Metadata: Jewish Community Jarotschin (Jarocin); Jewish Community Jaratschewo (Jaraczewo); Jewish Community Neustadt an der Warthe (Nowe Miasto nad Wartą)
Collection
- Country:
- Germany
- Holding institution (official language):
- Stiftung Neue Synagoge Berlin - Centrum Judaicum, Archiv
- Postal address:
- Oranienburger Str. 28-30, 10117 Berlin
- Phone number:
- 0049-30-88028-425
- Web address:
- www.centrumjudaicum.de
- Reference number:
- CJA, 1 A Ja 1, 1 A Ja 2; 1 A Ne 5
- Title:
- Jewish Community Jarotschin (Jarocin); Jewish Community Jaratschewo (Jaraczewo); Jewish Community Neustadt an der Warthe (Nowe Miasto nad Wartą)
- Title (official language):
- Jüdische Gemeinde Jarotschin; Jüdische Gemeinde Jaratschewo; Jüdische Gemeinde Neustadt an der Warthe
- Creator/accumulator:
- Jewish Community Jarotschin; Jewish Community Jaratschewo; Jewish Community Neustadt an der Warthe; Central Archives of the German Jews; Municipal authorities of the City of Jaraczewo
- Date(s):
- 1740/1900
- Language:
- German
- Hebrew
- Polish
- Extent:
- 0.75 linear metres (69 archival units)
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- Good
- Scope and content:
-
45 files from the period 1821-1900 have survived from the Jewish community of Neustadt an der Warthe (now Nowe Miasto nad Wartą, Poland).
The first series comprises files on legal and police matters and the general administration of the community - including statutes from 1834, official orders, board and representatives - as well as personnel matters (1835-1867), including Rabbi Salomon Elias (1795-1860), cantor and slaughterer Marcus Lewin, and cantor Elias Kleczewski.
The property files include two files on the planned construction of a new synagogue, 1836-1867 (including a list of community members with voting rights, undated, and a list of the synagogue seat holders, 1843) as well as files on the construction of a new mikveh, 1849-1868, and on the repair of the community building, 1851-1853.
The largest series contains financial matters, including community treasury accounts for 1830-1836, 1856-1874, the 1846-1848 budget and school treasury bills for 1850-1856. There are also files with tax complaints from members (1843-1850), on marriage fees (1835, 1860-1864) and on 'Krupke' (meat tax), 1835-1864. Two files concern a legacy of the landowner Moses Alexander from Chocicza, 1843-1855. There are also two books for mitzvah donations, 1857-1880, and two ledgers of the Beth Hamidrash, 1836-1881 (in Hebrew script).
There are seven files from the community of Jaratschewo (now Jaraczewo, Poland). They concern, among other things, meetings and correspondence of the representatives, property matters and finances (1830-1851). In addition there is a cost statement for the demolition of the old synagogue and construction of the new one (approx. 1875). An interesting source is a town book from 1740-1819 kept by the Jaratschewo Municipality. It contains entries on buying and selling houses and land, business permits and acquiring citizenship (partially in Polish).
The collection of the Jewish community of Jarotschin (now Jarocin, Poland) comprises 17 files from the years 1834-1869. They relate to the statutes of the community, elections of the chairman, meetings of the board, appointment of the cantor and slaughterer and income and expenditure of the community.
There is one file on the planned synagogue construction (1837-1838) including the construction of a temporary prayer house, a plan of the synagogue seats and an architectural drawing.
Other files concern complaints and tax returns, school and fundraising. One file contains the bill for the treatment of Rabbi Nachem Gotthelf (d. 1852), who died of pulmonary consumption, as well as his wife Bertha Gotthelf and his son Moses Gotthelf, both of whom died of cholera.
The collection also includes a folder with information on the Israelite Poor Association (established in 1885) and the printed statutes of the Israelite Brotherhood for Nursing and Burial (Hevra Kadischa) in Jarotschin from 1888.
Some files from Jarotschin and Jaratschewo are badly damaged.
- Archival history:
- The files of the Jewish communities Neustadt an der Warthe, Jaratschewo and Jarotschin were held in the former General Archive of German Jews. In 1996 the collection was transferred from the Federal Archives to the archive of the New Synagogue Berlin – Centrum Judaicum. 22 further files from Neustadt a. W. were transferred in 2008 from the Brandenburg State Archive. Printed items from Jewish associations and organisations were mostly kept in a separate collection in the former General Archive.
- Administrative/biographical history:
-
The Jews in the Greater Poland area were mostly descendants of Ashkenazi Jews who had migrated to Poland-Lithuania since the Middle Ages. The settlement of Jews was encouraged by the Polish kings and later also by the nobility; from the 16th century onwards the latter increasingly founded their own towns and granted settlement privileges there in order to promote economic development. After the dissolution of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the late 18th century these areas with a large proportion of Jewish population came under Prussian rule, as did large parts of Greater Poland upon the second partition of Poland in 1793. Under French rule the territory belonged to the Duchy of Warsaw, in 1815 it returned to Prussia as the Grand Duchy of Posen (after 1848 Province of Posen). The “Preliminary Ordinance Concerning the Jewry in the Grand Duchy of Posen” issued in 1833 defined, among other things, the boundaries of the community districts, regulated the election of representatives and administrative officials, compulsory schooling and the requirements for naturalisation. The Prussian law of 23 July 1847 was initially not applied to Posen; only after 1848 were the Jews granted civil rights with the Prussian constitution.
After the First World War, most of the province of Posen became part of the Second Polish Republic, which existed until 1939. Since 1945 it has again been part of Poland. This area largely corresponds to what is now the Greater Poland Voivodeship (województwo wielkopolskie).
Neustadt an der Warthe, Jarotschin and Jaratschewo were part of the district of Jarotschin, created in 1887.
There has been a Jewish community in Neustadt an der Warthe since the end of the 17th century. At the end of the 18th century around 180 Jews lived in the town, after 1840 it was over 500; around 1890 there were still 160 Jewish residents (45 families). The long-planned new synagogue was inaugurated in 1874. There was also an elementary school and a Beth Hamidrash in the community.
There have probably been been Jewish residents and a Jewish prayer house in Jarotschin since the 17th century. After 1840 the community built a new synagogue; at that time around 550 Jews lived in the town (about a third of the population), around 1890 it was about 360.
Jews have probably lived in nearby Jaratschewo since the 18th century. Around 1840 there were 225 Jewish residents, around 1890 around 90. The community had a new synagogue built in 1874-75.
- Access points: locations:
- Jaratschewo
- Jarotschin
- Neustadt an der Warthe
- Yerusha Network member:
- Centrum Judaicum
- Author of the description:
- Barbara Welker; Stiftung Neue Synagoge Berlin - Centrum Judaicum; 2021