Ohlau

Summary: Jews were expelled from Ohlau (present-day Olawa, Poland) in 1363, and it was not until the early 1600s that another Jewish presence was established there. Beginning in 1800, mainly as the result of the arrival of many Jews from nearby Zulz, the Jewish population rose steadily (21 in 1800 to 211 in 1871). Inaugurated in 1831, the community’s prayer room was located on Piastowski Square, adjacent to a castle. We also know that Mr. Shmuel Steinman, the community’s richest member, purchased a site for a Jewish cemetery; the cemetery was consecrated in 1818, around which time a funeral house was built on nearby Cicha Street. The Nazis destroyed the prayer room/synagogue on Pogrom Night. It is assumed that Ohlau’s remaining Jews were deported from the town and perished in the Shoah.

Author / Sources: Moshe Finkel
Sources: EJL, LJG
www.sztetl.org.pl