According to Encyclopaedia Judaica, the four-pillared masonry synagogue in Lancut (a town in southeastern Poland, in the Rzeszow province) was built around 1726 to replace a wooden synagogue which had been destroyed by a fire (EJ 10, 1381-1382). The synagogue was constructed near the grounds of the palace of Polish nobleman Count Potocki -- the protector of the Jews in the Lancut region (Kagan, 84).

Lancut: Count Potocki's Palace

The Lancut synagogue survived World War II. During the war, and for a few years after the war, it was used as a store. It was restored and has been a museum since the 1960s (EJ 10, 1382).

After World War II, Dr. Stanislaw Balicki persuaded the town of Lancut not to destroy the synagogue, as it had intended, but "to create a provincial museum to celebrate Lancut's six hundredth anniversary. Dr. Balicki wanted to commemorate his murdered Jewish friends by preserving the building" (Kagan, 84).

The Encyclopaedia Judaica entry for Lancut mentions several rabbis of Lancut -- Moses Zevi Hirsch Meizlisch (Meisels, 1758-67); Moses Ben Yitzhak Eisik; Aryeh Leibush (who wrote Gevurot Aryeh), 1777-1819; and Eleasar Ben Zevi Elimelech Shapira (Lancut's rabbi, 1816-1865), author of Benei Yissakhar. Also, Jacob Isaac Horowitz, HaHozeh ("The Seer"), lived in Lancut in the late 1790s (EJ 10, 1382).

---

Lancut During the Holocaust

---

The city was taken by the Germans on September 9, 1939, and forced labor decrees put into effect. The local synagogue was set on fire, followed by the expulsion of the Jews of Lancut on September 22, 1939. Most of them were sent into Soviet territory across the San River. Others were widely dispersed over German-occupied territory. At the end of 1939, a few dozen former inhabitants returned, as did Jewish refugees from the Polish territories annexed to the Reich. The Judenrat was headed by Marcus Pohorille. In early 1940, there were about 900 Jews in Lancut, and 1,300 by the end of the year, with the arrival of refugees expelled from Cracow. After the outbreak of the German-Soviet war (June 22, 1941), Jews who had fled to Soviet-held territory or who had been expelled by the Germans in September 1939, tried to return to Lancut to reunite with their families; in November 1941, a number of them were caught and put to death. On August 1, 1942, the Jews of Lancut were deported and were taken to Pelkinia, a town about 9 miles (14 km) from Lancut where there was a transit camp for Jews from the Jaroslaw region. The elderly, the sick, the children were shot in the camp or in the Nechczioli forest, about 3 miles (5 km) away. By September 17, 1942, they were taken to the ghetto of Szeniawa, where the remaining Jews of the area were concentrated. In May 1943, the Szeniawa ghetto was liquidated, and its inmates, including the remnants of the Lancut community, were murdered in the local cemetery (EJ 10, 1382-1383).

Please Note: The image accessible from the thumbnail below of the Lancut synagogue's bimah is a larger and slightly more detailed version than the image of the Lancut bimah at the top of the Jewish Culture and History Web page.

Lancut Synagogue: Bimah Detail [ 94k ]

Lancut Synagogue: Ezrat Nashim (Women's Section) [ 62k ]

Lancut Synagogue: Section of the Ceiling [ 80k ]

Lancut Synagogue: Detail of the Ceiling [ 110k ]

Lancut Synagogue: Section of the Wall [ 112k ]

Lancut Synagogue: Detail of the Wall [ 75k ]