Jewish refugees from Germany, Bohemia and Silesia were allowed to settle in Borek and Kościana, among other places. They probably took up the offer, which contributed to local Jewish Community Co-operative development. In 1674, 21 Jews paid the head money, which accounted for 9.9% of the total payers; in 1676 - 14. In 1793/1794, there were 448 Jews (34.4% of the total population), in 1800 - 243 (20.9%), in 1837 - 532, in 1840 - 591 (32.6%), in 1842 - 581, in 1849 - 437, in 1871 - 379 (18.8%), in 1895 - 150 (7.2%) or 157 (7.6%), in 1899 - 150, in 1903 - 117 (5.9%, 30 families), in 1905 - 109, in 1912 - 63, in 1916 - 48.

The Description

Along with the establishment of the local Jewish Community Co-operative, the communal infrastructure probably developed around the Jewish quarter, a remnant of which was the name of one of the streets - Żydowska (Polish: ul. Żydowska) (now Kilińskiego (Polish: ul. Kilińskiego)) leading towards Jaraczewo. In its neighbourhood, to the left of the road, there was a synagogue, opened in 1855, and nearby there was also a ritual bath, a prayer house and a Jewish folk school (active from 1831 to 1910; before its establishment, children studied in a Catholic school, after its liquidation - in an Evangelical school) financed by the local Jewish community. Contemporary descriptions suggest that a brick synagogue replaced its predecessor, probably an old wooden synagogue. Unfortunately, due to the destruction of archives from the Old Polish period, no documents have survived, allowing a more precise dating.

Borek remained an essential centre for Talmudic studies until the 19th century. One of the few representatives of the Hasidic movement in Greater Poland, Elijahu Guttmacher (rabbi in Pleszew and Grodzisk Wielkopolski) was born in Brok. In addition to the communal, Borek rabbis (among others: Israel Goldschmidt, Michael ben Morenu, S. Rosenthal, Joseph Labischinski) Talmudic studies were developed by Rabbis Dr Pinkus Neustadt, Dr Adolf Jaraczewski, Abraham Biberfeld. The current of Reform Judaism did not begin to gain ground until the second half of the 19th century. In 1842, naturalisation patents were granted to only 26 Jews (4.8% of the Jewish population) and to control patents to 108 (18.6%). In 1833, many parents failed to fulfil their children’s government-mandated obligation to benefit from state-sanctioned education. Sermons in German were still not celebrated in the 1840s, and the local beit ha-midrash fulfilled its function, being appreciated by the local Jews. The influence of the traditionalists can be seen from the fact that 1873 was active in the town: the Bet ha-midrash Association (“Beth-hamidrash Verein”), the funeral brotherhood (Chevra) of the Chevra Kadisha (in time the “Chevra Kadischa Verein”) and the butchers’ association “Schochere Hatob” (from about 1823).

After Poland regained independence, most local Jews left for Germany. In 1921, 34 inhabitants declared themselves Jewish (1.6% of the total population), and 14 people were Jewish. In 1923, 23 Jews lived in Borek, in 1925 - 8, from the mid-1930s - about 10.

In the interwar period, the Jewish community was in decline with the exodus of its members. There was no rabbi and no butcher. The board elected in 1916 was incomplete (Samuel Haim, Amanuel Koplowitz, Albert Neustadt). In 1923, Emanuel Koplowitz tried to sell the synagogue to one of the local farmers. In 1923, local authorities intended to build a hospital in the synagogue, which Borek did not have. The provincial governor finally dissolved the community on 17 October 1923, but this decision seems not to have been approved by the Ministry of Religious Denominations and Public Enlightenment. Officially, this state was confirmed in 1932, when, on the basis of administrative reform of the Jewish community network in the Pomeranian and Poznań Provinces, the community in Borek was incorporated into the Jewish community in Leszno. All immovable (synagogue, cemetery with the fence, dwelling house, ½ morgen of land next to the synagogue, shed for the cemetery hearse) and movable (9 candelabras, 12 small lamps, 6 wooden pedestals, 19 benches, wardrobe) assets were also transferred. Financial shortages forced the Jewish community in Leszno to sell the synagogue in Borek in 1937. At the beginning of the German occupation, homeless people lived in the synagogue; the building was partially devastated. Eventually, the Germans demolished the synagogue and were completely liquidated after the war during the construction of the gasworks.

After the outbreak of the Polish-German war of 1939, the Jews who remained in the town were deported on 4-8 December 1939 to the General Government, near Baranów and Tarnobrzeg. A labour camp for Jews (Judenlager) operated in Borek from spring 1941 to 28 August 1943. Prisoners from various parts of Poland modernised and built roads in and around the town (e.g. in the vicinity of the present health centre). During winter periods, they were used for ad hoc work. They were housed in a warehouse (granary) at the back of the property at 25b Marketplace (Polish: Rynek 25b) in the vicinity of the old school. Between 20 and over 40 people were detained (e.g. 41 in November 1941, 20 in May 1943).

The Borek commune had a cemetery located on the so-called “Lisia Góra” (now Lisia Street (Polish: ul. Lisia)) at a distance of about 2-2.5 km from the town. It covered approximately 0.5 hectares of hilly terrain. The necropolis undoubtedly existed in the first half of the 19th century, although given the existence of the funeral fraternity Chevra Kadisha from the mid-18th century (statutes from 1754, 1829, 1882), it may be presumed that it functioned in the 18th century. Several well-known rabbis (e.g. Michael ben Zwi Josepf Labaschinski, Manes Jaraczewski), dajans and teachers (e.g.: Schija Martschak, Abraham Grünthal, Hirsch Biberfeld, Joel Fuchs, Jecheskel Bornstein). A solid wall enclosed the cemetery, which the Germans dismantled during World War II. The matzevot was toppled and partly used for construction work. Significant quantities of gravel were also taken from the cemetery, which was used to build roads in the vicinity of the modern health centre. Allegedly, fragments of human bones were found in the sand and gravel (according to Stefan Gruchała’s memoirs). There was also a house for the cemetery watchman. In December 1923, the cemetery and property were valued at 16 million Polish marks.

After the war, the cemetery was subject to further devastation, one of the contributing factors being the city authorities, which allowed stonemasons to use the tombstones for their purposes. As late as the 1970s and 1980s, about 40 matzevot in the cemetery. Some of them were built into a nearby building of a former funeral home, and 15 others (some in residual condition) were catalogued and transported to Leszno. They are on display in the Judaic department of the local museum. In September 2013, a fragment of a matzeva was found on one of the properties in Borek.

Dariusz Czwojdrak described the condition of the cemetery in the 1980s as follows: “[...]In the cemetery, you can come across human remains. The area is sparsely covered with grass and shrubs, and compost is situated in the centre. The cemetery is used as a pasture, rubbish dump, sandpit and playground. It is bordered to the north by a small pine forest planted after the war. Its eastern boundary runs along a dirt road, which cuts through the cemetery area gently. On the southern side, the natural boundary of the necropolis was formed by Lisia Street, and on the western side - the boundary, running along the line of the former wall, meets and leaves outside the cemetery a building that in the past served as a pre-burial chapel and a gravedigger’s house. It is currently used for residential purposes. Several tombstones have survived in the necropolis, some of which are scattered around the cemetery itself and some of which were used to build an earthwork. Several slabs have been laid on the threshold in front of one of the entrances to the building. Immediately after the war, the area was strewn with matzevot, which were gradually stolen by the local population or by commissioners from nearby towns, especially from Gostyń. The entire cemetery area was surrounded by a high red brick wall in the past. The entrance gate was situated on the south side and the wicket on the west side. The chapel also had a separate entrance. The cemetery was said to have very rich tombstones, not often of white or black marble. During the occupation, the surrounding wall was demolished; the cemetery itself survived this period without major damage[...]”.

References

• State Archive in Kalisz (APK), Poviat Starosty in Koźmin 1918-1931 (SPK), ref. no. 33, 38, 39, 40;
• D. Czwojdrak, Z dziejów ludności żydowskiej w południowo-zachodniej Wielkopolsce, Grabonóg 2004;
• Z. Guldon, J. Wijaczka, Ludność żydowska w Wielkopolsce w drugiej połowie XVII wieku, [in:] Żydzi w Wielkopolsce na przestrzeni dziejów, Poznań 1995;
• Heppner, I. Herzberg, Aus Verganheit und Gegenwart der Juden und der jüdischen Gemeinden in den Posener Landen, Koschmin-Bromberg 1904-1909, pp. 316–317;
• T. Kawski, Inwentarze gmin żydowskich z terenu centralnej i zachodniej Polski w okresie międzywojennym (1918-1939), part 1, "Kwartalnik Historii Kultury Materialnej" 2008, no. 1.
• S. Kemlein, Żydzi w Wielkim Księstwie Poznańskim 1815-1848, Poznań 2001;
• Skupień, Ludność żydowska w województwie poznańskim w latach 1919-1938, Poznań 2007.
• Ziółkowska, Obozy pracy przymusowej dla Żydów w Wielkopolsce w latach okupacji hitlerowskiej (1941-1943), Poznań 2005.

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