In 1474, during the reign of Casimir IV Jagiellon, Żmigród was plundered and destroyed by the mercenary Black Army of Hungary led by Matthias Corvinus.

Following the Partitions of Poland, from 1772 until 1918 Żmigród was part of the Galician territory of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and began to lose its financial base leading to population decline.

Following mass emigration overseas in the course of World War I, Żmigród was stripped of its city status in 1919 soon after the rebirth of sovereign Poland.

The community in Żmigród suffered greatly as a result of the Cossack and Swedish invasions, and had to borrow money during the second half of the 17th century in order to survive.

Upon the partition of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1772, according to Austrian report of 1781, most of the Jews of Żmigród were in the lowest tax bracket.

[2] A great exodus took place during World War I, when many of the Jews of Żmigród left for overseas.

Most Jews in Żmigród were Hasidic, largely following the Sanzer Rov, Rabbi Chaim Halbershtam.

They were influential in ensuring that the next incumbent as Rabbi of Żmigród was Benyamin Zeev, a Sanzer chosid.

He died in 1902 and was succeeded by Rabbi Mordechai Dovid Unger, a brother-in-law of the Sanzer Rov.

He was succeeded in turn by his son-in-law Rabbi Osher Yeshayahu Rubin, a grandson of the Sanzer Rov, who later became the Zhmigrider Rebbe in Sanz.

With the outbreak of World War II, many Jews fled across the San river to the Soviet occupation zone, but most of them soon returned home.

On 7 July 1942 all the Jews were ordered to assemble in the square whereupon they were surrounded by the German and auxiliary police units.

On the day of the round up, the head of the Judenrat, Hersh Eisenberg, was murdered by the Germans under the pretext that he did not pay the requested contribution.

After hours of waiting, 1,250 Jews were led to the forest of Halbow where they were killed into prepared execution pits.