also had a notation with a ‘recommendation’ from the leader of the ‘klucz.’ Characteristic, was the fact that each of these four candidates, who presumably received parcels, were entirely not taken into the rosters of the Jewish population of the year 1846-1847. It emerges from this, that even these four families had to leave the parcels, as a result of the various conflicts and subterfuges on the part of the administration; they could not have held out for very long on their allocated parcels. And so, it was in this way that the stikhish action on the part of the Jews to settle on the land was treated officially, and was completely paralyzed through the powers of the Province.

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Most of the documents that have a bearing on the rural Jews of the Province, carry the designation: ‘A Jew who is bad for the peasants,’ or ‘A Jew that is bad for the country's wealth;’ against the Jews who were so marked with this characterization, a real war was declared; periodically, his life would be made difficult in a very perfidious manner. They are expelled from the village; hundreds of reports are written about them, messages, indications, opinions, and similar things. This kind of relationship by the administration would have applied to a really small group of Jews, such as the very wealthy (Estate managers, substantial mill operators, owners of pitch operations, nail factories, and other elements of rural industry). But it is exactly the opposite that happens – the accusation of ‘evildoing’ is instead directed to the poor element of Jews in the villages: to peasants, weavers, small businessmen and others. The richer Jews, by contrast, they attract good opinions; they also are given the opportunity to acquire parcels. The glassworks in Paari occupies 68 morg, which was turned over to be used by the owner, the -- rich Jew Finkwas Schener.

Not all the employees of the administration of the Zamość Province were in agreement with the position of the law and with the central chancellery in connection with this question. Characteristically, and explicitly demonstrated, is the prominent unjust and discourteous relation of the leader of the Zamość Province to the Jewish populace in the matter of the Jewish peasants in the village of Ploskie. Entirely separately, it is worth emphasizing the fact that the accusation of the alleged ‘evil danger’ of these Jewish peasants to the Christian peasants. Is rejected by the loyal representative of the appointees of the Zamość Province; these criticisms are also rejected by the local peasants and the German colonists, who (together with the Jews) lived in the village of Ploskie. The politics of the leaders of the Province had a shameful failure in this village. Here, the mysteriously constructed false accusations against the Jewish peasants, of their ‘being evil,’ failed. Similarly, it did not take a great deal in order to lodge a charge of ‘evil’ against a Jewish peasant. It sufficed that if he engaged in some supplemental form of income producing work, in addition to his agriculture; if he employed (at harvest time) temporary Christian hired help; or if he had some additional agreement in addition to his agricultural work. That was already sufficient for him to be asked to leave the village, confiscating the parcel he had, and very often having been worked from the time it was fallow. This previously mentioned accusation, was for the powers of the administration, a very convenient mechanism by which they could displace the Jews from the villages; in order to heap on them, the blame for everything that went wrong in the village. The ruling classes especially focused on distracting the attention of the peasant and the urban element from the real reasons of their want. In this way, the attention and anger of the exploited were directed against the Provincial peasants, and among other things, by organizing discriminatory actions against the Jews, as the allegedly guilty parties for the want in the villages.

The issue of the Jews in the village of Ploskie began in October 1843. The central chancellery, concluded, based on a report by Frankovsky (the chairman of the sessions of the Province), to carry out a complete investigation of the village of Ploskie. Frankovsky, it appears, had presented that the Jews of that village are an evil influence on the peasants with their ‘shakhrystvo.’ The central chancellery then ordered that it should take an interest in these previously referenced peasants, that they should begin to be investigated, and to decide on the possibility of expelling them from the village. It appears that this action on Frankovsky's behalf was organized in partnership with the manager of the Ploskie Estate, Grisa, who had a personal interest in pushing the Jewish colonists to the margin.

In December 1843, the administration dispatched a commission of two people, consisting of the inspector of that ‘Klucz,’ Filipovsky, and an arbiter of the district of the Gmina Lipska – Hallen. The objective of the commission was to carry out an on-site investigation. This commission compiles an accurate testimony on the part of eight peasants (Christians) and two German colonists, who live in the village of Ploskie. The peasants declare that the Jewish colonists engage in agricultural work along with their children, and as a supplemental form of income, two are engaged in transporting produce on behalf of Zamość merchants; that they are peaceful people, who cause no one any damage. These Jews, in general, do not engage in any form of trade. During the season when there is really an intense amount of fieldwork, they hire Christian laborers, whom they pay out the wages immediately after they complete their work. The ones who testified add that the communal life of the Jewish and Christian peasants with one another is without reproof; on the contrary – in the instance of a fire, which took place in the village, the Jews took in those who were burned out into their own homes, and they sent their wagons into the forest, in order to bring back building lumber for those who were burned out.

This declaration was signed by 8 peasants and 2 German colonists, and also by the members of the commission. The opinion testified to the commission about the Jewish peasants confirms the opinion of the peasants. With special

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recognition, both members of the commission stress the fact that the Jewish peasants are training their children to be used to agriculture from their earliest years: ‘We have seen their sons, who went with the broneh, with the plow, and drove the oxen during the sowing season.’

One of the land workers – Haskell Oberferst – can, according to the opinion of the commission, serve as a good example for the entire village.

Ignoring the demand of the commission to the manager of the Ploskie estate, that he should come and provide a clarification in connection with the losses, that the Jews of Ploskie supposedly caused him, he refused to appear and give the appropriate testimony. He discusses this in a letter that is attached to the act in this issue.

However, at the demand of the central chancellery, Grisa provides a clarification first in February 1844. In this clarification, which was given in a very whining tone, this manager complains that he fell victim to the Jewish peasants, who manage the best of the parcels, and deprive him of the seasonal laborers. What is interesting is the rather cutting remarks of the leader of the Szczebrzeszyn ‘Klucz,’ – Czszontowski – which are written in the margins of Grisa's letter. Czszontowski reveals the falsehoods, that are found in the complaint of the estate manager, in his remarks.

The inspector of the ‘Klucz,’ Filipovsky, in his letter to the chairman of the Szczebrzeszyn ‘Klucz,’ comments on Grisa's complaint, and the complete lack of any basis for the charges made in this complaint. He gives the best possible opinion about the Jewish peasants of Ploskie. His remarks are substantive, without a bias towards one side or the other, but factual, and one that recognizes the problems of the peasantry quite well.

In the end, the chairman of the Szczebrzeszyn ‘Klucz,’ himself – Czszontowski – in February 1844, in his official letter to the administration of the Zamość Province, affirmed that on the basis of his own personal investigation among the peasants, he has come to the following conclusions:

The peasants suffer no damage whatsoever at the hands of the Jewish colonists in Ploskie; that the Jews pay the Christian land workers a better wage than Grisa; these workers prefer to work for the Jews; Not only do these Jews not cause the peasants any damage, it is the opposite, they actually come across with assistance. And in the end, Czszontowski stamps Grisa as a bad person, who is skilled in the worst capacities. He establishes firmly in his exposition that the Jewish colonists in Ploskie need to be protected against Grisa's accusations.

It is first after these declarations, clarifications and reports, which were conveyed by 11 people, and in which everyone concurred in showing the falsehood and ill-willed intent of Frankovsky and Grisa's accusations, the central chancellery was revealed for having misplayed its hand. In its letter of March 14, 1844, it recognizes Grisa's complaint as being without substance, and qualifies it to be annulled. However, with this, it isn't over yet. On November 8 , 1844, the leader of the Lipsk ‘Klucz’ sends over –at the demand of the central committee – a report about the conduct of the Jewish families in the village of Ploskie. He affirms that the declarations that he had received from the peasants and colonists, which live in this village, confirm the good opinion and unblemished conduct of the local Jewish peasants. The leader promises, however, that he will keep watch on their behavior, and will immediately provide notification in the event that they should violate and statutes.

In this instance, we observe a peculiar posture on the part of the central chancellery, in its stubborn desire to discriminate against these peaceful and productive peasants, who work hard for their existence, and who deposit a significant part of their income into the treasury of the Province in the form of instalment payments for their parcels.

In light of these documents, it is apparent that the peasants of the village of Ploskie guarded their class solidarity. Which united the Jewish and Christian peasants in their struggle against the common exploiter – the estate manager.

It is worth emphasizing the unusually decent and impartial approach to this issue, taken by the district, the inspector of the ‘Klucz,’ and the chairman of the ‘Klucz,’ who even though they belonged to the privileged circle, they opposed a trumped up anti-Semitic incitement; an incitement that was abetted by the central chancellery, and carried out by two open anti-Semites against the Jewish peasants. On the one hand, this testifies to the awareness of the general need of

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Jewish and Christian peasants, and on the second hand about the existence of a strongly progressive group among the lower levels of the appointed members in the administration of the Zamość Province, which was not sympathetic to the injustice and wrongs which were being directed against the Jews. It is certain that this was a strong group. This is seen from first the energy with which they approached this accusation, which was supported by the regulation and the central chancellery.

It is not established, that the growth of the Jewish population in the villages of the Province, that we observe in the years 1838-1847 and the movement of Jews from the cities to the villages, came about as a consequence of the silent support of peasants and the lower level employees of the administration. This may explain the fact, that despite the scrutiny of the police, the ‘harassment,’ various prohibitions, and hardships, that the number of the Jewish population during those 9 years rose by 30 percent. The number of Jewish families, engaged in agriculture, comprised 36 percent of the Jewish population. Also, the number of Jewish land workers during this period, rose by 36 percent.

The principal factor in this case was the endurance and the commitment of the Jews. The history of the Jewish colonists in the village of Ploskie, throws an entirely new light on the history of Jewish agriculture on the estates of the Zamość Province and in all of Poland.

In total, we can present the following conclusions:

1. The preserved documents affirm that the Jewish colonization of the estates of the Zamość Province existed from the end of the 18^th century, and developed quite meaningfully – in the first half of the 19^th century, despite the fact that there was no help at all from the authorities;
2. The assistance from the authorities manifested itself in the allocation of land parcels, and support at the end of the 18^th century. In the first half of the 19^th century, the administration of the Zamość Province not only did not provide any financial aid to the colonists, but also did not release them from instalment payments (as was the case of the Czarist authorities in the western provinces), but rather made it more difficult and did not permit the development of Jewish agricultural colonization, striving always to completely eliminate the Jewish population of the villages;
3. In the years 1838-1839, 24 Jewish families, from a general total of 74 who lived in the villages, were engaged in working the land. In the year 1846-1847, there were 35 families engages in working the land, out of a total of 96 [families].
4. Despite the hardships and imposed limitations, and baseless accusations, the number of Jewish peasants grows. Their economic productivity was good, and a number of them served as a sort of model of a good peasant. The Jewish colonists of the Zamość Province, and the western provinces, showed the representation of various activists and politicians in the 18^th and 19^th century, about the unsuitability and lack of skill of the Jews in agriculture, to be false;
5. Relations between the peasants and the Jews developed satisfactorily, and the matter of the village of Ploskie affirmed the fact that there was a solid front of the peasants with regard to their Jewish neighbors;
6. In addition to the Jewish families, which had previously already been engaged in agriculture, and who constituted approximately 40% of the colonists, a stream of impoverished Jews came into the villages from the overpopulated cities and towns. An important driving force to that movement of colonization of the Jews, was also the release of land workers from the multi-year military conscription in the army of the Czar.
7. The project, emanating from the regulation of the central chancellery, which sought to create Jewish agricultural colonies that would be isolated from the Christian world, elicited no motivation among the Jews, they already had the experience of the ‘revirs’ for Jews in the cities. The Jews preferred to settle individually in the villages, among the Christian peasants. They often did this in violation of the unwillingness,

the limitations and prohibitions. The often settled in the villages without the knowledge of the central administration, with the silent support of the local leader, who took from one hand to the other, and turned over ‘an empty’ parcel to them. The Jewish colonists increased their numbers by bringing their relatives from the cities.
8. The Jewish peasants conducted their activities on plots of land from 3 to 22 morg. A number of them (after 1840) would hire Christian land workers, during the season in which the land had to be worked. Only one Jew, a manager of th glass works in Paari, ran a parcel with an area of approximately 70 morg.

The author provides a complete translation from Polish into Yiddish of the source material he uncovered in the Warsaw Royal Archives for the Acts of the Zamość Province 4750 and 4757. This is the underlying source material for his commentary which has been translated above. We do not plan to translate this source material, which the interested reader may access in the original Yiddish or Polish.

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