The existence of the Jewish community in Włodawa is first mentioned in connection with the Lublin Fair of 1531. By 1623, Włodawa had a representative in the Council of the Four Lands. The community's prosperity was due to the granting of a city charter in 1534. Throughout most of the early modern period, when the Polish-speaking community of the region was predominantly engaged in agriculture, Jews apparently made up a significant part of the town’s population, involved in all forms of artisanal production and trade. The community was devastated by the Khmelnytsky Massacre of 1648 but was later restored. By 1765, there were 630 Jews living in the town. In 1693, the town had 197 houses, 89 of which belonged to Jewish families. The 1773 census recorded Jewish doctors, butchers, millers, barbers, jewelers, tailors, furriers, merchants, and cart drivers, in addition to one Jew in each of the professions of coppersmith, shoemaker, glazier, dish merchant, and wheelwright. There were also 8 Jewish school teachers, 2 tutors, a cantor, a bass singer, and a cymbal player. In 1827, there were 2,236 Jews, and by 1907, 6,706.
By the mid-eighteenth century, the thriving Jewish community, numbering about two thousand people, could afford such a monumental building. Part of the funds for its construction was provided by the Czartoryski family, the local suzerains. The synagogue was built between 1764 and 1774 according to the design of Paolo Fontana, on the site of an old wooden synagogue. Being an experienced architect, Fontana must also have known that Christian Hebraists (scholars of Hebrew) and architectural theorists since 1630 had depicted the Second Temple with a wide facade. The prayer hall of the Włodawa synagogue is a space with nine vaults and four equidistant columns in plan.
In the second half of the 19th century, a second tier and two corner alcoves were added above the synagogue vestibule. The women's sections of the synagogue were attached to the northern and southern sides of the prayer hall.
According to the community record book (pinkas), in 1744 the northern pavilion served as a small synagogue for the tailors' guild, and the southern one for the shoemakers.
The magnificently painted and gilded Torah ark made of plaster was installed after the fire of 1936, when the previous wooden ark burned down. The current ark is multi-tiered. Such arks were typically installed in synagogues in the territory of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth starting from the eighteenth century. The sculptural crown of the Torah tops the ark. The ark also contains a gilded menorah accompanied by the verse: "I will worship toward Your holy temple in awe of You" (Psalm 5:8). Cartouches on both sides of the menorah depict baskets of fruit and hands joined in the priestly blessing. The ark is framed by twisted, or so-called Solomon’s columns, similar to the columns of St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican.
The painted reliefs of musical instruments on both sides of the ark illustrate Psalm 150.
During World War II, the synagogue was closed, and the building was adapted for military needs.
The synagogue complex is unusual not only because it escaped destruction by the Nazi occupiers of Poland and because the entire complex of Jewish communal buildings remained intact, but also because, unlike many other former synagogues in Poland that were destroyed, abandoned, or repurposed during the communist era, it was carefully restored, although until 1970 the synagogue was used as a warehouse. Restoration and conservation of the monument were carried out in the 1980s.
Today, the building houses the Museum of the Łęczyca-Włodawa Lake District, with a permanent exhibition dedicated to the history of Polish and Włodawa Jews. Among the most interesting exhibits are Torah scrolls, rimonim, yads, mezuzahs, Torah crowns, hanukkiahs, tefillin, tallitot, balsam boxes, and shofars from the 19th century. Some exhibits were donated to the museum by Jakub Friedman from Sydney.
On the hill, in the former cheder and simultaneously the teacher’s house, there is an exhibition called "In the Melamed’s Room," where everyday items and religious books are concentrated. You can also see a stove there.
The building is stone, in late Baroque style, made of brick on lime mortar. In plan, it has a rectangular shape. Two ground-floor annexes with a comb-shaped attic adjoin the main volume of the building, which is covered with a mansard roof. The attic consists of four identical segments divided by imposts with vases along the axes of pilasters, decorated at the base with rectangular panels.
On the facade side, on both sides of the building, there are two separate square alcoves added in the second half of the 19th century on a foundation, supported by arcades and covered with separate roofs. The arches rest on arcades fitted to the columns (Tuscan half-columns). The second tier of the alcoves is divided by pilasters and crowned with a cornice. The facade of the main hall from the east is identical to the facade from the north and south. During the functioning of the religious community, genizot were used.
The building is accessed through modern double doors. Inside, on the west side, there is a wide vestibule. The main prayer hall is 10 cm lower than the vestibule floor; the ceilings, made with elliptical cross vaults, rest on four Ionic columns.
The columns stand on high pedestals; their bases consist of two fillets, and below the stylized Ionic capitals with eight volutes is an astragal. Above the column capitals are three-part imposts. Between the columns there was once a bimah with two entrances surrounded by a balustrade. In 2004, it was reconstructed based on pre-war photographs; moreover, it is not a permanent part of the interior. The window openings are framed with reliefs. The slopes of the vestibule door opening and the men's hall window are diagonal. The main hall is connected to the smaller ones by passages.
Before World War II and the Holocaust, the population of Włodawa was more than 70% Jewish. The Włodawa ghetto was established by the German administration in 1941. Jews from all neighboring places were forced into it. The ghetto was overcrowded, with shortages of food and medicine. Hunger and disease were common. Roundups and deportations of ghetto inmates to the nearby Sobibor death camp occurred in waves: 1,300 Jews in May 1942, 5,400 in October, 2,800 in November 1942, and 2,000 in April 1943, as well as the last 150 Jews in May 1943; all remaining Jewish children under 10 years old were deported and gassed. During the liquidation of the ghetto at the end of October 1942, hundreds of Jews fled to the surrounding forests. Some Jews from the ghetto and the surrounding labor camps managed to escape and joined partisans, actively fighting the Nazis with Soviet assistance.
The local Jewish cemetery was destroyed by the Germans, who used the tombstones as material for road construction, and the synagogue was turned into a military warehouse.
On the road to Włodawa stands a monument to the local Jews. Today, there is not a single Jew in the town, and the synagogue serves as the main tourist attraction.
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