Faces of the Community


In the aftermath of the watershed events of the revolution of 1848 and the
decline of absolutism, a disproportional large number of Jewish emigrants
left poverty and the relatively parochial confines of Posen during the
period 1820–1860. During this period Schneidemühl’s Jewish community
also began to lose a fair number of their members to emigration.
However, with Imperial Germany’s growth, and as a new colonial world power,
came stability, prosperity and self-assurance. Schneidemühl’s Jews who
had remained, gradually became well integrated. They were ubiquitous in
commerce and in such diverse areas as administration of the local orphanage
or the almshouse, as chairs on finance committees, or in
 the administration of the city itself, all honorary positions.
Many served and were decorated in the military.
With the onslaught of the Nazi period only those with enough foresight
and courage were able to evade annihilation.

The following photographs are in memory of some members of the kehillah.



Johanna Simonstein

  Johanna Simonstein, née Lewin, 1835-1897,
wife of Isidor Simonstein, emigrated from Schneidemühl

in 1865
with her husband and three children and settled
in Australia, where the family prospered and expanded,
establishing a new branch of the Simonstein family.
.
(Photo courtesy of E. Davis, Sydney, Australia )



Heymann

Dr. Hermann Heymann, 1871-1933, 
well-known veterinarian in Schneidemühl.

.
(Photo courtesy of F. Ephraim, Washington DC)


     

Siegmund Jacob

Siegmund Jacob, 1867-1941,
well established grain merchant and prominent figure in the community,
died in Berlin.
.
(Photo courtesy M. Cohen, Philadelphia)


  Selma Simonstein           
Selma Simonstein, née Anschel, 1882-1942, widow of Adolf Simonstein. She was deported to Sobibor where she was murdered.
.
(Photo courtesy M. Cohen, Philadelphia)



Fritz Simonstein

Fritz Simonstein, 1911-1942, -
son of Adolf and Selma Simonstein. After he was forbidden to practice law in Germany, he immigrated to Holland. There he was subsequently taken to Westerbork by the Gestapo and deported to Auschwitz where he was murdered in 1942.

.
(Photo courtesy M. Cohen, Philadelphia)

Richard Rosenberg

Richard Rosenberg, 1893-1945,
son of clothing merchant Jacob Rosenberg, emigrated with family in 1937 and settled in Santiago, Chile.
.
(Photo courtesy J. Rosenberg, Santiago)





Emil Mislowitzer

Dr. Emil Mislowitzer, 1868-1914,
well loved physician and respected member of the kehillah.
He died during the First World War.
.
(Photo courtesy P. Mylon, USA)




Emil Jacob

Emil Jacob, 1897-1982,
grain merchant, emigrated in 1937 and settled with family in Philadelphia.
.
(Photo courtesy M. Cohen, Philadelphia)


Gustav Simonstein

Gustav Simonstein, 1870-1907,
eldest son of Salomon and Esther Simonstein, one of the oldest merchant families of the community.
.

(Photo courtesy P. S. Cullman, Toronto)


                                                    Mentheim Schleimer

Mentheim Schleimer,
prominent clothing merchant, was deported to Sachsenhausen
during
the
1938 November pogrom.
He was murdered in 1939.
.
(Photo courtesy R. Schleimer, London)

    

 Auguste Schleimer

Auguste Schleimer, née Jakubowski, 1878-1942,
widow of Mentheim Schleimer,
was  deported to the Riga Ghetto where she was murdered in 1942.
.
(Photo courtesy R. Schleimer, London)


















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