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This project seeks to identify and record family members who have a connection to the town of Gostyn=Gostingen in the Lezno=Lissa area of present day Poland.
This is not to be confused with the town of Gostynin near Plock for which there is a separate Project.
Gostyń [%CB%88%C9%A1%C9%94st%C9%A8%C9%B2] (German: Gostingen) is a town in Greater Poland Voivodeship (from 1975 to 1998 in Leszno Voivodship), in Gostyń County. According to 30 June 2004 data its population was 20,746. The total area of Gostyń is 10.79 square kilometres (4.17 sq mi). The town comprises 1% of the area of the county and 8% of the commune, according to Główny Urząd Statystyczny. The main landmark of Gostyń is Basilica of Święta Góra (Holy Hill), the main Marian sanctuary of the archdiocese of Poznań and a masterpiece of Pompeo Ferrari, with the monastery of the Oratory of Saint Philip Neri. Source: Wikipedia
Gostyń was among the biggest and the most Polish in its character towns in south-west Wielkopolska. Similarly to Kościan and some other towns, Gostyń introduced a „de non tolerandis Judaeis” law (no tolerance for Jews), which, through the centuries, was causing many problems connected with settlements of the Jews in there, making it rather impossible. Yet, it does not mean that there were no Jews who came to town and tried to find the place there. In the half of the 18th century Jan Nawrocki, a convert who bought a house in Gostyń in 1749, was a city surgeon[1.1]. A couple of years earlier, in 1742 there emerged an argument with Jewish butchers who tried to compete with the guild from Gostyń. The information about this argument can be found in one of the city registers, in which the certified copy of the petition submitted by local craftsmen to the contemporary owner of the city is kept.
In 1834-35 Jews from Gostyń were awarded 10 naturalization certificates (given to 8 tradesmen, 1 teacher and 1 shochet). In 1843 there were 12 Jews with such certificates, and 34 could pride themselves on their tolerance certificates. In 1847 25 Jews had naturalization certificates, and 37 tolerance ones[1.4].: Source; Virtual Shtetl
In Luft, The Naturalized Jews of the Grand Duchy of Posen, data which the above statistics are referring to, there is a chart of the towns nearby to Gostyn. They are Sandberg, Rawicz, Bojanowo, Jutroschin, Kroben and Same, all in the area of Kroben, in Posen.
In Polish, but easily translated by Google Translate is this article about Jewish presence in Gostyn. http://gostyn.internetdsl.pl/zydzi.htm