Les Juifs de Rzeszów (Reisha)

Rzeszów (Reisha in Yiddish), in Galicia, was home to an active Jewish community from the early modern period, present in commerce, crafts, and the peddling trade of the hinterland. The city was also a center of Ashkenazi religious life, with synagogues, houses of study, and a Hasidic presence. Emancipated under the Austro-Hungarian administration, its Jews participated in the economic and cultural life of the region. Under German occupation, the community was confined to a ghetto and then almost entirely exterminated between 1942 and 1944, notably at Bełżec.

Sources & resources

• The YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe ↗
• Encyclopaedia Judaica — 2e éd., Keter/Macmillan