Jews represented 90 per cent and Christians 10 per cent of the food trade.
As well, Jews owned the entire trade of textiles and ready-made clothes. Jews
represented 80 per cent of the shoe industry. On the whole, up to 35 per cent
Jews occupied themselves with craft work, such as cobblers, tailors, carpenters,
painters, glaziers, wagon drivers, bakers, butchers, boot makers, etc.
The tailors and cobblers occupied themselves with old clothes and with producing
ready-made merchandise, prosperous work.
The trade with soldiers constituted a separate small branch of trade,
because soldiers were always stationed in Góra Kalwaria, such as the artillery
or sometimes the Straż Pograniczna.⁷⁶⁵
[2] Although the Gerer rebbe lived in the town and this factor provided
livelihood for local Jews, this also had a negative impact on the economic life
in Góra Kalwaria. Namely, many Jews expected earnings from the visiting
Hasids and at the same time did not try to seek other sources of income, like
trading in the surrounding towns or learning vocations, and this was the reason
why Góra Kalwaria was inferior to other towns, and also poorer.
There was no industry in Góra Kalwaria, with the exception of 2 mills,
steam and electric ones, which were in Christian hands, but were partly
rented out to Jews. It is worth mentioning that thanks to a Jew, Mr Wajnsztok,
who had moved [here] 10 years ago, a sawmill, obviously a Jewish one, was
recently opened in Góra Kalwaria. It prospered and in the time of the war it
was requisitioned.
Góra Kalwaria did not operate with large capital. The sawmill operated
with up to 100,000 zlotys; the flour trade up to 50,000 zlotys; the textile trade
up to 50,000 zlotys; shoes and clothes industries up to 50,000 zlotys; other
branches up to 150,000 zlotys. All in total, up to 500,000 zlotys of Jewishowned
capital, obviously including the credit received from the outside in
money, merchandise, and bills of exchange.
It can be said that many years before the war, the relations with the local
Christians were not bad, and the same can be said about the relations with
the peasant population. This had the effect that in communal institutions
one could get better service, and even a Jewish clerk was appointed in the
municipality. Sometimes a compromise was reached for elections. However,
the trends worsened when anti-Semitism in Poland started to grow. Then, the
765 (Polish, in Latin characters) border guard.
