There is an exhausting account of History of Staszów, Poland and its Jewish Community by Dr. N. M. Gelber (available here), so I will not attempt to repeat everything, but instead I have compiled a time line of events.

There are couple of books devoted to the history - please check the list on the bibliography page.

Information about the famous Jewish Staszowers is avalable here.

Wikipedia has a very touching account of Polish-Jewish relations during the 1863 Uprising, taken from Dr Gelber's work. After the battle of Staszów on February 17, 1863 The town was plundered by the Russians after the Polish forces left, although the Russians only plundered Polish homes, the Jews of Staszów in turn bought the looted goods from the Russians for 500 rubles, and when the Russians left the town, the Jews returned the robbed goods to their Polish owners, without demanding any payment.

The Berger family just before the war. Shaia Berger with his wife Dwoire, son Moishe and wife's niece. Photo courtesy of Luis Waisman