The process of Jewish emancipation in the Grand Duchy of Posen intensified in 1833, after the introduction of compulsory education and the division of Jewish citizens into naturalized and tolerated categories. The possibility of voluntary military service was one of the consequences of this process. After 1848, following the adoption of a new constitution in Prussia guaranteeing Jews equal rights, compulsory military registration for all men, including followers of the Jewish faith, was introduced (S. Kemlein, Żydzi w Wielkim Księstwie Poznańskim 1815–1848, Poznań 2001, pp. 229–231).
The presented document is an official military form, and on both sides, in addition to information indicating its nature, there are handwritten filled table-forms. The form was made on smooth paper, and the entries were made in black and brown ink. The entire text is in the German language. There are two round stamps on the document with the national eagle emblem in the field and the legend in the surround: "ROYAL-PRUSSIAN DISTRICT GOVERNOR OF OSTRZESZÓW COUNTY".
The military registration certificate of Chaim Lubliner of Kępno was issued by the Regency Department in Poznań (German: Posen), branch in Ostrzeszów (German: Schildberg). The document was issued in Ostrzeszów on 11 May 1853, and finally approved in Poznań on 23 August 1855. The content of the document indicates that CH. L. Lubliner (born on 4 April 1833 in Kępno) was registered as a reservist designated for service in infantry units.
The certificate and subsequent entries from 1853-1855 are marked by the district governor of Ostrzeszów County, Marcell von Rappard. The contents of the document were also confirmed by two representatives of the military authorities from Poznań. Their signatures are certified by the round seal of the Reserve Commission of the Regency Department, with the national eagle emblem in the field and a partially illegible inscription in the surround.
The document was donated to the District Museum in Leszno in 2014 by a resident of Wschowa. It was purchased several years earlier in one of antique shops in Wrocław.
Dariusz Czwojdrak
