Jego celem jest upamiętnienie i przybliżenie historii społeczności żydowskiej z terenu przedwojennej Kielecczyzny. Chmielnik Shtetl (derived from a Yiddish word meaning town) is a small urban agglomeration observing its traditional Jewish customs. Jewish people would very often account for over 70-80% of the whole population of such a community. The arrival of the holocaust damaged the culture of
the peculiar socio-cultural lifestyle, the very ethos of a devout Jew. A notion of region is conceived in a historical sense here so it comprises a territory bigger than the Świętokrzysie voivodeship. Two traditions of the administrative partitions appeared in the history of Little Poland: old Poland 1474-1772 /1815/, and modern 1815-1975. The administrative authorities functioning of this territory have been showing continuity and stabibity since 1815. It directed some historians to a statement that the Świętokrzyski region situated beetween the rivers Wisła, Pilica and Nida-Szreniawa was deeply ingrained in the minds of people. The regional studies are very popular now and that is why we devoted this website to the Jweish heritage in the Świętokrzyski region. The Jewish settlements had great significance for towns' development and overall economy. The first records of the Jews in this region date back to the year 1367. Sandomierz was the first town in this region the Jews dwelled in. A historical source from 1470 informed us about the first cemetery called kirkut in Szydłów. In the second half of the sixteenth century the Jews were living in 24 towns of the Sandomierskie voivodeship. They were scattered over 56 towns in the period 1662-1667 constituting a significant proportion of towns' inhabitants. They left their historic presence in these towns as the Jewish heritage. This heritage which is still in existence is represented by synagogues, kirkuts and macevas. Although considerable progress has been made in research concerning the late medieval and early modern Jewish settlement and population in Poland, comparatively little is known about Jewish families. The major basis for estimating the Polish population in the early modern epoch is fiscal registration: harvests in the second half of the 16th century, the heart tax of 1629, the poll tax of 1662-1676, and the state census for 1789. The attitude towards Polish-Jewish relations has recently started to change for the better. “The Meetings with the Jewish Culture”, organized in Chmielnik since 2003, is what greatly contributes to this attitude change. Shortly, it will be possible to create a modern museum-like multimedia centre in a 17th-century synagogue in Chmielnik, which will be financed by the European Union as part of the Regional Operational Programme of Swietokrzyskie Voivodeship. The project is built around two enormous lumps, one of which, standing for light, symbolizes common life of Poles and Jewish people before WW II, the other one signifies the shadow, that is Holocaust. Pictures and sounds of a pre-war town will certainly add variety to the visit in the museum. It is believed that the semblance of the atmosphere of a pre-war shtetl combined with the modern interior of the synagogue will contribute to the understanding of the tradition and the heritage of the former generations. The main purpose of the museum and the website is presentation of the Jewish heritage still in existence in the Świętokrzyski region. Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English defined heritage as an object, custom, or quality which is passed down over many years within a family, social group, or nation and is thought of as belonging to all its members. On this project we shall attempt to demonstrate: the Jewish settlements in the Świętokrzyski region's town, the centres of zaddikim, famous Jewish men and women and ancient although preserved until today momuments of Jewish architecture and culture. We kindly invite you to visit Chmielnik and Swietokrzyskie Voivodeship. Gmina Chmielnik, dzięki funduszom z Regionalnego Programu Operacyjnego Województwa Świętokrzyskiego, odnowiła zaniedbaną, zabytkową bożnicę i utworzyła w niej nowoczesny, multimedialny ośrodek edukacyjno–muzealny „Świętokrzyski Sztetl”. Projekt oparł się na dwóch bryłach, z których jedna symbolizuje światło, czyli wspólne życie Polaków i Żydów przed wojną, a druga cień, czyli Holocaust. W czasie spaceru po muzeum zwiedzający są "atakowani" przez kolejne nowoczesne środki wyrazu, dzięki którym będą odtwarzane obrazy i odgłosy przedwojennego miasteczka.
