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| Jewish Inhabitants of Krotoszyn (Krotoschin), Poznan (Posen) in the 19th & 20th Century. by Rafal Witkowski. Extract of information from the above book with the permission of Rafal Witkowski |
| The first known rabbi of the Jewish community in Krotoszyn was Hirsch ben Samson, mentioned circa 1617. According to a description of the town dated 1629, Krotoszyn was composed of 311 houses, making it the biggest town in the district of Pyzdy (Peisern). During this period, the so-called Wroclaw (Breslau) suburban district traditionally inhabited by Jews, emerged. The Jewish community was granted its first privileges on the 19th July, 1638, by Przementowski, the castellan of Pogorzela, and by Wladyslaw Rozdrazewski, starost of Odolanow. They allowed the Jews (after the great fire in the town) to rebuild their houses and their synagogue, to trade various goods, as well as, to erect a cementery along the road to Ostrow Wielkopolski. The next privileges were drafted in 10th March 1648, by Jacob Hieronim Rozdrazewski, the contemporary owner of Krotoszyn. The entire town, including the Jewish quarter suffered terribley during the Polish-Swedish war in 1655-1656. During this time, it was burnt and robbed several times. However, a few years later, Jewish merchants from Krotoszyn participated in trade fairs in Wroclaw (Breslau), lepzig, Krakow and elsewhere. A fast and multi-faceted development of the town occurred after 1726, when Krotoszyn, along with neighbouring land properties, was bought by magnate Joseph Potocki, a great Polish army commander. He granted vast privileges to the Jewish community on 1st March 1728. In this document, he also artriculated the obligations of the Jewish Community to their feudal superior and arranged its internal organization. During the great fire of Krotszyn in 1774 the majority of the houses were burnt, including the Jewish quarter. The synagogue and the House of Prayers (bet ha-mid-rasz) were destroyed along with the Tora scrolls and the precious manuscripts and treasures found in the Jewish school. The Krotoszyn Jewish cemetery was considered a distinct symbol of prestige for this local Jewish community in the early modern times because it was the burial place of numerous distinguished people. The Pinkas contains the names of those who were buried in the Krotoszyn Jewish cemetery from 1684 until 1831. Click on the underlined link below to see entries for surnames Joachim and Seckel : Head of House registration for Krotoszyn (Krotoschin) 1772/73 The list of Jewish inhabtants living in Krotoszyn (Krotoschin) 1831-1833 Burial register of Krotoszyn (Krotoschin) Cemetery 1854-1920 |