Konstadt, Germany

KONSTADT (Polish Wolczyn) Upper Silesia, Germany, today Poland. The Jewish population was 86 in 1787 and 216 in 1867. The community maintained a synagogue and cemetery. In 1925, the Jewish population was 103, dropping to 80 in 1932. In the same year a hand grenade was thrown into a Jewish store. The Nazi racial laws instituted from 1933 were not applied to the Jews of Konstadt until16 July 1937, owing to the protection of the League of Nations’ minority rights convention. Nevertheless, local Jews still suffered from persecution in this period. In 1933, a list of Jewish businesses was posted at the municipality building with a warning not to deal with them. The introduction of the racial laws was accompanied by antisemitic disturbances. On Kristallnacht (9-10 November 1938), rioters destroyed the Jewish prayer house and a number of Jewish homes and stores. Many of the 76 Jews in the city subsequently emigrated. Presumably those who remained were deported and perished. By 19 November 1942, just seven were still living in Konstadt. Their fate is unknown.