Jewish merchants were noted in the village of Pułtusk as early as the 900s CE and again in the 1480s, but for centuries Polish authorities banned Jews from living within town limits.

Beginning in 1795, Pułtusk was taken over by the Prussian (German) Empire and later Napoleonic forces before becoming part of the Russian Empire in 1815. New rulers allowed Jews to move into town from nearby villages. The Jewish population grew from less than 120 in 1810 to some 5,000 (about half of the total population) by the end of the century.

This early Jewish community established a synagogue and cemetery in Pułtusk in the early 1800s. Many Jews earned a living trading grain and lumber, while others milled flour or drove horse-drawn carts. Unfortunately, trade suffered in the second half of the century as Pułtusk was excluded from emerging railroad networks. Some Jewish families sought better opportunities abroad especially after an 1894 cholera outbreak.

By the early 1900s, Pułtusk remained a mostly agrarian society. Jewish boys were educated in Jewish schools while girls learned only the most basic skills at home. Survivor Harry Melnick remembered that his parents, children of this era, were both illiterate.

Pułtusk found itself less than 50 miles from the front lines of battle during World War I (1914-1918). The Jewish community rallied to help the refugees who flooded the town and Jewish men were among those conscripted to the Russian army. Pułtusk was occupied by German forces. Some restrictions on Jewish life were lifted and social activities blossomed with the founding of new clubs and associations. At the same time, war devastated the economy and a number of families relied on food coupons and a Jewish-run soup kitchen.

After World War I, Polish and Soviet (Russian) troops fought for control of Pułtusk and surrounding areas. Polish troops accused Jews of aiding the Soviets. They cut Jews’ beards and forced them to clean the town. Ultimately, Pułtusk and the surrounding areas became part of the newly independent country of Poland.

From 1922 to 1927, Jewish men held about half the seats on Pułtusk’s municipal council, reflecting the 40 to 50 percent of Jewish residents who made up the town’s total population of some 13,000 to 15,000. Within the Jewish community, the Zionist movement for the creation of an independent Jewish state grew more and more popular. A training program prepared Jewish youth for the agricultural skills needed to emigrate to Palestine.

Jewish culture of the 1920s and 1930s included theater and sports clubs. A variety of Jewish newspapers were published in Polish and the Jewish language of Yiddish. However, the specter of antisemitism loomed larger and darker. A Jewish shoemaker was murdered in Pułtusk in 1927. In the 1930s, a violent antisemitic group organized boycotts against Jewish businesses and instigated anti-Jewish riots.

German troops invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, reaching Pułtusk six days later. Some Jewish families fled eastward to the interior of the Soviet Union. The family of siblings Harry Melnick and Betty Melnick Wolf survived by laboring six harsh years in Siberia.

On September 17, 1939, the Soviet Union invaded Poland, claiming territory up to the Narew River just east of Pułtusk. At the end of the month, Nazis forced some 7,000 Jews to cross into Soviet territory. Many were pushed off the bridge and died in the river. The 500 or so Jews who remained in the town were used as forced labor.

Nazi rule ended when Soviet troops occupied Pułtusk in January 1945. An estimated two-thirds of the prewar Jewish population of roughly 7,500 were killed in the Holocaust.