COEXIST: POZNAŃ AND JEWS

EMANCIPATION AND THE GERMAN SHIFT – JEWS UNDER PRUSSIAN RULE

In the latter half of the 18th century, Polish state was in its decline, while its territory was gradually an- nexed by the neighbouring powers, Russia, Prus- sia and . Prussian troops entered Poznań in 1793; exactly a decade later, another great fire rav- aged the Jewish quarter. It was an important date, because the new German authorities granted Jews leave to build houses and settle outside their his- toric district. Thus, after five centuries, the separate area within the city populated exclusively by Jews was no more. This marked the onset of a wave of emancipation among Poznań Jews, which lasted throughout the 19th century. During the Napoleonic Wars, Poznań became a part of the Duchy of Warsaw, but the turbulent COEXIST: POZNAŃ AND JEWS

times deprived the Jewish community of a for a period of eight years. It was only in 1815, when Poznań had become the capital of the Grand Duchy of Poznań, whose territory overlapped with former Greater now incorporated again into Prussia, that the leadership of the community was assumed by none other than Akiva Eger. Next to Maharal, he was the most renowned of Poznań , a brilliant Talmudist, speaker and eru- dite, famed for modest lifestyle and ardent com- mitment to charity. There were some 4,500 Jews living in Poznań at the time, earning their liveli- hood chiefly from trade and crafts. Eger, a mod- erately orthodox rabbi, remained the head of the community until his death in 1837, having estab- lished a which enjoyed splendid reputa- tion across Europe and contributed to the revival of Jewish life in the city. Former Greater Poland was a province with the largest Jewish population in Prussia, who con- tinued living for a long time without enjoying the COEXIST: POZNAŃ AND JEWS

full civic rights. Only on June 1st, 1833, did Eduard Flottwell, Oberprāsident (governor) of the Prov- ince of Poznań, institute changes in their legal and social status. He promulgated the ground-breaking Provisional Decree Concerning the Jewry in the Grand Duchy of Poznań, under which the Jewish population was divided into two categories: the naturalized and the tolerated ones. Naturalized Jews were granted civic rights, were free to choose their abode on the territory of the state, practice a profession of their choice and purchase proper- ty. However, they had to produce proof of adequate financial assets, have a command of German and abandon traditional attire. Tolerated Jews were subject to certain legal and economic restrictions. As a result, the Jews of Poznań began to em- brace German culture and assimilate, on a fairly substantial scale – although the last limitations which applied to Jews were rescinded only after the Unification of the German Reich in 1871. In the mid-19th century, Poznań was home to nearly 8,000 COEXIST: POZNAŃ AND JEWS

Jews, around 16 per cent of the town’s population; later, their numbers dwindled continually, also due to gradual emigration of Jews to other cities in the Reich, as well as to the United States and Australia, where they went looking for work.

DESCRIPTION: Rabbi Akiva Eger from Poznań with two dayanim, fragment of Julius Knorr’s painting The Market Square in 1838

LEGAL NOTES: From the collection of the National Museum in Poznań.