Compiled by Martin Davis © 2010
Some Facts
Osjaków, central Poland
Municipal Coat of Arms
Coordinates for Osjaków
51°17' N, 18°48' E
Alternative names:
Osjaków [Polish], Shakev
[Yiddish], Os'yakuv [Russian],
Oshiokov, Osjakov,
Osiaków, Osyakow, Shekev,
Ushiokov
Gmina Osjaków is a rural
gmina (administrative district)
in Wielun County, Lódz
Voivodeship, in central
Poland.
The municipality
administrative centre is the
village of Osjaków, which lies
approximately 17 kilometres
(11 mi) north-east of Wielun
and 73 km (45 mi) south-west
of the regional capital Lódz.
The gmina covers an area of
100.74 square kilometres
(38.9 sq mi), and as of 2006
its total population is 4,780.
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Osjaków Panorama
An aerial photo taken of
Osjaków in 2009 showing the
red roofed synagogue building
(marked with a gold star) on
the right and the adjacent
church of St Casimir the Prince
on the left.
Thanks &
Acknowledgements
The information
contained in these
Shtetlink pages have
been compiled from a
number of sources but a
special mention should
be made for the help
given by Artur Nowojski
and his Osjaków
information website
which has been of
enormous help and
which makes an
invaluable contribution
to today’s ‘Osjakówie’.
Web pages updated
December 2011
Introduction
These pages are a basic introduction to the rural village of Osjaków and to
aspects of its former Jewish life and history. Today it is an administrative
centre for the villages and hamlets of the area and is one of a cluster of
towns, villages and hamlets at the southern reaches of the River Warta
which, before the Second World War, had long established mixed Jewish
and Christian communities.
Close to the ancient border between Lower Silesia and the Kingdom of
Poland, Osjaków’s early history was bound up with the extraction of iron
ore, farming crafts and trading between the two areas. The local Jewish
community’s involvement in both the trade and agriculture of the area
helped shape the village.
The majority of the Jewish population of the area lived within the village
itself and before 1939 the Jewish population constituted around 60% of
the total population (that is approximately 700 adults) of a population of
around 1,400. There are small indications that the relationship between
the Christian and Jewish populations was close, but undoubtedly it was
historic.
Two examples go to illustrate this apparent closeness; the one being the
local Christian defence of the Jewish right to land ownership in the area in
the 1860’s - commented on in a little more detail later; the other being
the following commentary which was a criticism by a Mr Rabenda of a
section of the non-Jewish Osjaków population and its failure to attend
church and follow the instructions of the local Catholic priests:
"Well the main reason is that some men, instead of going to church on
Sundays to hear Mass and the sermon, go quietly with arms to the forest
or on the field and there steal someone else's game (while others choose
to be true to the church) and instead of listening to the devotion, they
spend all the rest of their spare time in the tavern or inn with a Jew.”
A Rural Market Village
The village itself first appears in records around the period of 1260. It
gained a formal town charter in the 1400’s and was know for iron ore
extraction and iron production as well as agricultural produce and its
associated monthly chartered market. The village lost its town charter in
the late 1700’s after a fire virtually burned down the whole of the village
but it continued to hold its market, which was held on the first Monday of
the month, for local merchants as well as those from Wieluń, Działoszyn,
Szczerców, Widawa and Belchatów.
Prior to the Shoah, the most notable time in Osjaków’s history was during
the January Uprising against the Imperial Russian overlordship of the
country (1863-1864); when there were a number of battles fought in the
area between the Imperial Russians and Polish insurrectionists. The
persecution and exile to Siberia of some of the leading Christian citizens
and the apparent defence of Jewish rights by leading Osjaków citizens
appears to be linked but too little is know to provide a reliable narrative at
this time.
In many ways Osjaków was touched by the ebb and flow of history but
because of its relative isolation and farming links it seems to have
remained quintessentially an urbanised but rural village, which had seen
better days, and in which its Polish Christian and Jewish population
coexisted and worked toward making their living from agriculture, trade
and crafts.
To quote from the Osjaków information website:
"So sleepy Osjaków lived a poor life, a Polish-Jewish settlement. It was
slightly different from the surrounding countryside because of the nature
of its buildings; its architectural lay-out, and the employment activities of
the population. In terms of the its layout, Osjaków was more like a town,
with its centrally located market place and brick built houses, roofed with
shingles and roofing felt; in contrast to the surrounding villages; with their
wooden houses roofed with straw."1
1. Osjaków Information website
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