in 1935 with the death of the polish leader joseph pilsudski, antisemitism began to prevail. the polish government encouraged citizens to boycott jewish businesses, and christian business owners were warned not to do business with jewish owned companies. these measures caused a deterioration in the economic status of the jews of galicia and among them of the jews of bolekhiv. from newspaper reports of the time, it is known that the number of violent attacks against jews was on a rise, and hundreds of jews were shot and killed.