Initially, they were few in number. There were 6 Jews in 1798, 4 in 1808 and 5 in 1811. Their number began to increase after the fall of the Duchy of Warsaw and the reintegration of the city into Prussia in 1815. In 1842, about 110 Jews lived in the town, in 1845 - 110 - 110, in 1856 - 131 (23 families), in 1871 - 152 (10.6%), in 1899 - 111 (7.8%, 30 families), and in 1909 - 107 (7,3%).

After Poland regained independence after World War I, the local Jews mostly left for Germany. In the census of September 1921, 61 people (4.3% of the total population) declared themselves of Mosaic faith. In 1925, there were 44 and in 1931 - 41. Interestingly, almost all those who remained belong to the group of local, autochthonous German Jews. In 1931, only one family fell into the immigrant category.

In the 1820s, with the influx of Jewish people into Mikstat, a community was established, and elements of a communal infrastructure began to be created. The founders of the community were primarily inclined to embrace Reform Judaism and the broader offer of the state to Prussian Jews. This is evidenced by the fact that in 1836 four Jews received naturalisation patents in Mikstat, while in 1842, there were 12. The percentage of people with naturalisation patents was one of the highest for the conditions of a small town in Wielkopolska. In the following years, unlike many other Jewish communities in Wielkopolska, the Jews of Mikstat did not have a beit-ha-midrash rooted in the Orthodox tradition. They limited themselves to maintaining a lodging house for passing poor Jews and founding the Sick and Burial Association (German: Kranken- und Beerdinungsverein, Polish: Stowarzyszenie Chorych i Pogrzebowe) before 1856.

The community had a synagogue, not known when it was built, although also before 1856. It was replaced by a new one made of red brick in time. It was completed in 1905 at the cost of 13,000 marks. The building at present 2 Chopina Street (Polish: ul. Chopina 2) has survived to the present day, albeit in a changed shape and function. Its appearance before 1914 and its reconstruction in 1961 were illustrated in a study by Henryk Zieliński. During World War II, the Germans arranged garages in the synagogue. After the war, the building deteriorated, and in 1961 it was rebuilt to house the volunteer fire brigade. Based on the foundation and perhaps some of the walls and bricks, the Fireman's House was put into use in 1964. In the 1970s and 1980s, it housed the "Śnieżka" cinema and is now the seat of the Municipal and Communal Cultural Centre (Polish: Miejsko-Gminny Ośrodek Kultury).

Regardless of their origins and traditions, the Jews of Mikstat could not maintain the communal infrastructure in the interwar period, so it was decided to liquidate the religious community in 1921. Similar situations took place in many Wielkopolska towns, e.g. Gołańcza (1920), Mieścisko (1920), Kobyla Góra (1921), Zaniemyśl (1922). However, the actual liquidation did not take place. In 1921, there was a lack of religious teacher and shochet. Their duties were fulfilled by the local cantor, who was officially subordinate to the rabbi in Ostrzeszów and later in Kępno. If necessary, religious services were provided by rabbis commuting from Gniezno or Kępno. It was not until 1932 that the community in Mikstat was officially subordinated to the Jewish community in Ostrów Wielkopolski, along with other liquidated Jewish communities from the following counties: Ostrów, Ostrzeszów, Grabów, Mikstat, Kobylagóra, Odolanów, Kępno, Krotoszyn, Dobrzyca, Kobylin, Koźmin. In the 1930s, 2-3 Jewish families from central and southern Poland settled there. The number of Jews living in the 1930s remained at the level of around 50 people. Before the outbreak of war in 1939, 18 Jewish families lived in Mikstat. During World War II, the Jews of Mikstat were probably transported to Koźminek and then to the ghetto in Kalisz. Until the summer of 1940, Josef Grabowski (commonly known as Marchewka) hid in the town after being unmasked by a local policeman and shot dead on 1 August.

The Description

Probably in the same period when the community was established, i.e. in the 1820s, the land for the cemetery was purchased. It was located outside the town, in a forest called Kirchówek, about 1 km northwest of the centre. It is known that the oldest gravestone inscription bore the date 5,588, i.e. 1828. The area on the map from 1936 was called Pustkowie (English: Wasteland). The cemetery had a roughly square plan, stretched on the forest's edge by the road to Przygodziczki. There was a funeral home next to or within the cemetery, but this is no longer visible on the 1936 map mentioned above.

The cemetery and the surrounding brick wall were destroyed in 1942. The Germans used the matzevot to fill in or fortify the surrounding drainage ditches and to rebuild the bridge on Krakowska Street (Polish: ul. Krakowska). Part of it was used to harden the road from Mikstat to Antonin, among other places.

After the war, the cemetery fell into oblivion. Today a road leads to it, which is an extension of Odolanowska Street (Polish: ul. Odolanowska). The area is covered with forest. Only isolated fragments of tombstones have survived. On 14 July 2019, a monument commemorating the Jews who once lived in Mikstat was unveiled thanks to the efforts of Phil Brill from New York. One of the plaques bears the names of the people of 71 families, the other bears the inscription: "The land before you is holy. Members of the Jewish community of Mikstat were buried at this site. The tombstones have disappeared. The voices of the dead cry out for remembrance. Their bodies have returned to the dust of the earth, but their souls will live forever. Let the living understand what has happened here - in Polish, English and Hebrew.

Author of the note: Tomasz Kawski

References

• AP Kalisz (APK), Starostwo Powiatowe w Ostrowie Wielkopolskim 1919–1939 (SPOW), ref. 140, 144.
• Dąbrowska D., Zagłada skupisk żydowskich w „Kraju Warty” w okresie okupacji hitlerowskiej, „Biuletyn Żydowskiego Instytutu Historycznego w Warszawie” 1955, no. 13–14.
• The Encyclopedia of Jewish Life Before and During the Holocaust, vol. 2, ed. Spector, G. Wigoder, New York 2001, p. 822.
• Heppner A., Herzberg I.,  Aus Verganheit und Gegenwart der Juden und der jüdischen Gemeinden in den Posener Landen, Koschmin – Bromberg 1904– 1909, p. 629;
• Kemlein S., Żydzi w Wielkim Księstwie Poznańskim 1815–1848, Poznań 2001;
• Zieliński H., Mikstatki Rynek i jego dawni mieszkańcy, Mikstat 2010, pp. 95-97 [online:] http://wtg-gniazdo.org/upload/opracowania/Mikstatki_Rynek_i_jego_dawni_mieszkancy.pdf [accessed: 16/06/2021].

Właściciel praw autorskich do opisu: Muzeum Historii Żydów Polskich POLIN.