Metadata: Jewish Community in Wroclaw
Collection
- Country:
- Poland
- Holding institution:
- The Emanuel Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute
- Holding institution (official language):
- Żydowski Instytut Historyczny im. E. Ringelbluma
- Postal address:
- ul. Tłomackie 3/5, 00-090 Warszawa
- Phone number:
- (+48 22) 827 92 21
- Web address:
- http://www.jhi.pl/
- Email:
- secretary@jhi.pl
- Reference number:
- PL 312/105
- Title:
- Jewish Community in Wroclaw
- Title (official language):
- Gmina Żydowska we Wrocławiu
- Creator/accumulator:
- Synagogues of Wroclaw
- Date(s):
- 1753/1944
- Language:
- German
- Yiddish
- Hebrew
- Polish
- Extent:
- 30 linear metres (1,325 archival units [3200 files])
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
-
The collection consists of around 316,000 pages of archival documents.
The documents in the collection concern:
1. Elections to the Board of the Community of Breslau, registers of electors (1826-1930).
2. Elections to the assembly of representatives of the Jewish Community of Breslau (1863-1930).
3. The rabbinate and elections of rabbis (1755-1938).
4. Organisation of community and everyday work (1847-76): letters to municipal authorities, meeting reports.
5. Privileged Jewish families – Stamm-numeranten - 1864-1891.
6. Burial society and hospital (1826-1941).
7. Lists of members of the Jewish community, lists of Jewish inhabitants of Breslau (1792-1934).
8. Jewish cemeteries.
9. Bibliothek des Jüdisch-Theologischen Seminars Breslau.
10. Legacies and other donations to the Jewish community, hospital and other charity societies in Breslau (1789-1934).
11. The Association of German Jews (1900-20).
12. Correspondence between the Jewish Community in Breslau and the Association of Jewish Communities in Germany and Prussia.
13. The emigration of Jews (1934-41).
14. Statutes and amendments of the statutes of the Jewish community in Breslau (1826-52).
15. Jewish schools in Breslau (1831-1940).
16. Registers of deaths (1828-95).
17. Synagogues (1819-1941).
18. Administrative documentation (1791-1938).
19. Oaths of Jews (1829-69).
20. Antisemitic incidents (1879-95).
21. Bulletin issued by the Breslau Community (1924-37); correspondence.
22. Jewish Telegraphic Agency, 1925.
23. Properties and buildings (1919-37).
24. Christian names for children (1836-37).
25. Jewish Society of Friends (1817-33).
26. Other aspects of life in the Jewish community.
- Archival history:
- The archive of the Jewish community of Wroclaw (Breslau) was set up and first managed by Dr Aron Hoeffer, a rabbi from Koźmin (Koschmin) in the Poznan area. The archive was housed at the community building at 9 Wallstrasse (now Włodkowica Street). Included were the Breslau Jewish community records dating from the late 18th century and records of other communities of Silesia, along with those of Jewish associations and private individuals. In March 1938 a Gestapo commission led by Dr Arlt, head of the racial and political office, confiscated the archive. November 1938 saw the final closure of the storerooms and the offices of the community board. Part of the archive was saved, possibly as a result of the Nazi directive providing for amassment of data for the RSHA, or the Institute for Studies in the Jewish Question (Institut zur Erforschung der Judenfrage). Hidden in Wroclaw’s cemetery buildings, the collection was retrieved in 1947 by the Central Jewish Historical Commission and subsequently included in the ŻIH collection.
- Administrative/biographical history:
-
Traces of Jewish settlement in Lower Silesia date back to the 11th century. The existence of a Jewish community in Wroclaw (then named Breslau) was officially confirmed by Friedrich II of Prussia in his declaration of 1744. There was a rabbi in the city, a cemetery from 1761 on and an organised Jewish community. Friedrich II consented to the indispensable community ‘officials’ residing in Breslau: a rabbi, a shkolnik/shames, a cantor, a slaughterer, tenders, bath attendants, gravediggers, a ritual butcher and his assistants, and cooks (who could deal in kosher wine). The community was formed of all the Jews authorised to reside in the city. Apart from the general community administration, other associations developed among the local Jewry, which tackled social care and health issues as well as charity activities. There was a resilient Chevra Kadisha organisation (subsequently active as the Jewish Institution for Care of the Infirm and Mortuary Society), along with a number of charity foundations and associations. The Jewish citizens of the city joined the activities of German inter-religious supportive and custodial (protective) organisations.
Considered a significant Jewish scientific, cultural and educational hub, the community ceased to exist in 1938. The Jewish residents of Breslau were victims of the Holocaust.
- Access points: locations:
- Wrocław
- Subject terms:
- Aid and relief--Philanthropy and charity
- Antisemitism
- Cemeteries
- Education--Schools and universities
- Education--Yeshivot
- Health and medical matters--Hospitals
- Hevrah kadisha
- Jewish community
- Jewish oath
- Libraries
- Migration
- Migration--Emigration
- Privileges
- Rabbis
- Real estate
- Synagogues
- Vital records
- Vital records--Death records
- Finding aids:
- An electronic catalogue, in German, is accessible in the Jewish Historical Institute archive and reading room.
- Yerusha Network member:
- Emanuel Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute
- Author of the description:
- Agnieszka Reszka; Żydowski Instytut Historyczny im. E. Ringelbluma; 2015
