Alternate name: Wreschen [Ger]. This town in central Poland with 28,600 inhabitants in 1995 in the Greater Poland Voivodeship since 1999, previously in Poznań Voivodeship (1975-1998), on the Wrzesnica River. Jewish settlement in Wrzesnia began in the 16th century because in 1579 75 Jews paid tax. Czarniecki soldiers murdered about 100 Jewish families in 1656. A fire in 1873 burned the synagogue. Jewish population: 1905-490 and 1921-151, 2.3%. On September 10, 1939 Germans occupied the city. They destroyed the synagogue in 1940. A French POW camp was there during WWII. [July 2009]
CEMETERY: The first Jewish cemetery in Wrzesnia was in the 16th century. Another was established in 1868. The only trace is two gravestone fragments stored in the Museum of Children Wrzesnia. photo. [July 2009]
US Commission No. POCE000461: In Poznan. An old Jewish cemetery was located in the center of the city bordered by the Fabryczna, Staszica and Szkolna Streets. It occupied an area of 94.5 acres. At the end of 1924, an agreement was reached between officials and the Jewish community to exchange the old cemetery for a parcel of land located on Strzalkowska highway at E end of town, the present location of the Municipal Cleaning Authority. The Nazis leveled it using the tombstones for hardening the surfaces of roads and streeys. A small fraction of archival books may be found in the State Archives in Poznan. Contact Dr. Stanislaw Klys, Archiwum Panstwowe, ul. 22 Lutego 41, 60-744 Poznan Poland tel. 011-48- (61) 52-05-36 Source: Thomas Sokolosky Wixon, 1803 Jackson Ave., Pascagoula MS 39567-4403 forwarded from the US Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad. [date]