The Jewish Community of Gdańsk () dates back to at least the 15th century though for many centuries it was separated from the rest of the city. Under Polish rule, Jews acquired limited rights in the city in the 16th and 17th centuries and after the city's 1793 incorporation into Prussia the community largely assimilated to German culture. In the 1920s, during the period of the Free City of Danzig, the number of Jews increased significantly and the city acted as a transit point for Jews leaving Eastern Europe for the United States and Canada. Antisemitism existed among German nationalists and the persecution of Jews in the Free City intensified after the Nazis came to power in 1933. During World War II and the Holocaust the majority of the community either emigrated or were murdered. Since the fall of communism Jewish property has been returned to the community, and an annual festival, the Baltic Days of Jewish Culture, has taken place since 1999.
History
Early history
A Jewish community in Danzig proper did not exist until the 15th century. In 1308 Gdańsk was taken over by the Teutonic Knights and a year later, the Grand Master of the Order, Siegfried von Feuchtwangen, forbid Jews to settle or remain in the city in an edict of non-toleration ("de non tolerandis Judaeis"). The knights weakened the restriction in the early 15th century under pressure from the Grand Duke of Lithuania, Witold, and as a result a limited number of Jewish merchants from Lithuania and Volhynia were allowed to come to Danzig. Around 1440 a "Judengasse" ("Jewish Lane", modern Spichrzowa) and around 1454 a Jewish settlement existed.
After the end of the Thirteen Years' War the city returned to Poland and Jewish merchants came to trade from all over Poland and Lithuania. Many of them received special privileges from the King of Poland in regards to both the internal (along the Vistula river) as well as trans-Baltic trade. Others acted as agents of the szlachta (Polish nobility) in commercial matters.
In 1476, on the initiative of the King of Poland, Casimir IV Jagiellon the city council allowed two Jewish merchants to have equal rights with other merchants. Danzig's semi-autonomous status within the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth however allowed the city to refuse citizenship and trading rights to outsiders, thus the rights of Jews in the Kingdom did not apply in Danzig (similar restrictions also applied to Scots and Mennonites, many of whom also settled around the city). On the insistence of local merchants, Jews had to move to the Schottland suburb outside of the city's boundary in 1520, subsequently Jews also settled in other places outside of the jurisdiction of the city.
The city burghers continued to curtail the rights of Jews in the city throughout the 16th century, particularly in regards to trade. This was opposed by the Jewish merchants through a boycott of the Danzig owned banking house in Kowno (which had to be closed down) and through the intercession of the Polish Kings on behalf of the Council of the Four Lands.
In 1577, Danzig rebelled against the election of Stephen Báthory as King of Poland and an inconclusive siege of the city commenced. The negotiations that finally broke the stalemate included concessions by the Polish king in religious matters that also concerned Jews. Jewish religious services were not allowed in the city and in 1595 the city council again permitted sojourns only during the fair days. In the 1620s Jewish merchants were allowed to stay for the Domenic Fair and remain 4 days after its closure.
At the beginning of the 17th century, almost half a thousand Jews lived in the city and, in 1620, King Zygmunt III Waza enforced an edict permitting the Jews to live within the city. A few years later, Jews were allowed to trade in grain and timber, first in one part of the city, then all of it.
In 1752 a city ordinance regulated a tax of 12 Florin per month for a Jewish merchant, 8 Florin for an assistant and a 4 Florin for a servant. 50 Jewish families received citizenship in 1773 and 160 Jews were allowed to reside in the city.
Kingdom of Prussia
The situation changed with the First partition of Poland in 1772, when the suburbs became Prussian while the city of Danzig remained part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth until 1793. The 240 Jewish families (1,257 persons) of the Danzig suburbs received a General-Privilege in August 1773, which guaranteed their legal status. As Gershon C. Bacon states: This was the beginning of the association of Danzig Jewry with Germany, the German economy and German culture, which lasted until the dissolution of the community in the Nazi era.