Metadata: Records of the Jewish Community of the town of Włocławek and of the Jewish Communities in Aleksandrów, Brześć Kujawski, Chodecz, Izbica, Kowal, Lubień, Lubraniec, Przedecz
Collection
- Country:
- Poland
- Holding institution:
- The Emanuel Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute
- Holding institution (official language):
- Żydowski Instytut Historyczny im. Emanuela Ringelbluma
- Postal address:
- ul. Tłomackie 3/5, 00-090 Warszawa
- Phone number:
- +48 22 827 92 21
- Email:
- secretary@jhi.pl
- Reference number:
- PL 312/113
- Title:
- Records of the Jewish Community of the town of Włocławek and of the Jewish Communities in Aleksandrów, Brześć Kujawski, Chodecz, Izbica, Kowal, Lubień, Lubraniec, Przedecz
- Title (official language):
- Akta gminy wyznaniowej żydowskiej miasta Włocławka oraz gmin żydowskich: Aleksandrów, Brześć Kujawski, Chodecz, Izbica, Kowal, Lubień, Lubraniec, Przedecz
- Creator/accumulator:
- Włocławek Jewish Community
- Date(s):
- 1919/1939
- Language:
- Polish
- German
- Yiddish
- Extent:
- 33 archival units; 0.7 linear metre
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Photographic images
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
-
The collection contains records of the Jewish Religious Community of the city of Włocławek and the Jewish communities of Aleksandrów, Brześć Kujawski, Chodecz, Izbica, Kowal, Lubień, Lubraniec and Przedecz.
The records include minutes of the meetings of the Board and the Council of the Jewish Religious Community in Włocławek; Community budget documentation; alphabetical lists of Community members; election documentation for the Jewish communities of Włocławek and the Włocławek county and for the position of rabbi of the town of Włocławek (including applications of candidates for rabbi); documentation of Jewish social organisations in the Włocławek county: Gemilus Chesed loan union (1929-1932); Jewish barbers' guild (1927-1936); the balance sheets for the companies of the Lubowski Brothers, Mojżesz Rotsztejn and Salomon Witkowski (1931-1933); residence registration book for a house at 3 Maja Street, No. 6 in Włocławek; election posters of Jewish groups in Włocławek; posters, appeals and announcements for political, educational and cultural meetings and events; posters for organised cultural events.
The collection also includes documentation of elections and administration of the Jewish communities in the following towns: Aleksandrów (Kujawski) (1 archival unit); Brześć Kujawski (5 archival units); Chodecz (2 archival units); Izbica (Kujawska) (1 archival unit); Kowal (3 archival units; including a register of births, marriages and deaths in 1919); Lubień (Kujawski) (1 archival unit); Lubraniec (3 archival units); Przedecz (1 archival unit).
- Archival history:
- It is not known when or under what circumstances the collection came into the collection of the Jewish Historical Institute archive.
- Administrative/biographical history:
-
Jews were allowed to settle in Włocławek at the end of the 18th century (it was a bishopric town). The community was established in 1816; its first members were newcomers from Prussia. In 1823, a Jewish district was established (abolished in 1862). With the influx of Jews from Germany, the influence of supporters of the Reform Judaism began to grow. The community (at that point the synagogue supervisors) was in the hands of the maskilim and integrationists, and at the end of the 1850s the misnagdim also joined. At the same time, especially in affluent homes, assimilationist tendencies strengthened. At the end of the 19th century, a group of Litvaks came to Włocławek. Although Hasidim, mainly supporters of the tzadikim from Góra Kalwaria and Aleksandrów, constituted a small part of the population, their influence also grew. In 1859, a secular Jewish school was established, one of the first in Poland. The community maintained a ward for Jews in the local St. Anthony hospital. Józef Karo (from Fordon) was the rabbi from 1860 for 50 years. In the years 1848-1854, the first synagogue was built in the town, and was considered one of the most beautiful in Poland. (It was destroyed during the Second World War.)
During the interwar period, the community in Włocławek was the only large one in the Pomeranian province as it had over 5,000 members. In the elections to the community council in 1924, candidate lists were issued by the Zionists (5 seats), Mizrachi together with merchants and craftsmen (3), Right Poale Zion (1), Bund (2), and Orthodox (4). Representatives of various political groups also sat on the community’s board. The 1931 election was boycotted by the Bund. The community board was dominated by Zionists, as was the case in 1936 when Aguda did not participate. Economic and political problems contributed to the dissolution of the community authorities and the introduction of a receivership from 27 January 1939.
In the years 1899-1925, the community was led by Rabbi Yehuda Leyb Kowalski and deputy rabbis Mendel Kuczyński (1914-1937) and Jakub Unger (1912-1939); the rabbi's assistant in the years 1917-1925 was Betzalel Bieżyński (from 1925 the community secretary), Leyb Fuks (community secretary until 1925). In the interwar period there were many Jewish organisations and societies of a religious, cultural, educational, sports and political character. 791 Jews lived in Włocławek in 1842; 4,248 in 1897; in 1921 around 9,500; and in in 1939 there were approx. 15,000.
- Subject terms:
- Jewish community
- Rabbis
- Vital records
- Access, restrictions:
- Scans of documents are accessible in the Jewish Historical Institute reading room.
- Finding aids:
- A digital catalogue (2009-2015) is available in Polish.
- Yerusha Network member:
- The Taube Department of Jewish Studies of the University of Wrocław
- Author of the description:
- Monika Taras; The Emanuel Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute; September 2019