From the beginning, both welcome and prejudice marked the relationship between Oświęcim and its Jewish residents. Jews arrived in Oświęcim in the second half of the 16th century, founding a Jewish community with a synagogue and cemetery. Jewish communal and commercial life thrived, but economic competition with non-Jewish neighbors and religious conflict resulted in a 1563 prohibition on further Jewish settlement in Oświęcim. In response, local Jews established a Jewish district and the community continued to grow despite the ban.
