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Krotoszyn, Poland 51°42' N 17°27' E 156 mi WSW of Warszawa
Krotoszyn [kr%C9%94%CB%88t%C9%94%CA%82%C9%A8n] (German: Krotoschin, Yiddish: קראטשין Krotshin) is a town in central Poland with 30,010 inhabitants as of 2005. It has been part of the Greater Poland Voivodeship since 1999; it was within Kalisz Voivodeship from 1975 to 1998. Historically part of the Kingdom of Poland, during the German rule in the 19th century after the Partitions of Poland, the town was located in the Prussian province of Posen. The dominant trade is in grain and seeds, and the headquarters of the Polish branch of Mahle GmbH is located there. The castle of Krotoszyn was the centre of a mediatized principality formed in 1819 out of the holdings of the Prussian crown and granted to the prince of Thurn und Taxis in compensation for his relinquishing control over the Prussian postal system. Source: Wikipedia July 2016.
KROTOSZYN (Ger. Krotoschin), town in the province of Poznan, Poland. The Jewish community was established in the 14th century, and by virtue of an ancient privilege allowing the Jews to trade, engage in crafts, and build houses, the community prospered. The privilege was reissued in 1638 by the owners of the town, and ratified and extended in 1648 and in 1673. In the course of the wars which ravaged Poland in the 17th century, the Jews suffered severely. Polish troops headed by the hetman *Czarniecky murdered 350 Jewish families out of 400 in Krotoszyn in 1656 during the war against the Swedes. Later the Jewish community recovered and its representatives filled important functions in the *Councils of Four Lands. Especially notable were Avigdor b. Abraham Katz, who in 1671 took part in the negotiations with Cristof Bressler of Breslau concerning the debt owed him by the Polish Jews, and Leibel b. Mordecai, who was one of the representatives of Polish Jewry in 1691. Riots broke out in 1704 and Jewish property was looted. A fire in 1774 destroyed the Jewish quarter, including the 16th-century synagogue, the bet midrash, and the library. Before the fire the Jews numbered 1,384 (37.5% of the total population). In the 18th century there were wealthy Jews of the town who traded with Germany and attended the fairs in Breslau, Leipzig, and Frankfurt on the Oder. A permanent representative of Krotoszyn, Leibel b. Baruch, stayed in Breslau at the beginning of the century to manage the business of the Jewish merchants during the fairs. The community regulations were fixed in 1728 by decree of the provincial governor, Potocki. The annexation of Krotoszyn to Prussia on the 1793 partition of Poland had critical results for the town's economy: the large Polish market was lost when the other parts of Poland were annexed to Austria and Russia. However, the Jews managed to thrive until the mid-19th century. A new synagogue was built in 1846. In 1849 the Jewish population numbered 2,327 (about 30% of the total). From then on the numbers of Jews declined and in 1910 only 411 (about 3%) remained. Jews from Krotoszyn settled in other places in Germany. Jewish public life in Krotoszyn ceased completely when the town passed to independent Poland after World War I. The number of Jews diminished to 112 (less than 1%) in 1921 and 50 in 1939.
Krotoszyn was known as a center of Jewish learning and scholarship. Shabbetai *Bass, the rabbis Menahem Mendel b. Meshullam Auerbach, author of Ateret Zekenim, Moses Jekutiel Kaufmann, author of Leḥem ha-Panim, and Benjamin b. Saul Katzenelbogen were active there. In the 19th century the scholars David *Joel and Eduard *Baneth served as rabbis in Krotoszyn.
[Shimshon Leib Kirshenboim] Source: Jewish Virtual Library from Encyclopedia Judaica. Copyright Gale Group 2008. Accessed July 2016.
CEMETERY: The Jewish cemetery in Krotoszyn at ul. Ostrowskiej between the streets Głowackiego and Sosnową covered 0.5 hectares. Founded about 1638 and serving until the outbreak of WWII, this was the only Jewish cemetery for a long time and served Jews from Leszna, Kobylina, Kępna, Zdun, and Ostrowa Wielkopolskiego and in 1761 Wroclaw. Buried there are Rabbi Menachem Mendel ben krotoszyński Auerbach (d. 1689); Jewish martyr Moses Karpeles from Prague (d. 1729); famous rabbi of Wroclaw, Chajjim Jon. During WWII, Germany damaged the cemetery's gravestones and used them as building blocks in many places of the city. Among others, one was set up near the Church of St. Murek. Rocha. Today, in the cemetery on ul. Garncarskiej is a Potter's Field. On part of the cemetery, residential buildings were erected. The former mortuary house is now a library. Matzevot were moved from the site of the devastated cemetery in 1975 to places unknown. As of September 2006, the only cemetery matzevot visible is one placed in the hall on the ground floor of the Regional Museum in Krotoszyn PTTK, that of Jakub, who died February 21, 1722. The Hebrew inscription reads "Here was buried Jacob Kac, husband perfect and right, and in poor years, Mr. Jakub Kac (of blessed memory), the son of Mr. Lejb Kac, who was szamesem in Wroclaw and died on Saturday in the month of Adar 482." The matzevot wall surrounding the Church of St.. Rocha was demolished mid-2005 and the gravestones cleaned and stored on the premises of the city office with a view to a future lapidarium. Large pieces of gravestones used also along the street, factory, and in the city park at the playground (built as walls) were removed at the time of the cemetery restoration. During the visit of Rabbi Michael Schudrich Krotoszyn on May 10, 2005, permission was granted for construction of the lapidarium. Dr. Rafal Witkowski, a historian from the University in Poznan and Adam Mickiewicz, University in Poznan drove the project. The monument will be built of matzevot fragments along the pavement of ul. Ostrowski with other matzevot fragments. Photos. Map [May 2009]
US Commission No. POCE000483 Alternate name: Krotoschin [Ger]. Krotoszyn is located in Kaliskie at 51°42' 17°27', 75 km NE of Wroclaw. Cemetery location: Ostrowska St. between Glowackiego and Sosnowa streets. Present town population is 11,213 with no Jews. Town: Urzad Miejski, ul. Kollataja 7. Regional: PSOZ-WKZ, ul. Franciszkanska 3/5, 62-800 Kalisz. Interested: Heleria Kasperska, Muzeum Maly, Rynek 1. Earliest known Jewish community was probably end of 16th century. 1921 Jewish population was 110. Krotoszyn was one of the most important Jewish communities of Greater Poland in the 16th and 17th century. Living here were Abraham Cohen (died 1639) and Eisig Kalisch (died 1666). The Orthodox and Progressive/Reform Jewish cemetery was probably established at the end of the 16th century with last burial before WWII. Until 1762 Wroclaw, used this cemetery. Leszno, Kobylin, Kepno, Zduny, and Wroclaw also used this cemetery. The isolated suburban flat land has no sign or marker. Reached by turning directly off a public road, access is open to all with no wall or gate. The present size of the cemetery is 0.5 hectares. There are no gravestones. One removed stone is in the museum. The stone at the museum has inscriptions in Hebrew and German. Others were incorporated into Fabryczua St. and in a low wall around the church of St. Roch. Photos of some tombstones are preserved at the museum. No mass graves. Municipality owns site used for storage, waste dumping, and forest. There are 3 private depots where the cemetery used to be. Properties adjacent are residential. The cemetery is not visited. The cemetery, vandalized during WWII, has no maintenance or care. Vegetation and incompatible nearby development are serious threats. Eleonora Bergman and Michal Witwicki visited the site 17 Oct 1991 and Michal Witwicki, Denibowskiego 12/53, 02-784 Warszawa, tel. 6418345 completed survey. Documentation: Dr. Heinrich Berger, Geschichte der Juden in Krotoschin, 1907. An interview was conducted with Heleria Kasperska. (See above)
BOOK: Author: Lewin, Isaac, collector. Title: Lewin collection, [ca. 1200]-1942, [ca. 1700]-1942 (bulk) Description: ca. 22.5 linear ft. Notes: Contains variety of records of Jewish communities in Central and Eastern Europe especially in Posen, Silesia and other German-speaking areas, including pinkasim (record books) of communities and societies, memorial books with lists of deaths, …, cemetery registers, society statutes, synagogue seat records, and other documents of communities ... Location: Yeshiva University. Special Collections. Rare Books and Manuscripts, New York, NY. Control No.: NYYH88-A76 [December 2000] Last Updated on Thursday, 11 June 2009 02:28
Source, International Jewish Cemetery Project. Accessed August 2016.
Luft, The Naturalized Jews of the Grand Duchy of Posen in 1834 and 1835 revised edition, published by Avotaynu, in 2004, lists the town of Krotoszyn in the county of Krotoszyn which had 126 Jews who achieved citizenship in the time period. Lesser numbers were noted in the towns Kozmin (48), Kobylin (15), Borek (20), Dobrzyce (6) and Zduny (23).
Dr. Neil Rosenstein, the noted genealogical author, spoke at a conference about the cemetery of Krotoszyn. Here is a citation:
"35th IAJGS Conference (Jerusalem, 2015) Krotoschin and its virtual cemetery: An in depth study of Krotoschin`s rabbinic history and its role as a major center for famous rabbis (a discussion on the virtual reconstruction of the Krotoschin Jewish cemetery based on an old Hebrew manuscript and what can be learned from such a source - that some genealogies are based on false information as well as confirming the accuracy of other sources)"
Visit the JRI-Poland web site at http://www.jri-poland.org Jewish Records Indexing - Poland, Inc.is an independent non-profit U.S. tax-exempt organization. The JRI-Poland mailing list and database are hosted by JewishGen. JRI-Poland data is searchable on the JRI-Poland database and is also displayed on the All-Poland database as a service to researchers.
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Don't miss the first IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy to be held in Eastern Europe and our 38th overall! The Warsaw, Poland Hilton Hotel & Conference Center will be the base for lectures, panels, networking, and historic excursions and a unique Resource Village!
Mark your calendar for 5-10 August 2018 & visit iajgs2018.org for details.
Early registration is now open through 28 April 2018. JRI-PL Digest for Sunday, May 13, 2018.
1. JRI-Poland Announces Luncheon Speaker for the Warsaw IAJGS Conference 2. Updates to the JRI-Poland database 3. JRI-Poland adds more Warszawa Data to the Database 4. New Data for Galician Towns Added to JRI-Poland Database
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Subject: JRI-Poland Announces Luncheon Speaker for the Warsaw IAJGS Conference From: Mark Halpern <mark@halpern.com> Date: Sun, 13 May 2018 08:44:14 -0400 X-Message-Number: 1
On behalf of the Board of Directors of JRI-Poland, I am pleased to announce that the speaker at the JRI-Poland Luncheon at the 38th IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy will be the Mayor of Ciechanowiec, Poland Miroslaw Reczko. The luncheon will take place at 12:00 pm on Monday, August 6.
Dr. Miroslaw Reczko received an MA from the University of Detroit and a PhD at the University of Bialystok. He authored "The Soviet Murder near Zabludow on June 23, 1941" and "Polish-Jewish Relations in the Ciechanowiec Region during World War II. Miroslaw directed the renovation of a Ciechanowiec synagogue and the preservation of Jewish tombstones. He erected a memorial plaque to remember the 4,000 Holocaust victims from Ciechanowiec, Zareby, and Czyzew. Miroslaw currently is involved in translating the Ciechanowiec Yizkor Book into English and Polish.
The topic of his talk is "Time for Serious Research into What Occurred in Polish Shtetlach During WWII." Miroslaw will explain that to have a full picture of what really happened in Polish shtetlach during WWII, we need to unite our efforts and create Jewish-Polish pairs of researchers who can share their knowledge about each shtetl. A more expansive description of Miroslaw's lecture can be found on the program schedule http://www.iajgs2018.org/program_schedule.cfm.
Miroslaw will also be presenting on Tuesday, August 7 at 2:45 pm on the topic "Jewish-Polish Relations in the Southern Bialystok Region from 1939-1941."
If you are registered for the Conference, come and join the JRI-Poland team, have a good Kosher lunch, and listen to Miroslaw's intriguing talk. Go to the Registration Attendee Service Center and add the JRI-Poland Luncheon on Monday, August 6.
See you all in Warsaw.
On behalf of the Board of JRI-Poland Mark Halpern
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Subject: Updates to the JRI-Poland database From: "Hadassah Lipsius" <lipsius@verizon.net> Date: Sun, 13 May 2018 11:57:07 -0400 X-Message-Number: 2
JRI-Poland has added nearly 120,000 additional records to our database. Several of my colleagues have already made announcements about additions.
Updates, additions and/or image links were added for the towns of Bytom, Czarnkow, Kalisz, Krotoszyn, Osieciny, Przysucha and Warszawa, Special thanks to the tireless work of our volunteers who made this possible. Thank you to: Tamar Amit, Stephen Cohen, Howard Fink, Nicole Heymans, Roger Lustig, Madeleine Okladek, Michael Tobias and Anatol Usanov.
Special thanks to our friend Haim Ghiuzeli, Director of the Beit Hatfutsot database Department, for his continued support. Hadassah Lipsius On Behalf of the Board of JRI-Poland http://www.jri-poland.org
Microfilms: From the database of the Mormon Film Numbers: Krotoschin #743091 and #743092 cover the years 1825-1847.
Jewish Records Index-Poland update:
Subject: Updates to the JRI-Poland database From: "Hadassah Lipsius" <lipsius@verizon.net> Date: Sun, 13 May 2018 11:57:07 -0400 X-Message-Number: 2
JRI-Poland has added nearly 120,000 additional records to our database. Several of my colleagues have already made announcements about additions.
Updates, additions and/or image links were added for the towns of Bytom, Czarnkow, Kalisz, Krotoszyn, Osieciny, Przysucha and Warszawa, Special thanks to the tireless work of our volunteers who made this possible. JRI-Poland is hosted by JewishGen.
This site offers details on early Jewish births, towns and marriages with English translations, Dutch or German. Seems to combine data from several sources at once.
https://www.genealogieonline.nl/en/shirekchamove-tree/I04017.php
From the Jewish Encyclopedia, 1906, In the public domain: Krotoschin: The community of Krotoschin suffered so severely by sword and famine during the Swedish war in 1656 that only fifty families remained out of 400. It quickly revived, however, and after the second half of the seventeenth century the Jews were in close industrial relations with Silesia, and had their own synagogue at Breslau, while their Talmud Torah was one of the foremost of the country. Krotoschin, like Posen, Lissa, and Kalisz, was one of the leading communities of Great Poland, sending representatives to the general synod of Great Poland and to the Council of Four Lands. In a document dated 1773 it is called an "important community, with many sages and men learned in the Law." In 1710 it suffered from a conflagration, receiving aid from Posen. The mutual rights of Jews and Christians as regards liquor licenses were defined in 1726 and 1728, and the statutes of the lord of the manor were promulgated in the latter year and in 1730. In 1738 a fee for every corpse taken to Krotoschin had to be paid to the pastor of each place through which the cortège passed; and in 1828 the recruits' tax was levied in consequence of a conflagration. The synagogue, which was dedicated in 1845, was at that time the finest in the province. In 1800 there were 1,701 Jews in the city, forming the third largest community of Posen. In 1837 there were 2,213 Jews at Krotoschin; 2,098 in 1857; and 670 in 1900.
The following is the list of rabbis:
Hirsch b. Samson (c. 1617); Menahem Man Ashkenazi (c. 1648); Israel Heilprin; Menahem Mendel b. Meshullam Auerbach (1673; d. 1689); Ezekiel b. Meïr ha-Levi (1691, 1700); Mordecai (before 1715); Löb Munk; Menahem Mendel Jankau (Jenikau?) (1726); Menahem Mendel Auerbach b. Moses (1732, 1755); Meshullam Zalman Kohen (c. 1760-70); Aryeh Löb Caro (c. 1779); Benjamin b. Saul Katzenelnbogen (1785, 1792); Ẓebi Hirsch b. Raphael ha-Kohen (1825); Raphael Ẓebi; Israel b. Judah Löb (1844); Samuel Mendelsohn, acting chief rabbi (1853, 1858); David Joël (1871, 1880); Eduard Baneth (1882-95); and H. Berger, the present (1905) incumbent (since 1895). In 1833 a Hebrew printing-press was founded, which has issued a large number of works. This community has numbered among its members many prominent scholars and writers, authors of sermons and of halakic and haggadic novellæ, commentators on the Bible, patrons of Jewish science, grammarians, bibliographers, and printers.