Tourist Track

Wągrowiec

Time regained

A touristic track following the footsteps of Wągrowiec Jewish Community

Length: about 2.5 km, 1.5-2 hours.

וונגרוויץ

הזמן שהושב

שביל תיירותי בעקבות יהודי וונגרוויץ

אורך: כ-2.5 ק"מ, 1.5-2 שעות

יהודי וונגרוויץ

וונגרוויץ היא עיירה פולנית בת שבע מאות שנה, מהקמתה התגוררו בה אנשים עם רקע תרבותי ודתי מגוון. פולנים, גרמנים ויהודים גרו בשכנות טובה במשך שנים ארוכות. בין קירותיה ההיסטוריים של וונגרוויץ אנו מוצאים סיפורים שניתן לספרם בפולנית, יידיש וגרמנית. אנחנו מזמינים אתכם להכיר חלק מהשורשים שלנו דרך טיול היסטורי בין הבניינים בהם התגוררו משפחות יהודיות .

במזרח אירופה התיישבו יהודים כבר במאות הראשונות לספירה. יהודים עברו בה ואף סחרו באזור פולין במהלך המאה השמינית והתשיעית. ככל הידוע, התיישבות יהודית בפולין החלה במאה העשירית משלהי המאה האחת עשרה רבים מהיהודים נמלטו מזרחה מרדיפות מסעי הצלב שהתחוללו באשכנז, כלומר במרחב הדובר גרמנית אשר כלל את גרמניה, בוהמיה שבצ'כיה, וצרפת.

אחרי חלוקת פולין במאה ה-18, וונגרוויץ הפכה לחלק של פרוסיה. תחת שלטון מלך פרוסיה, יותר ויותר יהודים עברו לוונגרוויץ, כך שרק בשבע שנים בין 1793 ל-1800, הקהילה גדלה מ-28 אנשים (4.5% מכלל האוכלוסייה) ל-134 איש (16%). בשנים האלו, בתחילת המאה ה-19, נבנה בית הקברות, בדיוק איפה שהוא עומד היום, על אגם דורובסקיה. הנאצים הרסו את בית הקברות בהגעתם לעיירה במלחמת העולם השנייה. המצבות שימשו להם בתור אבנים לבניית מדרכות וריצוף קרקעית האגם. רק אחרי שפולין הפכה לדמוקרטיה עצמאית בשנות ה-90, התחילו ניסיוניות להחזיר את המצבות למקומם. בשנים האחרונות נבנה בית הקברות מחדש במיקומו המקורי. על יד המצבות עומד כעת לוח המוקדש ל"יהודי וונגרוויץ שיצרו את העיר במשך מאות שנים".

היימן ארנהיים, רב, מתרגם וחוקר תורה יוצא דופן, נקבר פה בבית קברות זה. ארנהיים נולד בוונגרוויץ ב-1796 ונפטר כאן ב-1865.

הקהילה היהודית של וונגרוויץ

שנה

People of various cultural backgrounds have inhabited Wągrowiec and its area since the earliest of times. Already the first known to us written sources contain information about the newcomers from foreign lands. A good example of such foreigners is brought to us by the Cistercian Order which moved from the North Rhine area to Łekno in the 12th century. Shortly afterwards, the Order decided to move their abbey to Wągrowiec and build here a new monastery.

From the very beginnings of Wągrowiec recorded history, Poles and Germans lived in it as neighbours. From the town’s documents preserved from the 16th and the 17th centuries we take that the population was quite homogenous religion- and language-wise (especially after the abbey was taken over by Polish monks in the 16th century). In different periods of its history, Wągrowiec was occasionally visited and inhabited by people from various other European countries (the majority of whom was German, with few exceptions -- for example, Scots).

Almost until the end of the 18th century, Wągrowiec belonged to the abbots of the local monastery. At that time, it was a religious town guarded by a law banning any person of other than Catholic faith from settling at its territory. Because of the ban, an interesting situation occurred in the region, as the “catholic Wągrowiec” was neighboured by “protestant Skoki” (it was one of the biggest centres of the Czech Brethren religious community) and other towns in which large Jewish shtetls existed, for example Rogoźno, Margonin and Chodzież. Different groups cultivated their own traditions, while remaining open to their multicultural environment. There exist records of theological disputes conducted between the Cistercians and the Protestants. Jews were allowed to trade at the local marketplaces (but had to leave by sunset).

After the second partition of Poland, Wągrowiec found itself within the Prussian borders. Shortly afterwards, it was taken away from the Cistercian Order by the king of Prussia. The old laws were cancelled, enabling people of various backgrounds to settle in the town. Until the end of the 18th century the number of residents was dynamically growing thanks to the newcomers of mostly Jewish and German Protestant background. From this time on, until the cataclysm of World War 2, Wągrowiec was a city thriving at the crossroad of three cultures.

It is worth nothing, that the historic architecture of the town has its origins in those very times (except for the objects left behind by the Cistercian Order and the parish church). The style typical to Wągrowiec market, the streets surrounding it and the “representative” Kościuszki street, create a material projection of the spirit of the time. In those walls and in those locations we find, locked, the stories of the old inhabitants of the town, stories that can be told in Polish, German, and Yiddish.

The pupils of two local schools -- the High School no 1 and the Junior High School no 1 -- attempt to release those stories from the burden of oblivion.

I LAPIDARIUM, on the ground of the old Jewish Cemetery, at the shore of Durowskie Lake.

בית קברות - במיקומו המקורי, על אגם דורובסקיה

The history of the Jews in Poland dates back over 800 years. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Jewish community in the world. Poland was the centre of Jewish culture thanks to a long period of statutory religious tolerance and social autonomy. The first Jews arrived in the territory of modern Poland in the 10th century. By travelling along the trade routes leading eastwards to Kiev and Bukhara, Jewish merchants, known as Radhanites, crossed the areas of Silesia. One of them, a diplomat and merchant from the Moorish town of Tortosa in Spanish Al-Andalus, known under his Arabic name of Ibrahim ibn Jakub, was the first chronicler to mention the Polish state under the rule of prince Mieszko I.

In the aftermath of the partition of Poland, Wągrowiec came under the jurisdiction of the king of Prussia. From this point on, the number of Jewish citizens of the town was systematically growing. In 1793 they constituted 4.5% of the general community (28 people in total), and seven years later, their number rose to 134 people, and 16.6%. The Jewish kehila was created, and the need to create a kirkut, Jewish cemetery was established. The permission was granted, and the construction, at the shore of the Durowskie Lake, commenced in the beginning of the 19th century. The cemetery’s fall began in 1939, the year of the Nazis invasion. The German authorities enabled its devastation: its fence was taken apart and the matzevot, the tombstones, were used to strengthen the banks of Durowskie Lake and The Struga Gołaniecka spring. After the war, only one Jewish family, the Krohns, returned to Wągrowiec, and it was them who attempted to look after the old cemetery. However, the task was increasingly difficult, especially after 1954 when the cemetery was officially closed. In the 60’s the local authorities decided to dedicate this land to recreational purposes, but nothing came out of the planned investment. Toward the end of the 90’s efforts begun to recreate the beys oylem, and finally in 2001 the lapidarium was opened. Next to the matzevot taken finally out of the water stands now a board dedicated to the “Polish Jewry who co-created this town for centuries”.

Wągrowiec Jewish community

Year

The outstanding Jewish theologist Heymann Arnheim was buried in this cemetery. Arnheim was born in 1796, and died on the 22nd of September 1865 in Wągrowiec. While being an expert in Latin and Greek, he specialized in the German language and literature. He worked as a private tutor in Neusterlitz, and taught in Wschowa and Głogów. At this time, he was busy translating some books of the Old Testament into German. He authored “The Instructions for teaching the Jewish faith,” a commentary to shabbat prayers, and many more scientific articles.

II THE KARPENS’ HOUSE, 5 Przemysłowa St.

הבית של משפחת קרפן ברחוב פשמיסלובה 5

Born in Wągrowiec on the 7th of January 1858, Solomon Karpen (the oldest of nine sons of the carpenter Moritz Karpen) could serve as a classic example of the American-dream-come-true. Coming from a provincial town at the outskirts of the Prussian Kingdom, he emigrated to the United States in order to create a company which was to become, in the early 20th century, the world leader in the production of upholstered furniture. The beginnings of the future company can be dated back to Solomon Karpen’s backyard on what is now Wągrowiec Przemysłowa street, where his father handled his own carpentry business. The Karpens moved to Chicago in 1872, there to create “S. Karpen & Bros” eight years later. The company remained the family’s business until the 1950’s, after Solomon’s death in 1936. The most famous member of the family has never cut off his relations with Wągrowiec, his hometown; he helped others emigrate to the United States, and made substantial charitable donations for the Wągrowiec Jewish community.

III THE KRONS’ HOUSE, 13 Bydgoska St.

הבית של משפחת קרון ברחוב בידגוסקה 13

Before World War II, the family belonged to the Jewish elite of the town. Its members did not escape the tragic fate which awaited the European Jewry during the wartime. Eryk Kron was the only person in his family who survived the Holocaust, having miraculously stepped alive out of Auschwitz. After the war, he decided to come back to Wągrowiec. With his wife Bella and her son Peter, he moved into a tenement house on Bydgoska street, where he created a little workshop in which he repaired bicycles and centrifuges. In the 60’s the family decided to move to Israel. In 1964, Eryk Kron sent a letter to his friends in which he wrote: “We are slowly learning Hebrew, and we begin to communicate in this language. Please, continue to take care of the cemetery… We are very interested to hear what’s new.” With the Krons’ leaving, an important chapter in the town’s history was closed. The last Jews of Wągrowiec left.

IV The FOERDERS’’ TENEMENT HOUSE, the marketplace

כיכר השוק - בית דירות של משפחת פארדר

To this day, in the middle of Wągrowiec central marketplace stands the tenement house in which merchant Józef Foerder lived with his family: wife Paulina, three sons and five daughters. After a concert of Stanisław Przybyszewski (a student of this school, and later a famous writer) in the Royal Grammar School, Foerder decided he would like the talented boy to teach his two oldest daughters, Róża and Marta. From this point on, the youth was a regular guest at his home, gladly taking long walks by Durowskie Lake with his students. Przybyszewski was very fond of Róża, not suspecting that it was Marta who his fate was to connect him with. After Józef’s death in October 1890, his widow sold the tenement house and moved to Berlin for four months, where Stanisław was preparing himself for his final exams. Marta found him there, and the two soon stepped into an unhappy relationship, which might have been the cause of Marta’s future suicide. The couple had three children.

On the 30th of October 1912 Martin Kochman, a future hero of the anti-nazi movement and a communist, was born in Wągrowiec. He moved out of the town to Berlin as a teenager, where he employed himself as a day labourer. After the war broke out, together with his wife Sala from Rzeszów, he joined the underground group of Herbert Israel Baum. Its members were arrested by Gestapo and sentenced to death. Sala was guillotined in the Plotzensee prison in Berlin on August 18th, 1942. Martin was killed soon after her, on the 8th of October. Today, their graves can be found at the Jewish cemetery in Berlin Weisensee. Their names were placed at its memorial monument.

V JANA PAWŁA II Av., former Szeroka St.

רחוב יחונן פאלוס השני: בתיהם של משפחות רוטמן וגרסון (רחוב שרוקה לשעבר)

The Rothmann Family was connected with Wągrowiec for dozens of years, as they owned a store on the, leading to the Main Market, Szeroka Street (now Jana Pawła Av.). It wasn’t the merchant skills though, what famed the family, but a doctor of medicine - Bernhard (or Bernhelm), the son of buried in the local kirkut Lewin Rothmann. Born in Wągrowiec on the 24th August 1834, he soon left, and after finishing his studies, moved to… Egypt. There, in 1863, he became the court doctor of Egyptian deputy king Isma’il Pasha. He died five years later in Cairo. Also Bernhard’s nephew, Salomon Rothmann, became a doctor after having finished Wągrowiec high school.

The Rothmanns weren’t the only family of merchants whose son became a doctor. The Gerson family came to Wągrowiec from Hungary, and soon opened a successful business producing oil. Max Gerson was born in Wągrowiec on the 18th October 1881, and after finishing high school in 1902 decided to become a doctor. He worked in Brussels and Munich (in a tuberculosis sanatorium), finally, after Hitler’s coming to power, he moved to Paris, London, and eventually the United States, where he settled in San Diego, California. There, he became famous as the author of the “migraine diet,” which was later transformed to “tuberculosis diet.” Gerson was using food as the primary medicine for his patients with great success, and later established an anti-cancer treatment, based on his findings. He passed away in 1959, considered a charlatan by the Western medicine practitioners.

VI ROYAL GRAMMAR SCHOOL (now Wągrowiec High School no 1) 17a Klasztorna St.

בית הספר המלכותי (כעת תיכון מס' 1) - רחוב קלשטורנה 17

In the first half of the 19th century Wągrowiec had one secondary school, The Secondary Boys’ School, graduation of which didn’t enable one to commence university studies. As the city was quickly growing, its governors decided to apply for a permission to open a Royal Grammar School, recognized by the state. Such permission was granted in 1869, and on the 6th of May 1872 the new school was opened. At first the lessons were taking place in the Cistercian Abbey but in 1878 the impressive building was ready to invite its first students in. Up until the breaking of World War 2, the school could take pride in having educated some of the brightest people of the time. Among them were both Poles (Stanisław Przybyszewski, Władysław Rabski, Napoleon Rutkowski, Stanisław Łęgowski, Jan Spychalski), Germans (Heinrich Hockenbeck, Carl Hermann Busse, Georg Busse), and Jews (Ludwig Chodziesner, Ephraim Pinczower, Heinrich and Bruno Becher, Salomon Rothmann). Ludwig Chodziesner (born in 1861) wasn’t born in Wągrowiec (but in Obrzyck near Poznań) but decided to come to the Royal Grammar School in Wągrowiec, where he studied in the same time as the future German poet, writer and literary critic Carl Hermann Busse. After graduation, he moved to Berlin, where he became famous as a lawyer, having participated in the most spoken of trials of the beginning of the 20th century. After the Nazis took control of the country, he did not leave. He was arrested in October 1942, and taken to Terezin, where he was murdered on the 13th of of February 1943. Ludwig’s daughter Gertrud Kolmar, one of the most significant German poets of the 20th century, was deported to Auschwitz in March of the same year -- there, her traces disappear.

VII THE SYNAGOGUE, the corner of Powstańców Wielkopolskich St. and Przecznica St.

בית הכנסת (פינת רחוב פובסטנצוב ויאלקופולסקיך ורחוב פשצ'ניצה)

Except for the lapidary, there do not remain many traces of the once vibrant Jewish community of Wągrowiec. However, we must remember that the community did posses a synagogue, a mikveh (for ritual immersion) and a cheder (elementary Jewish school). The first synagogue was built from wood, which sadly could not ensure its longevity -- soon it was destroyed in a fire. The second one also did not last long, as it collapsed, due to not being build properly. The third one, however, lasted until the German invasion 1939. It was destroyed by the local Germans, and all that remains was the neighboring it house of the cantor.

Moritz Levin, born in 1843 in Wągrowiec, was one of the pupils of Wągrowiec’s Cheder. He was to become a famous rabbi and a Talmudic scholar. After finishing his studies in Berlin, he managed the Jewish communities in Zurich, Nuremberg, and Berlin. He left behind some previous writings on religion, all written in German, among them: “God and soul according to the Jewish Fate” and “The Introduction to the teaching of the Israelite Religion”

VIII THE FIREFIGHTERS WATCHTOWER, Powstańców Wielkopolskich St.

מגדל מכבי האש - מגדל תצפית, רחוב פובסטנצוב ויאלקופולסקיך

The tower, which was renovated in 2008 and now belongs to the Volunteer Fire Department, is a wonderful observation spot from which one can see the town’s panorama, and within it, all of the places connected to the track “Following the footsteps of the Jews of Wągrowiec”. Sightseeing is possible after prior scheduling at the Regional Museum (tel. 672685911).

More info you can find here: https://wagrowiec1381.wordpress.com/category/ spolecznosc-zydowska-w-wagrowcu/