Objects

Records relating to the Jewish Community Council in Rawicz

The number of Jewish residents in Rawicz at the beginning of the 20th century was 407 people. The incorporation of the town into Poland in 1920 resulted in a rapid decline in this population group. In 1921, there were still 127 people, in 1922 – 108, and in 1930 – only 12. In 1923, by the decree of the Poznań Provincial Governor, the Jewish Community Council was dissolved, and its assets were transferred to the Rawicz city council (D. Czwojdrak, Z dziejów ludności żydowskiej w południowo-zachodniej Wielkopolsce, Grabonóg 2004, pp. 56, 104, 106–107, 126, 128–129).

Testimony to those events is a collection of records containing 36 various-sized handwritten and typewritten papers on smooth paper. The documents, written in Polish (31) and German (5), constitute a collection of correspondence between Władysław Weigt – the retired mayor of Rawicz, the Rawicz Municipal Office, representatives of the local Jewish community, the Poznań Provincial Office, lawyer Markus Cohn from Poznań, and the Jewish Community Council in Warsaw.

All the letters concern the dissolution of the Qahal (community) in Rawicz. The majority of the documents are prompt notes and explanations pointing to the unlawful actions of the local authorities towards the representatives of the Jewish community. Supplementary materials include official summons and judgments that were handed down in the case of W. Weigt before the Court of Assessors in Rawicz and the District Court in Leszno. He was accused and sentenced in connection with the protest he made in defense of the Jews in Rawicz at the Poznań Provincial Office.

Władysław Weigt was born on 18 January 1869, in Lipno near Leszno. He was the son of postal agent Franciszek and Karolina née Paul. At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, he served as the mayor of Lwówek, and later as a Polish activist in Bytom. He served as the mayor-commissioner of Rawicz from 1920 to 1923. In 1898, he married Anna née Zielińska. They had seven children. He passed away on 12 May 1950 (APP, Akta USC Środa Wlkp., sign. 74, pp. 44-45; https://www.facebook.com/PrzyjacieleRawicza/photos/a.920925678079249/1717742301730912, accessed on 4 March 2021).

The documents belonged to W. Weigt until his death. In 1994, they were donated to the collection of the Leszno museum by the son of the mayor, Wiktor Weigt from Leszno, a sworn translator of the German language.

Dariusz Czwojdrak

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Information about the object
Author / creator
Weigt, Władysław (1869-1950)
Object type
form of information
Time of creation / dating
2nd quarter of the 20th century
Place of creation
Warszawa (mazovian province)
Technique
typescript
manual script
sewing
Material
paper
Keywords
Copyright status
the object is not protected by copyright law
Owner
Local Museum in Leszno
Identification number
MLI/35