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This project attempts to identify and collect the Jewish families of the town of Grodzisk Graetz Grätz. It was in Buck County along with Neustadt bei Pinne and Buck in the Grand Duchy of Posen.
In Luft, The Naturalized Jews of the Grand Duchy of Posen in 1834 and 1835, revised edition 2004, the town is grouped in the County of Buck, along with Neustadt bei Pinne and Buck. Individuals that became naturalized numbered 133 in Graetz, 22 in Buck, and 43 in Neustadt. This paperback book is available from Avotayu for about $50 US. It's a snapshot of Prussia in 1834 with benefits for the people that spoke in German, ran a business in German and had money for the fees to be made Naturalized. Refer to Flottwell profile here on Geni: Heinrich EDUARD von Flottwell
Grodzisk Wielkopolski, Poland 52°14' N 16°22' E 196 mi W of Warszawa
This town was known as Graetz and was at one time in Prussia and in Posnan Province.
The tzaddik from Grodzisk copied from the town website in December 2015:
Rabii Eliyahu Guttmacher. Poznan disciple of Rabbi Akiba Eger. Initially, he was a rabbi in Pleszewie and 1839 in Grodzisk. Under the influence of reading Kabbalistic came to the conclusion that the Jews can bring rebirth - in Israel, by striving for moral perfection. Rabbi E. Guttmacher is considered one of the precursors of the Movement Hibbat Zion (Lovers of Zion), which was in opposition to the Orthodox Jewish circles as well as in relation to the rabbis of the tendencies of assimilation. He became one of the pioneers of the idea of colonization of Palestine. He was a member of the Berlin company Colonisations - Verein für Palestina. He is the author of many glosses to the Talmud, published in Vilna editions of the Talmud, responsa and homiletic and exegetical works, most of which has not been published in print. He died on 21 October 1875 year (given also 1874) in Grodzisk, in great reverence. He was buried at the Jewish cemetery - the now non-existent - where was his tombstone-shaped mound. Some time after the death Guttmacher Jews came to the grave "tzaddik", consisting of paper with prayers and requests.
About the synagogue in Graetz, copied from the web site of the town:
Grodzisk synagogue
May 12, 1663 year at the bird, Jan Leopold of Bnin Opaleński, Castellan nakielski and heir Grodzisk Wielkopolski (Yiddish: Grittsa, ץידיידג), granted the Jews a privilege Grodzisk consisting of 15 points. This document was lost or destroyed in a fire, so the Jews begged Charles grodziscy of Bnin Opaleńskiego, the Mayor of Śrem to them this privilege again confirmed. This took place on Aug. 2, 1749 year. The original text of this privilege is stored in The Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People in Jerusalem. By virtue of that privilege was forbidden to Jews to build a synagogue. Initially, it was made of wood, which unfortunately meant that it was not fire resistant. Tight buildings not only itself but also the Jewish quarter of the whole city meant that the fires that broke out at that time, spread rapidly and destroyed large areas of the city. The great fire that broke out in 1761 consumed almost all the Jewish homes. In addition, he damaged a wooden synagogue, which eventually broke up probably in 1772 or 1773 years. In this connection, the municipality of communal elders asked an official request to the municipal authorities to allow them to build a new synagogue. The city authorities, who were represented at the time by the Mayor Councillor Joseph Sawicki and Andrew Wrzoska, agreed to build a new Jewish temple. On 25 May 1774 years was an official measurement of land, including land registration. Were present at the same time not only the representatives of the Jewish community and the city authorities, but also Perzyński priest and parish priest Michal Konarski. The official measurements have established a delegated act any, land they made the arrangement that imposing shown to be wide of the street Jewish elbows 34 in which wide at the rabbi's house, was a school converted wide elbows 7 on the street rear walking towards WWOO Bernardynom wide elbows 36 and a quarter. long street Jewish street transverse to the street Back elbow 39, the rabbi's house 36 cubits long and a quarter. Burznica the same as the signs show contained in his ground in the width 26 cubits by imposition. The new synagogue which stood on the site of an old, brick building was a square, covered with a tented roof with four windows powiekowymi, two from the north and south. Next to the Synagogue there was a religious school (cheder), which also lived Teachers Jewish children. The community had also at one time ritual bath (mikwa) Tragically, the story went around the fortified settlement synagogue. It was demolished by the occupation authorities in the years 1939/1940. There are not preserved appliances that are equipped synagogue. Torah scrolls, candlesticks and other items were either destroyed or exported. It is also unclear what happened to the painting of the great white eagle and hanging on one wall of the synagogue.
From the Jewish Encyclopedia 1906 in the public domain:
"GRÄTZ: By: Gotthard Deutsch, J. Friedmann Town in the province of Posen, Prussia, with a population of 3,784, of whom 319 are Jews (1903). The Jewish community there is one of the oldest in the province. Jews are mentioned in the city charter of April 9, 1594. In 1634 the tailors' gild of Grätz permitted two Jews of Posen to settle in the city and to open a tailor-shop. The Chmielnicki rebellion brought disaster upon the Jews of Grätz. On May 14, 1663, the overlord of the city issued a "Jews' privilege," regulating the affairs of the Jews. During the "northern war" (1700-21) the community was almost entirely destroyed, and its rabbi, Judah Löb, who had been called in 1701, was obliged to flee to Frankfort-on-the-Oder. The great conflagration of 1711 was also a heavy affliction to the community, which had to apply for aid to coreligionists at Posen, who afforded relief to the best of their ability, although themselves impoverished and in debt through a succession of misfortunes.
In 1797 it was decided that the officials of the community should consist of the following: one chief rabbi, one assistant rabbi (dayyan), three elders, one "schulklopfer," one synagogue attendant, two undertakers, three hospital nurses, two cantors, three school-teachers, and one bathhouse superintendent. The debts of the community in that year amounted to 10,151 thalers, repayable in yearly sums of 441 thalers. For that year, also, the rabbi received a salary of 88 thalers, while 666 thalers were paid to the overlord. In 1798 a Jew was permitted to live in the house of a Christian. At the end of the eighteenth century there were 1,135 Jews, nearly half of the whole number of inhabitants; the number had risen from 1,499 in 1816 to 1,634 in 1820, the largest in the history of the city; by 1840 and 1850 the number had decreased to 1,548 and 1,532 respectively. The Polish uprising of 1848, during which the Jews on the whole remained neutral or sided with the Germans, destroyed much property in the city.
The following were rabbis in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries: Simon b. Israel Ashkenazi (c. 1677); Benjamin Wolf b. Joseph Joske (c. 1689); Judah Löb b. Solomon, previously darshan at Prague, and subsequently rabbi at Schneidemühl (c. 1699); Phinehas Selig b. Moses (dayyan of the German community at Amsterdam in 1708); Sanvel Spira of Lemberg; Gershon b. Jehiel of Landsberg, who at Friedberg in 1742 called himself ex-rabbi of Grätz; Jacob b. Ẓebi Hirsch (1743); Marcus Baruch Auerbach. Among those of the nineteenth century were: Benjamin Schreiber (d. 1839); Elijah Guttmacher of Borek, formerly at Pleschen, the "Grätzer Rav," whose counsel and aid were sought by thousands from far and near (d. 1874); Dr. B. Friedmann, subsequently at Berlin (d. 1902); Dr. Silberberg, subsequently at Königsberg; and the present (1903) incumbent, Dr. J. Friedmann.
In the first half of the nineteenth century there was a famous Talmudic school at Grätz. The literary and philanthropic societies include: sukkat shalom, ḥebra ḳaddisha, and biḳḳur ḥolim—united in 1901; in 1898 a society for the study of Jewish history and literature was founded; and there are also a women's society, and funds for the poor, including one especially for poor travelers. The large city hospital, built by the heirs of Dr. M. Mosse, receives patients regardless of creed.
Bibliography: Wuttke, Städtebuch des Landes Posen, 1864; Warschauer, Die Städtischen Archive der Provinz Posen, 1900; Perles, Gesch. der Juden in Posen, 1864-65."