Rzeszów Walking Guide

Jewish Heritage in Rzeszów is a route that allows you to discover the forgotten past and Jewish culture in Rzeszów. Let us invite you for a walk through the old narrow streets that hold unusual stories of people and events!

 

1. Start

Location: Centre of the Town Square, close to the Town Hall

We are starting our walk from the Town Square in Rzeszów, a city which during its 660 years of history was known by various names: Resovia, Reisha, Rayshe, Rishow, Riashow, Reichshof, Rzeschow. In the late 19th century and early 20th century it was called Galicyjska Jerozolima, (Galician Jerusalem) or, even more playfully, Mojżeszów (the term was a combination of the words Moses and Rzeszów), as the Jews were the most numerous national group in the town. There was the time when people used to joke that the only Polish resident of the Town Square was Tadeusz Kościuszko (by reference to his monument located there).  

 

 

2. Jewish Qahal

Location: Town Square, townhouse at Matejki Street 2

While standing in the Town Square, turn northwest and take a look at a magnificent townhouse at Matejki Street 2 which holds a local branch of the Polish Tourist and Sightseeing Society (PTTK). Before World War II there were the offices of Qahal – the Jewish Estate Council which represented the Jewish community e.g. before the state. It was a primary organizational unit of Jewish people, similar to a congregation, but with far more competences related to the religious cult, taxation, jurisdiction, education and charitable activity.

 

3. Alko

Location: Town Square 25

Has the Alko sign on the neighbouring townhouse ever caught your eye? In the 1920s there was a high-quality liquor factory (producing mainly liqueur, rosolio, rum and cognac), owned by a rich Jew, Hirsch Lifschütz. His factory was a huge competition for the distillery in Łańcut which was highly renowned at that time. Apart from the exceptional taste, the products from Rzeszów also had interesting labels e.g. Rżnij Walenty jeszcze raz (it can be loosely translated as: Play it again, Walenty). Moderation was of key importance in the attitude of Judaism towards drinking and other stimulants. Although there were exceptions to that approach, such as during the joyous Jewish holiday of Purim.

 

 

 

5. Fred Zinnemann

Location: Town Square 3

What do Rzeszów and Hollywood westerns have in common? Fred Zinnemann (1907 – 1997) an American film director, screenwriter, producer and winner of four Oscars was born in Rzeszów to a family of Austrian-Jewish descent. His most famous films include High Noon (1952), From Here to Eternity (1953) and The Day of the Jackal (1973).  Zinnemann family home was most likely located at Town Square 3 (earlier Town Square 7). At the ground floor there was a pharmacy and on the first floor, Fred’s father, Oskar who was a doctor had his office. Fred left Rzeszów at the age of seven, before Poland regained its independence.

 

6. Ritual canteen

Location: Town Square, Mickiewicza Street 5

Going to the opposite side of the Town Square you will reach the house at Mickiewicza Street 5. Do you know that chulent, latkes and challah were dishes served at the Schmidt’s ritual canteen, once located in the building today occupied by the Hubertus hotel? Chulent is a traditional Sabbath dish, a slow-cooked stew made of kosher beef, barley, carrots and beans. Latkes are a kind of pancakes made from potatoes. Challah is a kind of sweet braided bread made of dough. The canteen served kosher meals, prepared according to strictly defined religious principles.

 

 

 

8. Talmud Torah School

Location: Króla Kazimierza Street 10

Going further along Baldachówka Street, you will reach the crossing with Króla Kazimierza Street. To your right, at Króla Kazimierza Street 10, there is a building where Talmud Torah used to be. It was an elementary religious school for Jewish boys under 13 years of age. Such schools were often attended by children from poor families and orphans, who could learn the alphabet and the basics of the religious knowledge. The students would learn specific fragments of Judaist books by heart. The greatest emphasis was put on the Pentateuch (the Torah). Do you know that the Talmud is one of the central Books of Judaism? It is a commentary to the biblical Torah, explaining how to obey the law presented in the Torah, in the conditions in which Jews lived after they were banished from Palestine in the second century. For the followers of traditional Judaism, the Talmud is a kind of guide for the daily life.

 

9. Gate to the Hell

Location: junction of Baldachówka Street and Króla Kazimierza Street

Standing at the crossroads of Baldachówkcha Street and Króla Kazimierza Street, you are in a place where, over 70 years ago, one of the gates to the hell used to be. During the German occupation (World War II), Baldachówka was one of the 24 streets forming a closed ghetto in Rzeszów. The main gate of the ghetto was several meters high. The ghetto was guarded by the German police and the Blue Police on the outside, and by Jewish police on the inside. There were signs on the gates saying: Danger – epidemic and a drawing of lice on them. The population was decimated by infectious diseases (epidemic typhus) and famine. Whoever left the ghetto faced death penalty.

 

 

11. Jewish hospital

Location: Stanisława Leszczyńskiego Street 1

Turning left from Baldachówka Street you will find yourself near the Subcarpathian Oncology Centre at Leszczyńskiego Street 1. This is where the Jewish Hospital was once located. It was also a checkpoint for the Jewish ghetto. In 1941, before the attack on the USSR, Germans killed the sick who were in the hospital to prepare room for their wounded soldiers. The front moved eastwards and the occupant never used the building.

 

12. Dreadful playground

Location: Szpitalna Street 12 and Szpitalna Street 5

Walk down a courtyard running in parallel to Baldachówka street; you will get to a place where those confined in the ghetto would gather and be executed, a place which was a dreadful playground for the Nazis. As Moshe Oster recalls – awful cruelty was displayed by a man named Bacher – a German seen as a devil from hell, murderer, cannibal, sadist without mercy. Every day before leaving the ghetto, he would inspect the slaves. He would beat and kill Jews, just for fun, nearly every day before he would have the gates of the ghetto (at Szpitalna Street) open. After the Jews left for work, he would hunt for the Jews hiding in the ghetto. Those revealed were shot at the square once called Garncarski, where you are standing now.

 

13. Lapidarium next to Passage 2001

Location: Cichociemnych Square

As you walk up the hill at Cichociemnych Square, you will notice the unusual rectangular sculpture, a kind of gate with a human figure cut out of it. It was created by Prof. Józef Szajna, a former prisoner of concentration camps and an outstanding artist from Rzeszów. This spatial composition, entitled Passage 2001 (Przejście 2001), symbolizes the transition from the time of contempt for the basic human values ​​to the times of respect for human dignity, based on tolerance, trust, love for others and the idea of ​​reconciliation. Szajna claimed: "This sculpture is supposed to unite people. God created the world for all people, regardless of our greatness and smallness." The sculpture is surrounded by a lapidarium (rows of natural stones) commemorating the first transport of 40 prisoners (young boys) from Rzeszów to Auschwitz.

 

14. Aaron Lewin’s house

Location: Bożnicza Street 2

One hundred meters further you will reach the house at Bożnicza Street 2, which was built for Aaron Lewin (1879 - 1941) - a Polish rabbi, local government official, social activist, chairman of the Rabbinical Council in Poland and a member of the Parliament of the 1st and 3rd term. Do you know that a rabbi performs a basic religious function in Judaism? The rabbi who works for a given community or a synagogue usually teaches Judaism by giving sermons, lessons and advice. He also provides religious services to community members (bat mitzvah, bar mitzvah, weddings, funerals, etc.). However, he is not a God's anointed minister. His authority is based solely on his knowledge and piety.

 

 

 

17. The New Town

Location: Wolności Square

You are at the former centre of the Jewish district once known as the New Town, and today named Wolności Square. In 1599 Mikołaj Spytek Ligęza limited the Jews’ right to settle within the Old Town and, at the same time, allowed them to move to the north-eastern areas near Rzeszów (the Old Town). In the centre of the New Town there was a large rectangular market place (today Wolności Square) measuring approximately 100 x 120 m, crossed by a network of roads and lined with houses, workshops and commercial buildings.

  

18. Rabbinical Court and penalty of excommunication

Location: Jana III Sobieskiego Street 15

Going further west along Jana III Sobieskiego Street, you will get to the building of the former Rabbinical Court (today housing Music School Complex No. 2). As a rule, Polish Jews were not allowed to bring disputes (including those which did not concern religious matters) before courts of goyim (gentiles). That is why there was a rabbinical court in every Jewish community. These courts had full judicial authority, and were empowered to impose death penalty. The most common punishment for violating the precepts of the Torah included flogging penalty (40, and in practice 39 lashes on the back and chest performed with a leather whip). Those convicted were kept tied to the wall in the vestibule of the synagogue. A Jew who disobeyed the rule and for example went to a Polish court faced condemnation by all Jewish fellow believers.

 

19. Jewish cemetery

Location: Ofiar Getta Square

Do you know that cemeteries hold special importance for Jewish communities? In fact, by Poles they are sometimes referred to as kirkut. If you walk on for 50 meters you will get to Ofiar Getta Square, a location of a 17th century Jewish graveyard, destroyed at the beginning of WWII. The cemetery occupied an area of two hectares. In the mid-nineteenth century, the Austrian authorities ordered a road (today Sobieskiego Street) to be delineated through the middle of the cemetery to shorten the passage of the army across the town. The new road was also used by Polish inhabitants of Rzeszów, but not by Jews. The last burial took place here during the First World War.

 

20. Bet Am

Location: Okrzei Street 7

After two-minute walk westwards from Ofiar Getta Square, you will get to the Regional Culture Centre, located in the building at Okrzei Street 7. It was also used for cultural and educational purposes from 1929, when the building was launched. Known as Bet Am Community Centre, it was administered by Adolf Tannenbaum Foundation and was a heart of cultural life of the Jewish community in Rzeszów. In 1905 the Board of the Rzeszów Association of Gymnastic Society "Sokół" issued a decision it would no longer provide room for Jews for their celebrations in honour of the Maccabean or similar events, especially those during which they would use Hebrew or Jewish language. That situation led to the decision about creating a community centre for such events.

  

21. The last departure from the ghetto

Location: crossroad of Kopernika Street and Kręta Street

Now you just need to walk for 200 meters along Okrzei Street, then turn into Kopernika Street which in a little while, on the right side, will meet with Kręta, the shortest street in Rzeszów. It happened on 7th July 1942, when 25,000 people departed from the ghetto for the last time, surrounded by divisions of SS guards, equipped with whips ending with metal tips and to the accompaniment of the worst curses. The last passage of Jewish people in Rzeszów started at today's Ofiar Getta Square, and continued along Kopernika Street, through a gate located at the junction of today's Kopernika and Kręta Street. Then they walked along Grunwaldzka and Matejki Street, past the Parish Church Tower and the post office at Moniuszki Street, then down Pułaskiego Street, towards Staroniwa train station. From there, packed in cattle wagons, the Jews were transported to Bełżec extermination camp. Some of them, the elderly and the disabled, were carried in trucks to a forest near Głogów, where they were shot. The Jews murdered in the ghetto were buried in the Jewish cemetery at Czekaj (today Rejtana Street). When the ghetto was liquidated, some of the townhouses were torn down. About 250 Jews from Ostgetto were left behind to clean up the Jewish quarter.

 

DOWNLOAD ELECTRONIC VERSION: Rzeszów Walking Guide: Jewish Heritage in Rzeszów

 

Layout: Ilona Dusza-Kowalska

Graphics: Jakub Kowalski

Title photography: Marta Baszkiewicz