Polska / lubelskie
|Synagogues, prayer houses and others||Cemeteries||Sites of martyrdom||Judaica in museums||Andere|
|Province:||lubelskie / lubelskie (before 1939)|
|County:||krasnostawski / krasnostawski (before 1939)|
|Community:||Izbica / Izbica (before 1939)|
|Other names:||איזביצה [j. hebrajski]; איזשביצא [j. jidysz]; Избица [j. rosyjski]|
The village of Izbica which is a municipality lies in Krasnystaw County, in Lublin Province. It has 1.933 inhabitants (2008) and is located near Działy Grabowieckie (the highest section of the Lublin Upland), on the right bank of the Wieprz River.
From the very beginning Izbica was an exclusively Jewish town which caused something of a sensation in the Republic of Poland.
Because of demands by the Christians, especially merchants and craftsmen who regarded the Jews as their business rivals, the Jews from the nearby Tarnogóra were re-settled to a grange in Izbica. Under threat of imprisonment, the Jews were forbidden to cross the bridge leading from Izbica to Tarnogóra.
The first Jews began arriving in Izbica several decades before and as early as 1775 they created an independent kehilla. Its first rabbi was Eliezer who served as a religious leader until his death in 1835. The Jewish town residents worked for the most part as traders and craftsmen.
There were 407 inhabitants in Izbica in 1827 all of whom were of Jewish extraction. They had their own prayer house, mikvah, slaughterhouse, water mill and sawmill.
In the 19th century, tzadik Józef Mordechaj Leiner (disciple of Symcha Binem, whom people called the Holy Jew from Przysucha, and Menachem Mendel Morgenstern from Kock) settled there and an independent Hasidic community grew up around him. His son, Jakow Leiner, who was an author published a work entitled “Bejt Yaakow”.
As pilgrimages of the Hasidim to the manor house of the tzadik from Izbica became popular new shops and roadside inns began to appear. In subsequent years, Jakow Leiner moved to Radzyń Podlaski and his descendants, who survived the Holocaust emigrated to Israel, started it up anew in Bnei Brak, near Tel Aviv.
In 1860, 1,450 people, all of Jewish origin, lived in Izbica. A decade later (1870) the number had increased to 1,800 inhabitants, (all Jews. In 1897, 3,019 Jews in Izbica made up 95% of the whole population. It was a typical shtetl inhabited only by Jews and there was no Catholic church. At that time, there was a popular saying Izbica, Izbica – the Jewish capital in the Lublin Region.
In 1921, Izbica had 3,085 inhabitants including 2,862 Jews (92%). In the inter-war period Rabbi Cwi Rabinowicz, from the Symcha Binem dynasty from Przysucha, established another Hasidic manor house in Izbica. Rabbi Landau was the last rabbi in Izbica before the outbreak of World War II. This is how Thomas Toivi Blatt remembers Jewish life in Izbica:
Three thousand six hundred Jews and approximately two hundred Chr
Izbica was first mentioned in 1419 when the village became part of a Latin parish in Krasnystaw. In the 15th century, it was incorporated in the Krasnystaw County Authority District, whilst from the mid-16th century it came under the Tarnowskie Góry County Authority District. In 1540, Jan Tarnowski’s efforts to found the town of Nowy Tarnów based on the area of the village were unsuccessful.
In 1750, King Zygmunt August III granted Antoni Grabowski a town charter to found the town of Izbica.
In 1772, Austria occupied and took control over Izbica and Ignacy Horodyski paid a ransom to free the town from the Austrian Government in 1808. From 1809, Izbica was part of the Duchy of Warsaw and after 1815 formed part of the Kingdom of Poland.
In 1820, Izbica had 360 inhabitants. In 1823, Józef Czyżewski, ( Drya coat-of-arms,) became owner of the town. Rapid development of the town began after 1835 when a road was built from Lublin to Zamość. In 1869, Izbica lost its town privileges .
Izbica was first bombed on the 4th of September 1939 during World War II. Five years later, in July 1944, it was liberated from German occupation.