Judenlager Tremessen
The mysterious forced labour camp for Jewish women in Trzemeszno, which existed between 1942 and 1943, has long remained in the shadows of history. However, thanks to the research of scholars and enthusiasts of local history, as well as discovered documents, it has been possible in recent years to uncover hitherto unknown facts. The camp, which had its beginnings in November 1942, served as a...Read More »
Ilse
Through witness accounts, archive photographs and a documentary, we learn about the life of a remarkable woman and her family, marking their contribution to the local community. Ilse's last moments become a symbolic touchstone of the tragedy of the millions of Holocaust victims without individual graves. The memorial stones on ...Read More »
Holocaust victims from Trzemeszno
A year ago I published a list of Holocaust victims born in Trzemeszno. This list turned out to be terribly long, which came as a big surprise to both myself and many Trzemeszno residents. For decades after World War II, the remembrance of the former Jewish residents of this town...Read More »
The structure of the Jewish community in Trzemeszno
At the beginning of the 19th century, a group of several dozen German Jews established a Jewish community in Trzemeszno, called kehile in Yiddish and kehilla or kehillah in Hebrew (Hebrew: קהילה). Kahał is a Polish version of these words. Until 1833, it was headed by the elders. The decree of the 1st of June 1833, issued by the Prussian government introduced the obligation to establish the so-called board of directors “to assume full...Read More »
An outline of the history of the Jewish community in Trzemeszno (Tremessen)
Trzemeszno is a town located in the eastern part of Wielkopolska (Greater Poland). Its history is inextricably linked with the monastery of Canons Regular, which has been here since the twelfth century. For centuries, the city was the property of the monastery, and only Catholics could settle there. Changes in the national...Read More »
History of the Synagogue in Trzemeszno (Tremessen)
The first synagogue was built in 1810 [1], at Bóżnicowa Street (Synagogue Street), now Maria Konopnicka Street. Next to it were a garden, a shed, a gravedigger's house, a carriage house and a mikveh (a ritual bathhouse). The latter reportedly had no windows, only skylights [2]. According to M. Obremski, in 1839, on the basis of a 30-year prescription, the Jewish Community was entered as the owner of the plot in the land records [3]...Read More »