Alternate names: Rymanów [Pol], Rimanov, רימאנוב [Yid], Rimanuv. 49°35' N, 21°52' E, 33 miles S of Rzeszów (Zheshuv), 15 miles W of Sanok, 8 miles SE of Krosno. 1900 Jewish population: 1,746. yizkor: Pinkas ha-kehilot; entsiklopediya shel ha-yishuvim le-min hivasdam ve-ad le-aher shoat milhemet ha-olam ha-sheniya: Poland vol. 3: Western Galicia and Silesia (Jerusalem, 1984). Słownik Geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego (1880-1902), X, pp. 95-97: "Rymanów". Rymanów-Zdrój is a village and spa in southern Poland in Subcarpathian Voivodeship, Krosno powiat. The source of mineral water that made the spa was discovered in 1876. Near-by popular spa, Iwonicz Zdrój, prompted the owners of the Rymanów estate, Anna and Stanisław Potocki, to look for similar springs in the river valley. [June 2009]
Jews lived in Rymanow in the sixteenth century. Relationships with the Christian population varied. In 1700, the authorities passed a resolution providing that killing of Jews was not punishable. Later, and for many years, Jews accounted for nearly half the population. A Chasidic center, tzaddikim pilgrimages are frequent. Isaac Izydor Raabi , an outstanding scientist and Nobel Prize laureate in the field of atomic properties, came from Rymanow. A renovation of the synagogue with its extremely high bimah and wall paintings was underway in 2006. [June 2009]
CEMETERY: Normal 0 The 2.64 ha Jewish cemetery is about 200 meters (towards the NE) from the Catholic cemetery on a hill sloping sharply towards Posada Górna. The cemetery may have been founded at the end of the 16th century when the first wooden synagogue was built. Before, probably, Rymanów Jews were used the Lesko cemetery established in 1548, the town closest to Rymanow. About 800 tombstones are preserved including about 100 matzevot in a very good state, the oldest dating from 1615 of sandstone. Several tombstones from the 16th and 17th centuries are nearby. A woman's gravestone from 1849 bears decorations also exists although most gravestones were used by the Nazis to build roads. At the top of the cemetery hill are two ohels. One is for tzadik Menachem Mendel and the other contains the tombs of two tzadiks: Tzvi Hirsch Kohen and Józef Friedman. The ohels were restored in the 1980s. On the edge of the hill from the Posada Górna side is a grave of Austrian Jewish soldiers, who died in Rymanów neighborhood during WWI. The remains of Rabbi Hirsch Horowitz and his wife Sara nee Friedman at the beginning of the 1960s were exhumed and taken to Israel. Several years ago the cemetery was fenced and cleaned.. The old cemetery wall was demolished after liberation. In the 1990s, descendants of Jews from the town fenced the site with metal rods. The cemetery is kept very tidy. For many year, the Białasów family, despite difficulties with inhabitants of the village, cared of the cemetery and helped with the renovation of the synagogue. They hold the keys to the cemetery and synagogue at their home ul. Kalwaria 11, the building with no number plate twenty meters in the side of the road just behind the property at ul. Kalwaria 10. Before visiting, please make an appointment in advance. - tel 013 435 64 81. No charge is made for visiting either. BOOK: JEWS RYMANOWSCY by Andrzej Potocki can be purchased. Photos. http://www.kirkuty.xip.pl/rymanow.htm. [June 2009]
photo. photo of village. [August 2005]
RYMANOW I: US Commission No. POCE000731
Rymanow is in Krosno region at 49º34' N 21º53'E, 20 km from Krosno. The cemetery is 500 meters SW of the market square. Present town population is 1000-5000 with no Jews.
- Town: Naczelnik (Head of Village), Urzad Gminy, Rynek 1, 38-250 Rymanow, tel. # 75, Telex 65526 umg.
- Regional: Wojewodski Konserwator Zabytkow Alojzy, Cabala ul Bieszaadzka 1, 38-400 Krosno, tel 21-974.
- Caretaker: M. Biatas, ul. Grunwaldzka 9, 38-520 Rymanow.
The earliest known Jewish community was 15th century. 1921 Jewish population was 1412. Menahem Menolel and Cwi Hirsch are buried in unlandmarked Orthodox cemetery. The isolated suburban crown of a hill has no signs or markers. Reached by turning directly off a public road, access is open to all with no walls, fences and gates. The approximate size of the cemetery, 2.6ha, has not changed since before WWII. 100 to 500 gravestones, in original location with 50-75% toppled or broken, date from 19th-20th century. The cemetery is not divided into sections. The granite and some of sandstone rough stones or boulders, finely smoothed and inscribed stone or flat stones with carved relief decoration have Hebrew inscriptions. The cemetery contains a memorial to Jewish Soldiers. There are marked mass graves. Adjacent properties are agricultural. Frequently, organized groups or tours and private visitors stop. The cemetery was vandalized during WWII. In 1982, two ohels were built. There is no maintenance. Occasional clearing by private individuals is care. The cemetery is overgrown with young trees destroying gravestones. Vegetation and vandalism are very serious threats.
Piotr Antonali, ul Dobra 5 m 36, 05-800 Pruszka visited site on August 8, 1992 and interviewed Wojciech Krukar Posada Gorna 254, 38-521 Rymanow, Zdroj and Jan Tomkiewicz ul. Nadbrezezna 205, 38-521 Rymanow Zdroj.
RYMANOW II:
Alternate name: Reimanschau (during German occupation), spelling?. Distance from larger towns or centers: about 2.5 hours from Krakow in a car, 84 km E from Krakow to Tarnow, then another 21 KM SE to Pilzno, then 31 km SE to Jaslo, then 30 km SE to Iwonicz, and 9 km SSE to Rymanow; from the other direction, it is 27 km W of Sanok, or 15 km S of Krosno. The cemetery is about 7 blocks S of the town square, in a field 100 meters E of the Catholic cemetery. No current Jewish population.
- Caretaker with key: M. Bialis, ul. Grundwaldzka, 9, 38-250, Rymanow Poland.
- Interested: the head of the World Monument Fund visited it.
The gate was funded by a Jewish charity (the one that is rebuilding the Kazimierz district.) I heard that Jews were there in 1790 if not earlier. Supposedly, 1,000 Jews lived there in 1920. Two famous Hasidic rabbis lived here. Birthplace of Nobel Physicist I. Rabi. Jews executed by Nazis in the cemetery. Buried in the cemetery: Rabbi Zwi Hirsch and Rabbi Menachem Mendl. According to a sign, the last known Hasidic Jewish burial was 1942. Zarszyn, 9 km away, also used this landmarked cemetery small village about 9 blocks from the synagogue, in a field 7 blocks S of town square on a slight slope. The gate opening is at the crown of the hillside. The cemetery, separate but near other cemeteries, has a sign in Hebrew, a Star of David, and another Polish sign reading: "Stary smentarz zydowski na ktorym sa pochowani snani rabini meszkancy miasta oraz zolnerze ktorzy padli walczac o nepodlelosc polski smentarz byl czynny do 1942 r kiedy niemcy wypedzili zydow celem zaglady czesc ich pamieci." Reached by turning off the street, park across from the Catholic cemetery, walk E 100 meters through a field. The field land in owned by a public trust that allows the land to lie fallow. Access is open to all via caretaker who unlocks the gate. A relatively new continuous cement wall surrounds the cemetery with iron bars protruding vertically up from the cement base for about 7 feet and a locking gate. About 150 gravestones in a lot of brush are visible. I think all 20th century stone were removed for roadwork. The vegetation overgrowth in the cemetery is a constant problem (moss is growing on them). A section for veterans of Polish wars may exist. I cannot date the tombstones in the cemetery but I have pictures. The flat shaped stones, common stones with carvings of animals, etc., finely smoothed and inscribed stones, flat stones with carved relief decoration, or double tombstones have Hebrew and Yiddish inscriptions. The cemetery may contain mass graves. The cemetery property is used for Jewish cemetery only. Properties adjacent are agricultural and residential, with about 6 wooden homes with agricultural plots. The cemetery is visited rarely. The cemetery was vandalized. The cemetery has a regular caretaker. On my (unannounced) visit, the caretaker was clearing brush from the cemetery and burning leaves. Within the limits of the cemetery is more than one ohel.
Larry Mark, 250 W 105th Street, Apt 4B, New York, NY 10025 USA, 212-556-4670. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. completed survey 14 October 1997. He has photos of the cemetery.
"Rimanov: destroyed (a photograph showed one gravestone standing)." Source: Cohen, Chester G. "Jewish Cemeteries in Southern Poland" from `An Epilogue' in Shtetl Finder. 1980.
BOOK: Gruber, Ruth Ellen. Jewish Heritage Travel A Guide to East-Central Europe. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1992. p. 62
Rymanow, 150 tombstones. Ohels of Tzaddik Menachem Mendel (died 1815) and Tzaddik Cwi Hirsz (died 1846). [source?]
[UPDATE] Photos by Charles Burns [April 2016]