Metadata: Jewish Community Murowana-Goslin (Murowana Goślina); Jewish Community Obornik (Oborniki); Jewish Community Rogasen (Rogoźno)
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 Mu 4; 1 A Ob 7; 1 A Ro 2
- Title:
- Jewish Community Murowana-Goslin (Murowana Goślina); Jewish Community Obornik (Oborniki); Jewish Community Rogasen (Rogoźno)
- Title (official language):
- Jüdische Gemeinde Murowana-Goslin; Jüdische Gemeinde Obornik; Jüdische Gemeinde Rogasen
- Creator/accumulator:
- Jewish Community Murowana-Goslin; Jewish Community Obornik; Jewish Community Rogasen
- Date(s):
- 1805/1914
- Language:
- German
- Hebrew
- Extent:
- 0.8 linear metres (62 archival units)
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- Poor
- Scope and content:
-
The collection of the Jewish community of Murowana-Goslin (now Murowana Goślina, Poland) comprises 24 files from the years 1805-1872.
It includes files on the legal and general situation of the Jews, including a statistical overview of the Jews in the Murowana-Goslin district including their sources of income (undated, probably around 1840, no names). In addition, there are general files on meetings of the board and representatives, finance and taxes, announcements, processes and personnel matters.
There is also a file on building matters, 1834-1846 (including a list of the holders of synagogue seats, 1843) and financial files (e.g. budget for 184-46, 1870-1873, annual accounts of income and expenditure for 1837, 1842, 1870, cash book 1839-1840, leasing of the 'Krupke' (meat tax), 1834-1849, and tax returns, 1842-1845. Two files relate to the municipality's elementary school, which was set up in 1834, including a class register from the school, 1866-1872. Finally, there is a pinkas of the Chevra Kadisha, 1805-1867 (mostly in Hebrew script). Some of the files are severely damaged.
The collection of the Jewish community of Obornik (now Oborniki, Poland) comprises 23 files from 1834 to 1899.
Eight files contain general community affairs, including meetings and resolutions of the board and representatives, administrative orders and confirmations of elected representatives. One file contains details of the conditions in the community in 1837 with comments from the authorities, including a list of births for 1836-37, while another deals with members moving to and away from the community, 1835-1853.
There is also file with applications for the position of rabbi, 1877, three files regarding the cantors Marcus Schwarzberg, 1876-1877, Israel Berliner (primarily his wife's lawsuit against the community), 1876-1878, and A Lewinsohn, 1890-1891 (dismissal and legal proceedings with the community, dispute with Rabbi M Broh).
Furthermore there are files on the community buildings, including the mikveh, 1889-1895, on the finances (including annual accounts for 1857-1860, register of expenditure for 1864-1888), a file on the lease of the 'Krupke' (meat tax), 1859-1892, and a file on poor relief, 1834-1856.
Some files are severely damaged.
There are 15 files from Rogasen (now Rogoźno, Poland). In addition to documents on meetings and the files of the representatives (1834-1835), a file of the board contains repeated submissions by the board to the Prussian Ministry of the Interior and the government in Posen with the request to change the local status of the town of Rogasen, which restricted the proportion of Jewish city councillors to a quarter (1859-1862). This provision had repeatedly led to elected Jewish representatives not being confirmed, since three Jewish city councillors were already in place and the maximum number had been reached.
Two files relate to the repeated outbreaks of cholera in the 19th century. The pandemic had first occurred in Prussia in 1831 and when it returned in 1837 a 'sanitary commission' was formed in Rogasen; the collection includes a decree and details of the election of a Jewish representative. The second file contains recommendations from 1852, when another wave of the pandemic reached Central Europe.
One file concerns personnel matters of the cantor and slaughterer Meier Fischel Wolfsohn, 1835-1836, and the contract of employment with Rabbi Moses Feilchenfeld from January 1840.
There is also a folder with drawings of the arrangement of the synagogue seats (undated). Other files relate to the 1840-1865 budget, mortgages and community debts. Finally, there are files on a number of associations: Totenzunft (Chewra Kadischa), 1837-1860 (including statute, funeral tariff) and statute of the lending and support association "Gemiloth Hassadim" from 1871.
A file with statutes and reports of various associations from the period 1871-1914, including Chevra Kadischa, Gemiluth Hassadim Club, Israelite Women's Club, Talmud Torah Club, has also been added to the collection.
- Archival history:
- The files of the Jewish communities of Murowana-Goslin, Obornik and Rogasen were held in the former General Archive of German Jews. Printed items from Jewish associations and organisations were mostly kept in a separate collection in the former General Archive. In 1996 the collection was transferred from the Federal Archives to the archive of the New Synagogue Berlin – Centrum Judaicum. An additional file from Rogasen was transferred from the Federal Archives in 1999.
- 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).
Murowana-Goslin, Obornik and Rogasen were part of the district of Obornik.
Murowana-Goslin was founded as a town by a noble landlord. In 1782 the owner allowed Jews to settle there, thereby establishing the Jewish community. In 1793 there were already 292 Jews here, almost a third of the population; around 1840 almost 500 Jews lived in the city. They lived and worked in their own street, where the houses, workshops (mostly tailors), shops, synagogues and schools were located. In 1847 a fire destroyed large parts of the Jewish quarter and the workshops, which is why many Jewish residents left the city. The number of Jews in Murowana-Goslin continued to fall until the end of the 19th century; in 1860 there were 281 people, around 1890 there were still 32 families (225 people).
Jews had been living in Obornik since at least the second half of the 16th century. They were mainly active in the wood and salt trade and in crafts. In 1837, 362 Jews lived in the city, including almost 50 tailors. In the 1840s there were around 400 Jews (about a quarter of the population); around 1890 the community also comprised 400 people (76 families). Among others, Jacob Pick (1824-1886) and M Broh (d. 1895) worked here as rabbis.
Jewish residents in Rogasen are mentioned in a privilege from 1778, but Jews probably lived there much earlier. In 1793 over 1,000 Jews lived in the town, around 1840 there were 1,650 Jewish inhabitants (40%). At the end of the 19th century the number of community members fell - around 1890 there were still over 1,000, before the First World War it was about 200. Rabbi Moses Feilchenfeld (1794-1872) worked here for over 30 years.
- Access points: locations:
- Murowana-Goslin
- Obornik
- Rogasen
- Subject terms:
- Aid and relief
- Aid and relief--Philanthropy and charity
- Education
- Education--Schools and universities
- Financial records
- Hazanim
- Health and medical matters
- Health and medical matters--Diseases
- Hevrah kadisha
- Jewish community
- Jewish community records
- Jewish community records--Pinkasim
- Legal matters
- Legal status of Jews
- Mikveh
- Rabbis
- Statistics
- Synagogues
- Taxation
- Vital records
- Vital records--Birth records
- Yerusha Network member:
- Centrum Judaicum
- Author of the description:
- Barbara Welker; Stiftung Neue Synagoge Berlin - Centrum Judaicum; 2022
