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Wizna: Volume IV, Pages 189-190
Pinkas Hakehilot. Polin. [Encyclopedia of Jewish Communities. Poland.]

By: D. Dombrovska, Abraham Wein and Aharon Vais; Seven-volume set published by Yad Vashem, Jerusalem, 1976-1999

Wizna

(Lomza District, Bialystok Province)

Wizna is one of the oldest villages in Mazovia. The village is situated near the bank of the river Biebrza toward the Narew, 25 miles east of Lomza. It is first mentioned in sources in 1113. In 1170 a castle of the local ruler was here. In the 13th century the settlement suffered from the invasion of the Prussian tribes (Sudowim-Yiczwim) [Jadzwing?] and the Lithuanians. In 1294 the town was burned to the ground at the hands of crusading knights. In 1296 Boleslaw, Prince of Mazovia built the town anew and erected a fortress - an act that elevated the importance of the place. In the middle of the 14th century the village was added to the Principality of Plutzk. In 1435 Wizna received the status (or charter) of "city." With the annexation of Mazovia to the Kingdom of Poland in 1526, Wizna still continued to serve as a center of some importance, and the members of the Polish Royal family settled there. Wizna also served as an important center of communication and commerce, especially due to the fact that at the same time there was an increase in the trafficking of goods on rivers. Her path was crossed by tree laden barges and products from Russia to Mazovia and from Mazovia to Lithuania. Following the Third Partition of Poland (1795) Wizna's greatness declined. In 1870 she even lost the status of "city."

Year Total Population Number of Jews %
1765 ? 75 ----
1857 1,861 492 26%
1808 1,241 205 17%
1827 1,766 390 22%
1857 1,861 492 26%
1890 2,984 567 19%
1921 2,670 714 27%
       

There is no information in our hands as to the beginnings of the Jewish settlement of Wizna. In 1765 there were 16 families there. The Jews were occupied with trades and petty commerce. One of the more developed trades was the manufacture of textiles from raw wool. In 1892 Wizna had 23 Jews working in this trade out of 32 overall employed thus: 11 tailors, 9 shoemakers, 2 blacksmiths, and 1 carpenter.

The Jewish Community was small and because of that in the years between the two World Wars there was no Jewish High School. Mosaic [Jewish] children studied in the Polish High School. Those more well-off studied in the Jewish Schools that were in the neighboring town of Jedwabne or in Lomza. Only in 1928 did the Zionist activists in the community decide to found a Jewish school there, containing four grades where the language of instruction would be Hebrew, and they turned to and requested permission for this from the local education minister. Relying on a verbal agreement with the minister, a hall was rented, furniture was bought, and the necessary equipment was acquired, and even an agreement was reached with three teachers that they would come to teach in the school. However, right before the beginning of the school year, the minister informed them that official permission would not be granted to open the high school.

In the town there were several branches of the Zionist parties that were active, and in the elections for the community council, that was established in June of 1931, 5 Zionists, and 3 tradesmen were elected. In the elections for the 20th Zionist Congress, that took place in 1937, the General Zionists in Wizna won 25 votes, the Mizrachi Party 32 votes and the Official Land of Israel Workers Party won 77 votes.

In Wizna there was a Jewish Cooperative Bank. In 1926 there were more than 100 members, and the bank gave out more than 50 loans in the sums ranging from 100 to 200 zlotys. During this time the bank joined the Central Administration of Jewish Cooperative Banks in Warsaw.

In the late 1930's the Jews of Wizna suffered from the rise of open anti-Semitism. Because of a law that forbid craftsmen that didn't possess a certificate of "registered craftsmen" to employ workers, many Jewish workshops were closed. Due to the incitement of the anti-Semites, a boycott was placed on the Jewish shops. There were also incidents of attacks by Polish gangs and the destruction of Jewish property.


During World War Two

Already at the beginning of the war between Germany and the Soviet Union, Wizna was bombed and most of the Jewish Quarter was burned and destroyed. Only a few Jewish houses remained intact. Most of the residents left the town in shock and hid themselves in the surrounding fields and swamps.

On the 24th of June, 1941 the Germans entered Wizna and most of the inhabitants returned to the town. The Jews packed themselves into the few houses that had survived the bombings. Immediately the local Polish gangs started to harass them. Three Jews were attacked and died of their wounds. Jewish houses and shops were looted. Simultaneously a proclamation was made forbidding Poles to give shelter to Jews.

At the end of June, 15 Jews were murdered in Wizna and at the beginning of July a second group was murdered, also of some 15 individuals. The first group was shot outside the city and the second group in the middle of town. In both cases the victims were ordered to dig their own graves before being taken out to be killed. Afterwards the Germans permitted some of the corpses to be transferred for burial in the town's Jewish Cemetery.

In July 1941 the Germans announced together, in collaboration with the local Wojt (head of the village), that all the Jews were to leave Wizna and work in the adjacent towns of Lomza and Jedwabne. Most of the Jews of Wizna moved to the close, neighboring town of Jedwabne, were rounded up into a barn and met their end inside it after it was burned. About 200 of the 2,000 Jews that died in the granary were from Wizna. The Wizna Jews that went to Lomza were transferred to the ghetto and their fate was the same as the fate of the Jews there.


Sources:

AYW"S 016/1992, 016/4391.
AT"M S-5/1801.
Sefer Zicharon Kehilat Lomza, Tel Aviv 1967, pp 73, 86.
"Heint" [Today - Warsaw Yiddish Newspaper] 14.11.1926, 8.6.1928, 9.11.1934 .


Pinkas Hakehilot. Polin. [Encyclopedia of Jewish Communities. Poland.]
By: D. Dombrovska, Abraham Wein and Aharon Vais
Seven-volume set published by Yad Vashem, Jerusalem, 1976-1999.

Editor's notes or definitions are entered in [brackets].
(Parentheses) in the translation appear here as they appeared in the original text.

Translated from Hebrew by: Eric Feinstein. Edited by: Jose Gutstein.

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