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Tykocin
[Yiddish, Tiktin] - A town in the Podlasie
voivodship in the Bialystok powiat (district); it was
granted its town
charter in 1424-25.
The Jewish Community was founded in 1522, when ten
families from
Grodno were brought as settlers by the voivod of Wilno and
Troki,
Olbracht Gasztold. They were granted the right to found a
cemetery and
build a synagogue, as well as market stalls around the town
hall. In
1536, they received a "court privilege", which meant they
were released
from municipal jurisdiction. In 1576, these rights were
confirmed by
Stefan Batory, allowing them to engage freely in trade
within the town
and in other locations. In 1633, these rights were
guaranteed by
Wladyslaw IV.
The Jewish Community in Tykocin grew quickly, and began
playing a
prominent role among the Jewish communities in Podlasie and
northeastern
Mazovia. In 1576, Tykocin's Jews owned 54 buildings. They
were
primarily engaged in trade, including the delivery of goods
to Gdansk.
In 1621, the Tykocin Community gained its independence from
Grodno,
under whose jurisdiction it had been. Tykocin began playing
an important
role in the Sejm of Lithuanian Jews, and also gained special
authority
over more than a dozen other Jewish communities, including
Bialystok,
Orla, Stawiska, Stuczyn, Grajewo, Rajgrod and Bocki. In
time, the town
became an important center of Jewish culture and Talmudic
studies. In
1642, a Baroque synagogue was built.
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The following Talmudists were active in
Tykocin: Menachem David ben Itzhaak (a pupil of Moshe
Isserles), Shmuel
Eliezer ben Yehuda ha-Levi Edels, Joshua ben Yosef, Elijahu
Shapira
(beginning in 1702), and Shalom ben Eliezer Rokeach (who
lived in
Tykocin during the years 1756-66).
The town was seriously damaged during the Swedish
invasions. In
1661, the town was awarded to Stefan Czarniecki for his
service in
battle; after his death, it became part of the Branicki
family holdings.
The Tykocin Jewish Community continued to play an
important economic
role, and ran various trade and credit activities (Jewish
debts). In
1775, approximately 1,500 Jews lived in Tykocin (57% of the
total
population). Towards the end of the eighteenth century, both
the
Community and the town itself began to be overshadowed by
Bialystok, the
Branicki family seat.
After the Congress of Vienna, Tykocin lay within the
Kingdom of
Poland, and its population continued to grow: in 1827, there
were 2,700
Jews living in Tykocin (64% of the population); by 1857,
this figure was
3,500 (59%). They were for the most part engaged in
small-scale trade
and crafts. Over the course of the nineteenth century,
Tykocin became a
small provincial town, partially due to its lack of a rail
connection.
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During the interwar period, approximately 1,500
Jews lived in Tykocin, (50% of the total population). There
was a
tallith factory in the town, as well as a Hebrew school, run
by Tarbut,
and a branch of the Zionist youth organization, He-khaluts.
When the Second World War broke out, Tykocin was under
Soviet
occupation. In August 1941, after the city was taken by the
Germans, the
Nazis executed 1,400 Jews; they also sent approximately 150
people to
the ghetto in Bialystok.
Tykocin's seventeenth century synagogue is one of the
most beautiful
works of Jewish sacral architecture in Poland. A museum of
Judaica is
currently housed there. A regional museum is now located in
the former
beit midrash building.
(H.W./CM)
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