The Rural Jewish Population in the Carpathian Piedmont

The group project „The Rural Jewish Population in the Carpathian Piedmont” aims to research the

social history of Jews in Galician villages from the 18th to 20th century. The project deals with the rural Jewry

of the Sub-Carpathian Eastern Galicia with a special focus on the village of Maniawa.

The group of researchers discover the historical background of the arrival of the Jews to the

villages, their occupational structure, religious life and relationship with local authorities and

peasants. The rural Jews were a diverse group that included farmers, merchants, and people

involved with the local salt and later oil industry.

This presentation will show one of the cases related to the project, particularly the story of Jews

participating in the oil industry in the Stanislawow area. The region was part of Galician oil fields,

mainly in Boryslav in Eastern Galicia and Krosno in Western. However, another essential part of

the ozokerite and oil industry were Dzwiniach and Starunia. The presentation will show how Jews

were involved in the oil business, mainly as oil-wells owners or company directors and how this

participation was a part of broader occupational transformations of Galician Jewry in the 19th-

20th centuries.