Gostyń was one of the biggest towns in south-western Greater Poland and also had one of the highest shares of ethnically Polish residents in its population. Similarly to Kościan and several other localities in the region, Gostyń held the de non tolerandis Judaeis privilege, which hampered Jewish settlement in the town for centuries. However, Jews would arrive to Gostyń despite the ban and find ways to make it their home. In the mid-18^th century, the local surgeon was a Jewish convert to Christianity by the name of Jan Nawrocki, who bought a house in Gostyń in 1749.[1.1] Several years earlier, in 1742, a conflict broke out between Jewish butchers and the Gostyń guild. The Jews were seeking to compete with the local Christian slaughterers. The municipal register from the period includes a copy of the petition submitted by the guild to the erstwhile town owner:

Your Highly Enlightened and Honourable Ladyship, Duchess Wiśniowiecka, Wife of Kraków Castellan, the most Merciful and Gracious Lady Benefactor. Arriving at Your court with the most modest, humble and meek request and petition, we, the butchers of Gostyń, fall at your feet as Your most obedient servants. We are coming to Your Ladyship poor and wretched, repressed in this merciless time of hardships and the reign of death, cruel and pitiless to all people, struggling to provide for the tribute established in the agreement with the law. Jewish butchers only reside in Gostyń by proximity, as if almost in its suburbs, and usually inhabit yards and inns: in Grabonóg, Krajewice, Strzelce, and Gola, newly founded and maintained by the noble owners of the above mentioned estates. We hereby request that Your Highly Enlightened Ladyship and her honourable eye look at the very munificent generosity imparted on the butchers by his reverence the commissioner. May Her Highly Enlightened and Honourable Duchess Wiśniowiecka be merciful to our misery, as it has already come to some of us being forced to leave the town, and the rest almost ceasing to practice their craft, as before the arrival of the most honourable chamberlain of Poznań to the Gostyń land, only one or two men worked in their craft, and they believed butchering for the common folk to be their enslavement. Having the permission of His Honoured Mr Trąpczyński to make a plea to Your Highly Enlightened and Honourable Ladyship, we hereby request that Your Highly Enlightened and Honourable Duchess, the Most Merciful and Gracious, be so pitiful to let us be touched by the beneficence of Your generosity, in whose shadow little nestlings find shelter. As the unworthy raise their prayers to the God’s Majesty, so do we restlessly pray for the endless good health and the greatest success and well-being of Her Highly Enlightened and Honourable Duchess Wiśniowiecka – we, her humblest servants and always loyal subjects – butchers of Gostyń.[1.2]

It is uncertain whether the petition was successful. In any case, Jews continued to run inns in the vicinity of Gostyń and eventually settled in Piaski Wielkopolskie, a town founded in 1775 on the permission of King Stanisław August Poniatowski.

The situation in Gostyń changed after the Partitions of Poland, when the region of Greater Poland was incorporated into Prussia. The General Statute adopted in 1797 abolished all former limitations on Jewish settlement and enabled Jews to seek residence in previously inaccessible town. Gostyń was settled by Jews in the early 19^th century. The first to arrive in the town was Abraham Perlinski, a merchant who opened an inn with a kosher kitchen, catering to his fellow believers participating in the famous horse fairs held in Gostyń. He was followed by tradesman Abraham Bucki and many other merchants, who soon gained a prominent position in the economic life of the town.[1.3] 

In the years 1834–1835, ten Jews from Gostyń obtained naturalisation certificates (eight merchants, one teacher, and one shochet). In 1843, similar certificates were held by 12 Jews, while 34 Jews held tolerance certificates. In 1847, 25 Jews held naturalisation certificates, and 37 held tolerance certificates.[1.4]

The events of 1848 had an immense influence on the evolution of social relations in Greater Poland and on the attitudes of national and ethnic groups inhabiting the region. The pro-German stance of the Jewish community resulted in growing anti-Jewish sentiments among the Polish population; however, there were some Jews who went against the current and displayed a strong affinity to the Polish culture, primarily among the highest educated strata of the Jewish diaspora. One example was physician Juliusz Samuel Catt, who settled in Gostyń in 1827. He fought in the November Uprising of 1830 (sentenced to 6 months in prison), worked as a Polish patriotic activist, and was a member of the National Committee and the “secret state bodies” founded in 1848. His house was protected by insurgent forces, as he was responsible for keeping the Committee’s funds. Catt’s pro-Polish stance and cooperation with the Polish League in Gostyń was documented in German records, some dating as late as 1852. 

Another Jew associated with Gostyń who took part in the Spring of Nations was Dr. Eliasz Wachtel, who worked as field surgeon in the Battle of Książ Wielkopolski. He also fought in the January Uprising of 1863 and formed part of the rescue party which liberated General Michał Kruk-Heidenreich from the prison in Gostyń.[1.5]

In 1836, the Jewish community in Gostyń included 34 families, and in 1857 – 49. In 1859, there were 45 Jewish tax-payers in the town, in 1861 – 48, in 1878 – 54, in 1885 – 46. In 1903, there were 44 working Jews in Gostyń.

In the fiscal year 1878/1879, funds from contributions constituted 65% of the overall income of the community, in 1882/1883 – 90%, and in 1903 – 70%. In 1857, the community budget amounted to 63 thalers, in 1878/1879 – 624.10 marks, in 1882/1883 – 988.20 marks, in 1885/88 – 2,315 marks, in 1895 – 3,200 marks, in 1903 – 3,426 marks.

Among the members of the community board were Leopold Lewin (chairman), Heinrich Lachmann, Süssmann Schlesinger, Robert Tischler, and Ewald Jacubowski. Merchants Herrmann Kantorowicz, Izrael Perliński, and Salomon Goldschmidt sat on the Municipal Council and were members of the Gostyń magistrate court.

During the French-Prussian war, two Jewish soldiers from Gostyń fought in the army: Izrael Jacob and Moritz Wachtel. Three Jews from the town died on the fronts of World War I: Georg Kallmann, soldier of the 9^th Battalion of the 269^th Reserve Infantry Regiment, Marin Lachmann from the 12^th Battalion of the 2^nd Guards Regiment, and Alfred Kallmann from the 10^th Grenadier Regiment.

The Jewish community of Gostyń was dissolved after Poland regained independence. The decision was made on 7 July 1922 by the governor of Poznańskie Province. It was justified by the fact that only three community members were eligible to vote and stand in election to representative authorities, while pursuant to the act of 1869, the representative body of each Jewish community were to comprise nine members and three deputies. Following the dissolution of the community, its property was seized by State Treasury and handed over to be temporarily managed by the Town Hall. The erstwhile community head, E. Jacubowski, refused to comply with the decision, so the keys and registers were forcibly seized by the police.[1.6]

At the beginning of August 1922, Jews living in Gostyń filed an appeal against the governor’s decision, seeking to have it overturned. However, neither the governor nor the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Public Education acceded to the Jewish petition. As a result, the community started to shrink, with more and more Jews leaving the town. The last to leave was the family of E. Jacubowski. They migrated from Gostyń in 1927.

 Bibliography

• Czwojdrak D., Z dziejów ludności żydowskiej w południowo-zachodniej Wielkopolsce, Grabonóg 2004.
• Heppner A., Herzberg I., Aus Vergangenheit und Gegenwart der Judeun und der jüdischen Gemeinden in den Posener Landen, Koschmin – Bromberg 1909.
• Kemlein S., Żydzi w Wielkim Księstwie Poznańskim 1815–1848, Poznań 2001.
• Piwoń A., “Likwidacja żydowskiej gminy wyznaniowej w Gostyniu,” Grabonoskie Zapiski Regionalne 2006, no. 12.