The Jewsappeared in Żabno in the second half of the 17th century, receivingfrom the owner of the town a right to settle and then the consent to found a cemeteryand to build a synagogue. Favourable economic conditions meant that the Jewishcommunity developed quickly at the turn of the 19th and 20thcentury. The Jews were more than half of the Żabno population, creating theshtetl (small town) known from literature. Since the 18th century,the vast majority of the community has been associated with the Hasidic movementand the Tzadiks from the Unger dynasty. Due to a large percentage of the Jewishcommunity in Żabno in the 19th and 20th century, the Jewsalso performed political functions and sat on the Municipal Council. Theinterwar period is the further development of the Jewish community, which, beinga half of the city population, had to create the joint cultural environment withthe Christians. The Christian and Jewish children sometimes attended joint schools,craftsmen belonged to common guilds and peasants from Żabno and surroundingvillages purchased goods in Jewish shops. This co-existence was interrupted byWorld War II and the Holocaust. Some Jewish imhabitants were murdered in Żabnoitself, some in Dąbrowa Tarnowska and the other were deported to the Bełżeccamp. With the closure of the ghetto, the synagogue and the Hasidic prayerhouse were destroyed. To the present, only the Jewish cemetery has beenpreserved.