KOZIENICE

KOZIENICE (Rus. Kozenitsy ), town in Kielce province, E. central Poland. In 1661 the Jews of Kozienice referred to a privilege dated 1616, which probably was the oldest granted to the community. In 1661 five Jewish house owners lived in Kozienice, while ten other families resided in rented dwellings. In 1722 the Jews paid a poll tax of 354 zlotys; this was increased to 630 zlotys in 1726. In the 1780s, through Jewish initiative, a soap factory was established in the town. From 1791 the Jews of Kozienice also engaged in the production of stockings. At the beginning of the 19^th century the Maggid Israel b. Shabbetai Hapstein, one of the most influential ẓaddikim, lived in Kozienice (see *Kozienice, Israel, below). The community numbered 1,365 in 1765, 1,185 (59% of the total population) in 1827, 1,980 (65%) in 1857, 3,764 (59%) in 1897, 3,811 (55%) in 1921, and 4,780 in 1939. Between the world wars the Jews were shopkeepers and artisans and the town remained a ḥasidic center. The Germans entered the city on September 9, 1939, and burned the synagogue. A ghetto was sealed off in late 1940, its population doubling with the arrival of refugees. On September 2, 1942, around 8,000 Jews were deported to Treblinka.

bibliography:

B. Wasiutyński, Ludność żydowska w Polsce… (1930), 32, 58, 71, 76; Halpern, Pinkas, index; I. Schiper, Dzieje handlu żydowskigo na ziemiach polskich (1937), index; E. Heller, Żydowskie predsiebiorstwa memystowe w Polsce…, 4 (1923). add. bibliography: B. Kaplinski (ed.), Sefer Kozienits (1969); S. Spector (ed.), Encyclopedia of Jewish Life Before and During the Holocaust (2001), s.v.

[Encyclopaedia Judaica (Germany)]