Tarnów: A Bimah Beneath the Open Sky

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The first settlement privileges for the Jews of Tarnów were granted by Hetman Jan Tarnowski in 1581. The community grew quickly — by the end of the seventeenth century it numbered some 1,000 people, concentrated in the Jewish quarter between Żydowska, Wekslarska, Wałowa and Pilzneńska streets. The Old Synagogue, built in the first half of the seventeenth century in the Mannerist style, formed the centre of this quarter — with its distinctive freestanding bimah resting on four columns and crowned by a vaulted dome. A bimah of this kind, separated from the walls, was typical of the Galician and Sub-Carpathian synagogues of the Polish Commonwealth.

Under Habsburg rule from 1772 (after the First Partition), Tarnów became an important rabbinic centre of Galicia. In the first half of the nineteenth century, Rabbi Aryeh Leib Lipschitz — author of the responsa "Aryeh d-Bei Ilai" — led a house of study in Tarnów that drew students from across Galicia. The second half of the nineteenth century brought legal emancipation, Jewish schools (cheder, later Tarbut), and the growth of Hasidic movements (Dzikow, Sanz, Bobov, Belz) alongside the secular Maskilim (Enlightenment) movement.

In the 1931 census Tarnów’s Jews made up forty-five per cent of the town’s 55,000 residents — the highest proportion of any town in Lesser Poland outside Kraków. The town had: twenty-five synagogues (the Old, the New, Hasidic shtiblach, and craftsmen’s guild prayer houses), the Tarbut Hebrew gymnasium, the Mizrachi gymnasium, the Jewish hospital on Szpitalna Street, an orphanage, a credit cooperative, two Jewish daily newspapers, the Maccabi sports club and a Drama Society. Out of Tarnów Jewry came Abraham Chametz (pre-war chairman of the Jewish Community), Yitzhak Goldfluss (historian and author of the Tarnów Yizkor Book) and Edward Goldstaub (a social doctor murdered in the first execution of 1942).

The German occupation began on 8 September 1939. By November the Old Synagogue had been burned — only the masonry bimah, which could not be set alight, remained. In the summer of 1940 the Germans imposed forced labour and the Star of David armband. In March 1941 a ghetto was established within the historic Jewish quarter, enclosing up to 40,000 Jews from Tarnów and the surrounding towns (Brzesko, Dąbrowa Tarnowska, Ryglice, Tuchów).

The first mass execution began on 11 June 1942 — six days of shootings at the New Jewish Cemetery and in the Krzyż forest on the outskirts of the town. More than 12,000 people were murdered, mostly the sick, the elderly and the children. The remainder were deported that same week to the Bełżec death camp. Further deportations followed in September and November 1942. The final liquidation of the ghetto — on 2-3 September 1943 — split the last 7,000 residents: those fit for work to Płaszów, the others to Auschwitz-Birkenau.

After the war around two hundred survivors returned to Tarnów — mostly from the Soviet Union and the camps. The majority emigrated to Israel and the United States between 1946 and 1957. Today there is no active Jewish community in Tarnów. Memory is sustained by the Committee for the Care of Jewish Cultural Monuments (since 1992, maintaining the cemeteries) and the Regional Museum in Tarnów (since 2003, documenting the cemeteries and memorial sites, with an archive of Jewish documents).

Unlike Kraków or Prague — Tarnów has no reborn community today. Unlike Lublin or Warsaw — Tarnów has material traces: the bimah of the Old Synagogue beneath the open sky, the New Jewish Cemetery with 4,000 surviving matzevot, the medieval Old Cemetery, Ghetto Heroes Square with a fragment of the original wall. These traces are what make Tarnów a particular place for those tracing family roots in central Galicia.

A full visit to the Jewish quarter of Tarnów takes four hours on foot. The full route lies within the historic Jewish quarter (Żydowska, Wekslarska, Wałowa and Pilzneńska streets) plus the two cemeteries (the Old on Szpitalna Street and the New on Nowodąbrowska Street). Distances between sites are twenty to thirty minutes on foot, or five to seven minutes by V-Class.

We recommend starting at Ghetto Heroes Square at ten in the morning. The square was set aside after the war as a memorial to the ghetto victims — at its centre is a fragment of the original ghetto wall with the memorial to the victims of the 1942 liquidation and tablets naming the streets of the former Jewish quarter. Open at all hours, free of charge, an hour for a slow walk.

From there, five minutes on foot along Żydowska Street to the bimah of the Old Synagogue. A freestanding structure from 1630 — four stone columns in the Mannerist style on a square base, vaulted with a stone dome bearing fragments of the original ornament. It stands today in the open air at Żydowska 13, without walls, without a roof, within a fenced plot. Open at all hours, with no admission. The only surviving fragment of the seventeenth-century Old Synagogue burned by the Germans on 9 November 1939 — recognised as one of the most affecting monuments to absence in Poland. Half an hour to visit with the historical documentation on the information panels (Polish, English and German).

From the bimah, ten minutes on foot to the mikvah on Żydowska Street — the building of the former ritual bath from the late nineteenth century, preserved in the Jewish quarter, today not accessible internally but preserved externally. A walk through the streets of the former quarter: Żydowska, Wekslarska, Wałowa, Pilzneńska — fragments of the old residential fabric, the sites of former kosher shops, the Mizrachi yeshiva (today an ordinary tenement). An hour.

Ten minutes by V-Class to the New Jewish Cemetery at Nowodąbrowska 192. Established in 1583, the largest surviving Jewish cemetery in Lesser Poland after Kraków. 4,000 surviving matzevot in the Galician style — Baroque and Rococo. The ohel of the Tzaddikim of the Halberstam family (Sanz-Bobov dynasty), the memorial to the victims of the 1942 ghetto liquidation, and the memorial to the children murdered in the first execution of 11 June 1942. Entry by arrangement with the Committee for the Care of Jewish Cultural Monuments (contact through the Regional Museum). Admission free, donations welcome. An hour and a half for a considered visit.

Five minutes by V-Class to the Old Jewish Cemetery on Szpitalna Street. A medieval cemetery, one of the oldest in southern Poland. Partly preserved — several dozen matzevot from the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries in the still-accessible section. Entry by arrangement. Forty minutes.

For those tracing roots — the Regional Museum in Tarnów (Rynek 21) maintains an archive of Jewish documents from the pre-war period, accessible by prior arrangement. An hour in the archive may be the most important part of the day.

Unlike the living Jewish quarters of Kraków, Prague or Budapest — Tarnów has no active Jewish community today. The last community formally dissolved in the 1950s. There is no synagogue in the town, no kosher kitchen and no Jewish school.

Memory is sustained by two institutions: the Committee for the Care of Jewish Cultural Monuments in Tarnów (since 1992, maintaining the Old and New Jewish Cemeteries, documenting the matzevot and opening the sites to visitors) and the Regional Museum in Tarnów (since 2003, with the "Tarnów — Jews" branch). The Museum maintains an archive of Jewish documents, pre-war photographs, the Tarnów Yizkor Book (published in Tel Aviv in 1968 by survivors) and survivor testimonies from 1990-2010.

Annual commemorations: 11 June — the anniversary of the first mass execution of 1942, ceremonies at the New Jewish Cemetery and in the Krzyż forest. September — the anniversary of the final liquidation of the ghetto on 2-3 September 1943, ceremonies at Ghetto Heroes Square. The Galicia Festival — every June, klezmer concerts and lectures within the historic Jewish quarter (organised by the Regional Museum).

A visit to Jewish Tarnów calls for an arrangement with the Committee for the Care of Jewish Cultural Monuments or the Regional Museum (at least a week in advance). The cemeteries are locked and require opening by a custodian. The bimah of the Old Synagogue and Ghetto Heroes Square are open at all hours, with no admission.

Etiquette for the cemeteries: men with a head covering (kippah, hat or cap — available at the gate by arrangement, or your own). Do not step on the graves. On Shabbat (Friday evening to Saturday evening) the cemeteries are closed. Admission is free, with a customary donation toward upkeep (usually 50-100 PLN per person, in cash).

The bimah of the Old Synagogue does not require a kippah or any formality — it is a monument in the open air, accessible at all hours. The same applies to Ghetto Heroes Square.

Kosher cuisine in Tarnów — none. Vegetarian options are available at restaurants on the Main Square (Bristol, Restauracja Pasaż, Pueblo Mexican). For strict observance we recommend meals packed from Kraków (Olive Tree delivers catering) or meals in Kraków before departure.

Mercedes V-Class from Kraków to Tarnów — one hour and twenty minutes via the A4 motorway, 86 kilometres. From Warsaw — 3 hours 30 minutes, 308 kilometres. From Kraków-Balice Airport (KRK) — one hour and forty-five minutes.

Peak hours around Kraków (07:00-09:00 and 15:30-17:30) can add fifteen to twenty-five minutes — we recommend departure at eight in the morning or after nine thirty.

V-Class parking in Tarnów: the largest free car park is on Bernardyńska Street (200 metres from the Main Square); paid spaces on Plac Sobieskiego and Wałowa Street. Parking at the New Jewish Cemetery — at the gate (Nowodąbrowska 192); parking at the Old Cemetery — on Szpitalna. A V-Class fits all standard bays.

Local V-Class transfers in Tarnów: Ghetto Heroes Square - bimah of the Old Synagogue five minutes on foot, bimah - New Jewish Cemetery ten minutes by V-Class, New Cemetery - Old Cemetery five minutes, the full loop about eight kilometres.

Recommended day format from Kraków: 8:00 departure from your Kraków hotel, 9:30 arrival in Tarnów (Ghetto Heroes Square), 9:30-11:00 Ghetto Heroes Square and the bimah of the Old Synagogue plus a walk through the Jewish quarter, 11:00-12:30 New Jewish Cemetery, 12:30-13:30 lunch (Bristol or Restauracja Pasaż on the Main Square), 13:30-14:30 Old Jewish Cemetery, 14:30-15:30 Regional Museum (archive), 15:30-17:00 return to Kraków. Nine hours door-to-door in total. For those tracing family roots — a second day with an overnight in Tarnów (Hotel Bristol Tradition or Hotel Tarnovia) for fuller work in the Museum archive.