Samuel Zbitkower

Samuel Zbitkower, also known as Shmul Zbytkower, Shemu’el ben Ya‘akov Avigdor, and Szmul Jakubowicz, was a Warsaw merchant, banker, and army purveyor. He was also involved in many different industries.

Samuel Zbitkower, native of village of Zbytki where he was a leaseholder, arrived in Warsaw in 1757 where he displayed great ability and initiative in the development of varied types of trade and industry, including timber haulage, trade in cattle, horses, pigs, and hides, working the salt mines, preparation of leather, operating a slaughterhouse, exercise of the monopoly on kasher meat, and the operation of brick kilns and a brewery. By 1766, Zbitkower had received the title of purveyor to the court of the Polish king, Stanisław August Poniatowski (r. 1764 – 1795), and from 1771 performed similar services for the Prussian monarch Frederick II (r. 1740 – 1786). He was also acting as army supplier; in the early 1770s for the Polish army, and from 1773, the Russian army as well.

In 1788 Zbitkower was appointed parnas of the Warsaw suburb of Praga, and the district in which he lived is called Szmulowizna after him. Although Zbitkower was harsh towards his coreligionists, he isnremembered as a benefactor who saved dozens of Jews from Russian troops during the Praga massacre of 1794. The same year, during the Kościuszko insurrection, his property was confiscated and he sought protection in the Russian camp, recovering a part of his fortune only in 1797.