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This project seeks to identify and collect Jewish individuals from the town of Zerkow, Poland. This town is located near Wreschen and Miloslaw in the Posen area. Formerly in Prussia and the Grand Duchy of Posen.
From the International Jewish Cemetery Project:
"Alternate names: Żerków [Pol], Zerkow [Ger], Zirkow, Syrkowe. 52°04' N, 17°34' E, 31 miles NW of Kalisz, 17 miles S of Września (Wreschen), 53 km E of Poznan. Słownik Geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego (1880-1902), XIV, pp. 780-782: "Żerków". 1900 Jewish population: 245. This town in Jarocin powiat, Greater Poland Voivodeship, Poland with 2,076 inhabitants in 2004) was a German military resort during WWII. [July 2009]
This was one of the oldest and largest(?) Jewish cemeteries in Poland and Nowe Miasto nad Wartaw was a cemetery on the hill. Unfortunately all was destroyed during WW II, so nothing can be found. Source: Evelien. [January 2004] The cemetery was placed where now are common woods. It was one of the oldest in Poland, founded in the 14th century. It was destroyed in 1940. During WW II. the houses of the Jews and the synagogue were destroyed. In a book I have are some stones with Hebrew text. However, we looked several times in this street and found a new house. No-one we asked knows anything about those stones. Maybe we sometime will have enough courage to ask the people who live in that house if we can see their garden. Photo Donor: Evelien [February 2004] Last Updated on Saturday, 18 July 2009 14:27" Accessed July 27, 2017
From http://www.cmentarze-zydowskie.pl/zerkow.htm we do not find any interesting information. Sourced March 7, 2021.
The Naturalized Jews of the Grand Duchy of Posen in 1834 and 1835, Revised Edition, by Edward David Luft, 2004, Avotaynu, lists 25 people who achieved citizenship in Zerkow in the District of Wreschen. Names include Adolph Arnheim, Salomon Löwenthal, David Kuntz, Eisig Heppner, and Salomon and Marcus Haase, Hirsch Posener, Itzig Posener, Fabisch Posener.
Yad Vashem records indicate a number of people with a connection to Zerkow who perished in the Holocaust. About 175 names are listed in a recent search in 2021. Many individuals had moved from their birthplace into larger towns such as Berlin. A few examples of names are Belitzer, Boehm, Gedalje and Bernhard Posener. When using Yad Vashem be sure to review the submitters of Pages of Testimony to find modern day researchers interested in the family name. Submitters of PT's may also be searched themselves to add to current knowledge of their families.
JRI-Poland database does not specifically list Zerkow in the Town list however searching directly on Zerkow reveals some 50 records in the Prussia section.
JewishGen Family Finder (JGFF) on Jewishgen.org has 16 entries of people looking into family members in the town of Zerkow. This list has the researcher's name and email addresses and names of interest as well as date of last visit to the site. Some of the names of interest to these researchers are Budung, Grun, Frost, Cohn, Sperling, Slager and Heppner to cite a few.