Guide to the Records of the Briesen Jewish Community Council RG 15

Processed by Steven M. Lowenstein. Edited by Rivka Schiller, 2006, with the assistance of a grant from the Gruss Lipper Family Foundation. Additionally processed and prepared for digitization by Violet Lutz in 2016 as part of the Edward Blank YIVO Vilna Collections Project, with the assistance of a grant from the Conference of Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, New York, with additional funding from the Kronhill Pletka Foundation, and The Ruth and David Levine Charitable Fund, 2015.

Note to researchers: This collection is currently closed in preparation for the Edward Blank YIVO Vilna Collections Project.

YIVO Institute for Jewish Research
15 West 16th Street
New York, NY 10011
Email: archives@yivo.cjh.org
URL: http://www.yivo.org

Electronic finding aid was converted to EAD version 2002 by Yakov Sklyar in December 2006. Description is in English.

Collection Overview

Title: Guide to the Records of the Briesen Jewish Community Council RG 15

ID: RG 15 FA

Extent: 3.5 Linear Feet

Arrangement: The collection contains slightly more than 3.5 linear feet of material, which is organized in 157 folders. A portion of the files contained within the collection was already numbered and labeled in German in Vilna. Other files were numbered and labeled subsequently in New York and have been placed at the end of the collection. These files were labeled in English at the YIVO Archives in New York and appear in standard typeface.

Languages: German, Hebrew

Abstract

Located in northern Poland, the city of Briesen (Wabrzezno in Polish) belonged to Prissia and Germany from 1772 until 1920, at which time Poland resumed control of the region. These are the records of the Jewish community of Briesen from ca. 1880 until the demise of the German Empire in 1918 and the subsequent onset of the independent Polish Republic. The bulk of the records cover the period when Briesen was in the German Empire and a small number of documents pertain to the period following the city’s return to Poland after 1918.

Scope and Contents of the Materials

These are the records of the Jewish community of Briesen as well as one folder from the Jewish Reading Society (Judischer Leserverein) of Briesen. The material dates from the years 1871 to 1921 with a few notes from a later date. Almost all the material is written in German with only a few exceptional materials in Hebrew.

The material derives mostly from the time when the town was part of the German Empire, though some of the latest documents date from the period when the town was assigned to the Republic of Poland. When this catalogue refers to the government, it means the Prussian (German) provincial or municipal governments.

The following categories provide a general overview of the documents contained within the collection:

General and Financial Records: Materials concerning the building of a mikve (ritual bath house), 1881-1886, 1889, 1892-1893, 1895-1897, 1900-1903, 1907, 1911, correspondence of Briesen community with Gemeindebund (German-Jewish Community Board), with other Jewish communities and regional Jewish organizations, 1902-1903, 1908-1919, with Verband der Deutschen Juden (Union of German Jews), newspaper clippings about Verband, correspondence concerning various purchases, 1919, list of member congregations of Verband, 1904-1920.

Communal Board and other administrative records: Elections of representatives, communal minutes of election meetings, meeting announcements, list of eligible voters, official results of election meetings, 1882-1888, 1891-1898, government correspondence, summonses to meetings, list of inaugurations, 1895-1913, government permit and community petitions, communal decisions, contribution, cost estimates, sketches, plans concerning expansion of cemetery wall, 1899-1900.

Social welfare records: List of contributors for Dobrzyn cholera victims, 1894, appeals for aid from individuals and from Grenzcomite fuer die Russische Juden, 1889, 1894, 1896-1897, correspondence concerning the proliferation of beggary among East European Jews, minutes of Provinzial-Kasse, 1909-1916, correspondence between Briesen and orphans’ home, 1903-1921, correspondence concerning aid to pogrom victims in the Ukraine, 1919-1920, material pertaining to the Zentrale fur Mazzosversorgung Frankfurt a.M. (distribution of matse), 1917.

Records concerning religious and synagogue activities: Communal tax lists pertaining to synagogues, synagogue seating lists, sales and transfers of seats, diagram of seats, 1880-1890, 1910-1912, 1914-1915, 1919, material pertaining to the hiring of a new rabbi, letters of application for the position of synagogue rabbi, 1887-1889, letters of application for the position of cantor and ritual slaughterer, 1883, 1904, records pertaining to ritual slaughter and Krupka (meat tax), 1880-1891, 1893, 1905, letter from khevre-kadishe concerning burials, 1890-1893, correspondence with various cantors of community, 1888-1889, 1891, 1894, 1896-1897, 1910-1911, correspondence between rabbi and community, and with rabbinic seminary, 1912-1919, correspondence with glasier and various glassworks re: names to be inscribed on synagogue windows, 1905-1906.

Education and Juedischer Leserverein (Jewish Reading Society) Records: Correspondence with Hebrew teacher, school curricula, circular concerning Hebrew lessons, 1897, correspondence re: the closing of Jewish elementary school due to declining student body, 1906-1907, circular announcements and agendas of meetings and lectures, list of members, program of parties, 1901-1908.

Historical Note

The first mention of Briesen, a town situated in the province of Pomerania (Pol. Pomorze), dates back to the year 1246. The town’s name appears within the context of special privileges that were bestowed upon it by the order of the crusader, Heinrich von Hohenlohe.

During the Thirteen Years’ War (1454-1466), which broke out between the Poles and the Order of the Crusade Knights, the residents of Briesen sided with the Poles. With the close of the war, which ended with the Peace of Toruń , the city became part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

In 1709 Briesen had only 665 residents. During the period 1772 to 1920, Briesen was part of Prussia, except for the years 1807-1815, when it belonged to the Duchy of Warsaw.

During the 19th century, Briesen developed both from a demographic as well as an economic standpoint. Most of Briesen’s residents at this time made their living through agriculture and brewing. Industrialization came to Briesen in the mid-19th century. The city’s close proximity and access to railroads enabled industry to flourish there. By 1900, Briesen had cement factories, as well as mechanical shops. In addition, the city’s traditional industries became increasingly modernized, with the emergence of state-of-the-art breweries and creameries.

On January 20, 1920 Briesen was returned to the newly formed Polish state and renamed Wabrzezno, its current name. In September 1939 Nazi Germany invaded the town and soon thereafter implemented mass executions. Approximately 3,000 city residents were murdered during the early phase of German occupation.

There is little information available to us concerning the fate of Briesen’s Jews. It is known that the city was once home to a great synagogue. Based on a local document dated 1885, it appears that the Jews of Briesen were well integrated in the economic and social fabric of the city. The majority of Briesen’s Jews were employed in petty trade; only a minority of them had formal professions.

The Jews of Briesen were active in general communal life, and in 1885 seven of them were appointed city council members (out of a total of 18 council members). This was notwithstanding the fact that there were only some 589 Jews total out of a general population of 4,654 residents (12.7%). Most of the Jewish community’s children studied at the local public school, alongside the city’s Protestant and Catholic children.

In the interwar period the Association of Rubber Makers (PPG) established a factory in Briesen, which a Jew named Solomon Halpern took over. Some of the factory workers were also Jews.

A short time after the Germans conquered the city in September 1939 the Jews of Briesen were driven out and sent to various parts of the General Gouvernement, as was the case of Jews residing in other Pomeranian towns and cities. There is no further information available to us about what became of these Jews. It may be assumed that the vast majority of them were murdered during World War II.

Administrative Information

Access Restrictions:

Open to researchers by appointment.

For more information, contact: Chief Archivist, YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, 15 West 16th Street, New York, NY 10011, email: archives@yivo.cjh.org

Preferred Citation: Published citations should read as follows:Identification of item, date (if known); YIVO Archives; Records of the Briesen Jewish Community Council; RG 15; folder number.

Box and Folder Listing

Series 1: Records of the Briesen Jewish Community Council 1871-1926

Folder 1: Repraesentanten und Vorstand 1871-1894: Minutes (not complete)
Folder 2: Bills for repair work, painting, etc. and equipment 1883-1884
Folder 3: Expenses 1886-1887
Folder 4: Receipts, authorizations for expenditures, bills, reductions in dues, petitions, audit announcements undated
Folder 5: Bills 1893, 1889: Various expenses (especially pertaining to funerals); including one matter dating back to 1889
Folder 6: Bills, receipts and pay orders 1894
Folder 7: Rechnungen 1895-1896
Folder 8: Expenses 1902-1903: Bills, receipts
Folder 9: (Quittungen) Rechnungen 1904-1905: Bills, receipts
Folder 10: Rechnungen 1905-1906: Bills, receipts
Folder 11: Rechnungen 1907-1908: Bills, receipts
Folder 12: Rechnungen 1909-1910: Bills, receipts
Folder 13: Rechnungen 1912-1913: Bills, receipts, letter of auditor
Folder 14: Expenses 1918-1919: Bills, receipts, various printed matter, pleas for aid
Folder 15: Rechnungen 1918-1919: Receipts, bills
Folder 16: Ausgabe-Belaege 1894-1895: Includes some items from 1893; accompanying letter of Vorstand to Rendant (treasurer); receipts, pay orders, bills
Folder 17: Ausgabe-Belaege 1895-1896: Accompanying letter to treasurer, receipts, pay orders, bills
Folder 18: Ausgabe-Belaege 1900-1901: Accompanying letter to treasurer, receipts, pay orders, bills
Folder 19: Ausgabe-Belaege 1903-1904: Accompanying letter to treasurer; balance sheet of poor relief administration, receipts, pay orders
Folder 20: Ausgabe-Belaege 1904-1905: Accompanying letter to treasurer, list of amortization payments, pay orders, receipts, bills
Folder 21: Belaege zum Ausgabe Journal 1905-1906: Accompanying letter to treasurer, receipts, bills, pay orders
Folder 22: Ausgabe-Belaege 1910-1911: List of regular expenses requiring no pay orders, accompanying letter to treasurer, receipts, pay orders, bills
Folder 23: Ausgabe-Belaege 1912-1913: List of payments with receipts requiring no pay orders, receipts, pay orders, bills, letters to treasurer
Folder 24: Pay orders 1918-1919
Folder 25: Register of correspondence 1898-1918: List of correspondence sent with marginal notes and (often) amounts of postage paid, some attached bills for telephone conversations
Folder 26: Skripturen 1901-1902: Circulars announcing meetings; incoming correspondence (pleas for aid, etc.) later dealt with at meetings, letters by Vorstand, sending of documents for meetings (includes request for aid by founder of newspaper to fight anti-Semitism at Konitz), some bills
Folder 27: Skripturen 1907-1908: Incoming correspondence (used in meetings), many requests for aid, lists of documents for meetings, circulars calling meetings
Folder 28: Scripturen 1910-1911: Circulars calling meetings, list of expenses not requiring pay order, outgoing correspondence and copies, incoming correspondence (requests for aid), receipts
Folder 29: Scripturen 1911-1913: Includes some items from 1911. Incoming correspondence; circulars calling meetings, copies of outgoing correspondence, cost estimate
Folder 30: Budgets and tax rolls, 1882-1885. Budget for 1882-1883; communal tax rolls for 1882-1883 (111 names); government letters; budget and tax rolls for 1883-1884 (104 names); communal decisions; budget for 1884-1885 and communal tax rolls for 1884-1885 (105 names); protest against tax; list of names and numbers; accompanying letter to treasurer 1882-1885
Folder 31: Haushalt-Etat 1885-1886: Budget and communal tax list (112 names)
Folder 32: Haushaltungs-Plan 1895-1896: Budget and communal tax list (116 names and amounts)
Folder 33: Haushalt und Hyperbole 1896-1897: Budget and communal tax lists (110 names)
Folder 34: Haushalt Heberolle 1900-1901: Budget and communal tax list with 109 names and amounts
Folder 35: Haushaltsplan und Heberolle 1900-1901: Budget and communal tax list with 114 names and amounts
Folder 36: Repr. Vorlagen-Etat 1898-1901: Tentative budget for 1900-1901; budget for 1899-1900; budget for 1900-1901; lists of names and amounts, letter to government concerning budgetary matters; communal tax list for 1898-1899 (108 names) and a copy of budget for 1898-1899
Folder 37: ETAT 1900-1902: Accompanying government letters; proposed budget for 1902; communal tax list 1901-1902 (112 names and amounts): budget (chief copy) for 1900-1901; tax list for 1900-1901 (113 names and amounts)
Folder 38: Voranschlang zum Haushaltplan 1902: Tentative budget
Folder 39: Haushaltungsplan 1903-1904: Partially filled out budget with corrections; tax list with 95 names and amounts
Folder 40: ETAT 1907-1908: Accompanying government letter, budget for 1907; tax list (of community) for 1907-1908 (82 names)
Folder 41: ETAT 1908: Budget and communal tax list (79 names and amounts)
Folder 42: ETAT 1912: Budget and communal tax list for 1912 with 86 names and amounts (2nd tax list blank)
Folder 43: ETAT 1913: Budget and communal tax list
Folder 44: ETAT 1914: Budget and communal tax list (84 names and amounts and one blank tax list), announcement of Vorstand meeting on budget, letter from government, list of chief regular expenses and incomes (also includes a number of slips from Krupka (meat tax) administration
Folder 45: ETAT 1913- 1915: Materials from 1913 to 1915. Lists of chief regular income and expenses for 1916. Government correspondence; excerpts from communal meeting minutes concerning budget, announcements of meetings, budget for 1915, and communal tax list (70 names)
Folder 46: Haushaltungsplan 1916: Budget and communal tax list (73 names and amounts). List of endowments
Folder 47: Haushaltungsplan 1918: Budget and communal tax list (83 names and amounts). Circular announcements of meetings on budget, excerpts of minutes; government correspondence
Folder 48: Synagogen-Beitraege Heberolle 1894-1895: Communal tax list (120 names and amounts) with sum totals
Folder 49: Steuer-Heberolle 1896-1897: Communal tax list (111 names and amounts), arrears and sum totals
Folder 50: Synagogen-Beitraege Heberolle 1896-1897: Not identical with #49, communal tax list (111 names and amounts), with sum totals
Folder 51: Veranlagungsrolle der Mitglieder, etc. 1897-1898: List of members with incomes (112 names); tax list for 1897-1898 with sum totals; part of budget for 1897-1898; government letter, list of Jews in Lissewo; circulars calling meetings
Folder 52: Gemeindesteurer Hebe-Rolle 1899-1900: Communal tax list (101 names with quarterly amounts) and sum totals
Folder 53: Gemeindesteuer Heberolle 1900: Communal tax list (120 names and amounts), and calculations of amounts owed by one member
Folder 54: Steuer Einziehungsliste 1908-1909: Communal tax list (86 names with amounts) and sum totals
Folder 55: Gemeindesteuer Liste 1911-1912: Communal tax list (94 names and amounts) with sum totals; loose slips from postal money slips
Folder 56: Gemeindesteuer Liste 1912: Communal tax list (99 names and amounts) with notes and sum totals; includes one money order stub
Folder 57: Steuerhebeliste/Etatsjahr 1918-1919: (Contains envelopes for returned and voided receipts), sums of income from communal taxes, and communal tax list with amounts owed by each member (81 names); list of those leaving the community
Folder 58: Audits 1884-1889: Excerpts from communal minutes, correspondence, reports of auditors, explanations of certain items, auditing committee meeting announcements
Folder 59: Choosing a Rendant (Treasurer) 1886-1887: Excerpts from communal minutes, declinations, announcement of meeting, treasurer’s salary, Kanowski hired, raise in salary
Folder 60: Expenses (?) 1888: Bills, circulars asking authorization of expenses, pleas for aid, requests for expenditure
Folder 61: Accompanying documents of expenses (?) 1888-1889: Pleas for aid, bills, receipts
Folder 62: Expenses (?) 1890-1891: Circulars calling meetings about expenses and audits, bills, plea for aid
Folder 63: Rechnungsrevisionsprotokolle 1895: Report of auditing commission with margin notes, letter by head of Reprasentanten to head of Vorstand announcing action on audit
Folder 64: Repraesentanten-Vorlagen 1883, 1895-1897: Letter to Vorstand – 1883; notes for budget of 1895-1896; suit by Drewitz & Co. of Thorn v. community for non-payment of bills (?) with bills and correspondence, 1896-1897, lawyer’s bills, official court documents
Folder 65: Concerning budget 1901: Minutes of meeting; letter of Vorstand to treasurer; list of names and amounts
Folder 66: ETATE 1911-1913: (Date on cover is wrong). Documents concerning budget: letter of Lehman in Lissewo concerning Jews there. Government correspondence; circular calling meetings of Vorstand and other agencies; minutes of Vorstand concerning budget of 1913-1914
Folder 67: Concerning budget 1917: Circulars calling budget meetings; decisions on budget
Folder 68: Materials concerning budgets 1885, 1886, 1892, 1906: Circulars calling meetings, excerpts from minutes, correspondence with government
Folder 69: Bilanzen und Generalbilanzen 1918-1919: Tentative and complete monthly balance sheets beginning April 1918; includes list of bank balances
Folder 70: Ausgabe Journal 1911-1912: Ledger of expenses
Folder 71: Ledger 1918-1921: Ledger concerning various funds (bank accounts?) and interest on them
Folder 72: Synagogue seats 1880-1890: Annual lists of synagogue seat owners; circular to Reprasentanten concerning lowering seat prices, 1886; other circulars; communal decision; announcements of seat sales; petition; payment for one seat
Folder 73: Verpachtung der Sitze 1904-1910: Communal decision to help encourage sale of seats; list of seat owners and payments in a ledger with calculations in the back
Folder 74: Synagogue seats1919 1911-1912: Letters concerning sale of a seat; announcement of seat sales; list of seat owners for 1911-1912
Folder 75: Verpachtung der Gemeinde Sitze 1914-1915: List of seat owners with diagram of seats
Folder 76: Verpachtung der Gemeinde-Sitze 1915-1916: List of seat owners; diagram showing seats
Folder 77: Verpachtung der Gemeinde Sitze 1917-1918: List of seat owners and diagram of seats
Folder 78: Synagogue seats 1910: Correspondence concerning seat transfers; plan of women’s seats
Folder 79: Letter of thanks 1905: Unsent, unaddressed letters of thanks (with reports on inaugurating ceremonies) for individuals who have contributed to synagogue building fund
Folder 80: Contributions 1905-1906: Lists of large contributions toward the building of synagogue; bank account balances; promissory note; bank interest
Folder 81: Zimmermeister Guenther – Friedhofsfenster 1910-1911: Outgoing correspondence to repairman; includes notes on repair work
Folder 82: Bau der Nottreppe an Synagoge 1910: Circulars announcing meetings, correspondence with builders; excerpts from minutes concerning repair work; bank withdrawal, building permit, cost estimate
Folder 83: Clara Joachimsthal’sche Nachlass-Sache 1905, 1907, 1908-1910: Report, correspondence with inheritance tax department, lists of aid recipients, official tax orders, expense vouchers, bills, receipts, court expense bills, legal rules concerning inheritance tax, general government correspondence; checking account book, court decisions, correspondence with communal treasurer, other correspondence; excerpts from communal minutes, copies of letters, mortgage; correspondence with orphans’ home, prescriptions, funeral eulogy, newspaper announcement, inheritance inventories, insurance policy
Folder 84: Gaszynski’sches Grundstueck 1909-1910: Einnahme. Anweisungen, copies of government documents, letters to government asking permission of sale, correspondence; communal decisions to buy and sell (excerpts from minutes), lawyer’s correspondence, letter to tax inspector, correspondence with tenant and registration of lease, suit vs. tenant, court documents, registration of purchase; announcement of meeting to discuss purchase
Folder 85: Deutsche-Israelitischer Gemeindebund 1902-1903, 1908-1919: Correspondence of Briesen community with Gemeindebund: incoming to Briesen and copies of outgoing; printed requests and announcements by Gemeindebund; questionnaires (one filled out). Requests for aid from various national and regional Jewish organizations; correspondence with rabbi; correspondence with other Jewish communities
Folder 86: Verband der Deutschen Juden 1904-1920: Correspondence of Briesen community and Verband: incoming to Briesen and copies of outgoing; correspondence with regional associations; correspondence with other communities (material concerning cession of the area to Poland with list of kehilla sizes) newspaper clippings about Verband; manuscript of a speech; list of Verband’s member congregations
Folder 87: Acta Concerning Auswaertigen Armen 1885-1888: Various communal decisions appropriating money (excerpts from minutes), pay order to Rendant W. Salomon, his receipts; circular questionnaire to Reprasentanten
Folder 88: Unterstuetzung an Auswaertigen 1894: Letter from Jewish community of Gollub; receipt from rabbi of Dobrzyn (Russian Poland) (in German and Hebrew); list of contributors to Dobrzyn cholera victims
Folder 89: Appeals for aid 1889, 1894, 1896-1897: From individuals and Grenzcomite fur d. Russ. Juden
Folder 90: Wanderbettelei Reformen 1909-1916: Correspondence with Provinzial-Kasse fur Wanderarmenfursorge; both outgoing and incoming; annual reports of Provinzial Kasse; circular of Vorstand warning against a collector, invitation to annual meeting of Provinzial-Kasse, letter to railroad office stating that Jews want to fight wandering beggary of East European Jews; form to be used for each beggar; rules of German Zentralstelle fur judische Wanderarmenfursorge; correspondence with other organizations and individuals; minutes of Provinzial-Kasse’s founding; printed copies of stenographic report of Zentralstelle meeting and of conference held by Deutsch-Israelitische Gemeindebund concerning beggary; correspondence with provincial association of communities; signed agreement not to give individual gifts to collectors
Folder 91: Acta/Casper Lachman’sches Waisenhaus Graudenz, Sitz Danzig 1903-1921: Incoming correspondence to Briesen from orphans’ home (thanks, etc.), circular asking how much members wish to donate, other related incoming correspondence, receipts, a few outgoing letters, list of contributions
Folder 92: Wohlfahrtspelege 1919-1920: Correspondence with Zentralwohlfahrtstelle der deutschen Juden; correspondence concerning aid to pogrom victims in the Ukraine; pleas for aid from various organizations; correspondence with Frauenverein about aid to individuals; report of Zentralwohlfahrtstelle activities; receipts
Folder 93: Elections of Vorstand 1882-1888: Elections by Reprasentanten (not entire community); excerpts from communal minutes of election meetings; announcements of meetings, letter of resignation
Folder 94: Wahlsachen 1891-1898: Elections of Reprasentanten (by entire community); list of eligible voters – 1898; government order, newspaper announcement, government correspondence including official results of election meeting; declinations
Folder 95: Neuwahlen des Vorstandes und Repraesentanten 1895-1913: Tax list (date?); inclusive list of all communal officers (1895-1913); list of inaugurations, government approval of results, list of invitations to Vorstand elections; government correspondence, election results, summonses to meetings, voter lists, announcements of meetings
Folder 96: Punishment of Vorstand member for non-attendance at meeting 1896: Correspondence with government; petition to government and communal answer
Folder 97: Fines for missing meetings of Repraesentanten-Versammlung 1883-1889: Excerpts from minutes, communal decisions, correspondence with treasurer, receipts
Folder 98: Hiring a new rabbi 1887-1889: Excerpts from communal minutes with decisions; announcements of Vorstand and Reprasentanten meetings; newspaper advertisement; proposed contract; government correspondence; contract
Folder 99: Choosing a new rabbi 1889: Excerpts from minutes (decisions). Rabbi Eppenstein chosen; circular announcement of meeting
Folder 100: Complaint against Cantor Blaustein and other employees 1883-1893: Concerning the slaughter of animals; complaints against Blaustein, etc. with communal investigation; letter of warning to a member; government inspection; extension of Blaustein’s contract; disagreements; complaints by Blaustein; announcement of meeting; government correspondence
Folder 101: Assistant cantor and shoikhet 1883: Letters of application for position (some in Hebrew and Yiddish) with recommendations, etc.; petition; copies of some replies
Folder 102: Cantor Blaustein’s letter of protest against being fired 1894
Folder 103: Miscellaneous correspondence between Rabbi Eppenstein and communal administration 1890, 1894
Folder 104: Miscellaneous correspondence with various cantors of the community 1888-1889, 1891, 1894, 1896-1897, 1910-1911: Includes also letters of application and recommendation for cantor’s post
Folder 105: Salary and hiring of various employees 1880-1886, 1888: Correspondence with Cantor Blaustein concerning fees and salaries; communal decisions, announcements of communal meetings, government correspondence, conditions of employment, bills, instructions for main and assistant cantor, letters of recommendation, correspondence with Assistant Cantor Glassman, decision re: whether to hire rabbi, protest, government orders, hiring of new teacher, correspondence with him, financial decisions, contract of Rabbi Freitel, correspondence with rabbi and others, protest petition against the firing of rabbi
Folder 106: Anstellung des Rabbiners Dr. Eppenstein 1889, 1894, 1898-1900, 1902-1905, 1907, 1909-1910: Letter of application, recommendation and school records, incoming correspondence with community from rabbi concerning various matters (including replies), announcements of meetings, contract, announcement of early services, letter from Rabbiner Verband, diploma, correspondence with Konigliche Provinzial-Schul-kollegium, decision concerning raise, correspondence between Reprasentanten and Vorstand
Folder 107: Rabbiner Dr. Eppenstein 1909-1912: Receipt, incoming correspondence from rabbi and copies of outgoing correspondence, newspaper clippings, correspondence concerning gift sent to rabbi, farewell reception for Eppenstein (1911): correspondence with various communities and individuals (hired by Hildesheimer Seminary), complaint by cantor, correspondence concerning rabbi, letter of thanks by rabbi’s son on bar mitzvah, education section of a Jewish newspaper
Folder 108: Besetzung des Kantorats 1909-1910: Includes one postcard application for position from 1894, letters of application and further correspondence, conditions of Tykocinski’s employment, recommendations and school records (some recommendations in Hebrew), Rabbi Eppenstein’ reports on tests he administered to prospective shoikhet, telegram, newspaper advertisements
Folder 109: Kantor-Provisorische Besetzung 1904: Letters of application and recommendations made, based on test administered by Rabbi Eppenstein
Folder 110: Acta Cantor May 1910-1914: Incoming correspondence from cantor and copies of replies, agreement concerning bar mitzvah lessons and fees, decision to write May concerning slaughter fees, excerpts from minutes (decisions), minutes of discussions concerning May’s complaints about insults, rules for payment, request for investigation of May, order of song books, bills, receipts, list of fees, contract, circular concerning inauguration, announcements, government correspondence, telegram, hiring of assistant, announcement of cantorial course, May’s recommendation and application, circulars calling meeting
Folder 111: Vorbeter fuer die Hohen Festtage 1909, 1911: Correspondence with job candidates, letters of application and recommendation, communal replies
Folder 112: Dr. Halpersohn Rabbiner 1912-1919: Envelope containing diploma, correspondence between rabbi and community pertaining to: hiring, vacations, duties, etc.; excerpts from minutes, letters announcing choice of rabbi to government, congratulatory letter, program of inauguration, government correspondence, contract, circular calling meeting, salary of rabbi and cantor, recommendations for Halpersohn by Briesen community, contract of successor (resigned 1914)
Folder 113: Cantorat 1912-1913: Requests for letter of recommendation for Cantor Cohn after his resignation, the letter, notice of termination for Cohn, letters of application with recommendations, correspondence with candidates, government approval of temporary hiring of Cohn, telegram and correspondence with Cohn concerning his letter of application
Folder 114: Kantor Georg Jospe 1912-1918: Incoming correspondence from cantor and copies of outgoing correspondence concerning: resignation, shkhite, leaves from work, slaughter fees Jahrzeitsbuch, request for raise, etc., moving expenses, application; certifications of Jospe’s illnesses, government notices concerning Jospe’s military service, many communal requests for his deferment, leaves and discharge, circular calling secret meeting of Vorstand on subject of deferment, Rabbi Neufeld ordered to serve as chaplain, Berlin Jewish hospital correspondence concerning Jospe’s sick child, doctor’s bill, rations request, minutes of communal meeting concerning complaints against Jospe’s actions (including accusation of black marketeering), meeting summons, correspondence with individual concerning el mole rakhamim prayer, government correspondence concerning salaries of communal employees, insurance for Jospe, contract and instructions for Jospe, correspondence with Verband Westpreussischer Synagogen concerning rights of firing and freeing from military service, list (of fees?), hiring of temporary substitutes, government permission, circulars calling meetings to choose cantor, government approval, Jospe’s recommendations, results of shkhite test administered by rabbi
Folder 115: Besetzung Rabbinate 1914: Correspondence with applicants, letters of application for job as rabbi or teacher, correspondence with rabbinic seminary (Eppenstein), Hebrew and German recommendations (some in envelope)
Folder 116: Besetzung des Rabbinats 1915: List of applicants, correspondence with applicants, letters of application, recommendations (including one by Halpersohn, ex-rabbi of Briesen), two copies of Israelitisches Familienblatt of 8 July 1915, including advertisement for rabbi at Briesen
Folder 117: Synagogenfenster 1905-1906: Correspondence with glasier Noafeldt and Muller’s Glassworks in Berlin. List of names to be inscribed on windows, sketches, minutes of communal meeting, letters from other glassworks, cost estimates
Folder 118: School 1897: Correspondence with Schapira, newly hired Hebrew teacher; curricula of school (one in envelope), excerpts from communal minutes concerning hiring teacher, circulars calling meeting, circular announcement concerning Hebrew lessons
Folder 119: Teacher Stern January 1897: Letter of Rabbi Eppenstein to Vorstand concerning marriage of Hauptlehrer Stern’s daughter to a gentile; petition by Stern to government complaining he was forbidden to continue Hebrew instruction and was not paid salary, copies of communal decisions, letter of community to government announcing firing of Stern
Folder 119 A: Juedische Volksschule 1906-1907: (Includes one letter from 1876). Closing of school because of insufficient student body; government correspondence and decision, correspondence with Verband der deutschen Juden and Central Verein, communal decisions, announcement of extraordinary meeting
Folder 120: Vorfluth 1884-1885, 1891-1893: Two court cases vs. community, one by Mrs. Becker in the court at Thorn and one by Gunther; correspondence with lawyer, communal decisions, cost estimates for installing water system in mikve, plan, communal decision on water system, court documents, government correspondence, announcement of committee meetings, bills, legal documents and decision concerning building project
Folder 121: Building of new mikve 1882-1883: Government correspondence, amortization plan, communal decisions, bills, circulars announcing meetings, contract for a 12,000 Mark loan, purchase of land for mikve, building commission decisions, correspondence, newspaper advertisements for builders, auction announcement, receipts, contract with builder
Folder 122: Mikve; expulsion of foreign shames 1885: Government correspondence, plans, cost estimate, announcements and agendas of communal meeting, accounts, petition to government
Folder 123: Upkeep, building and renting of mikve 1881, 1889, 1897: Excerpt from minutes, correspondence
Folder 124: Renting of Mikve 1885-1886, 1889, 1892-1893: Promise of payment, correspondence of renter with community, various bids for office, announcement of meetings, contracts, communal decisions, conditions of lease, auction announcement, correspondence
Folder 125: Badehaus 1895-1896, 1907, 1911: Sale deed of heating equipment, correspondence, government correspondence, various regulations and prospective uses of loan associations, loan of 12,000 Marks: contract, bill; circulars concerning meetings, cost estimates, communal decisions, blue prints, petition, inspections, bank correspondence, receipt, telegrams
Folder 126: Badehaus-Verwaltung 1900-1903: Correspondence, notice issued by Vorstand to Badewarter; accounts of mikve income and expenses, sketch, government correspondence, government orders announced in newspaper, correspondence with repair companies, bill, commission minutes and decisions, auditors’ reports, newspaper announcement
Folder 127: Kanalisation des Badehauses und Friedhofs 1912-1913: (All material concerns bathhouse). Correspondence, report on condition of mikve, announcement of meeting, blueprints, work contract, cost estimates, government correspondence, excerpts from minutes, permit
Folder 128: Friedhofsverwaltung 1917-1926: Series of dossiers: one labeled Diverse Korrespondenzen (1917) contains letters to sexton concerning care of graves; individual dossiers nos. 1-43 (nos. 9, 10, 12, 13, 15, 16, 24, 28, 41, 42 are missing), each containing correspondence, bills, forms, and notices concerning care of graves, addressed mainly to Jews living outside of Briesen (some with money order stubs; contains records of payment as late as 1926); one unnumbered dossier and several blank ones, one from outside dossiers
Folder 129: Lists and locations of graves circa 1917: (rough draft, loose pages)
Folder 130: Beerdigungen 1887-1892: Death certificates, receipts, bills for funerals at communal expense, correspondence with town government
Folder 130 A: Burials 1890-1893: Death certificates, correspondence concerning care of graves, letter from khevre-kadishe; government permission for burials
Folder 131: Expansion of cemetery wall 1899-1900: Government permit, community petitions, bills, government correspondence, Gutachten (expert opinions), communal decisions, announcement of meeting, contribution, cost estimates, sketches, plans
Folder 132: Bau der Friedhofsmauer II 1900-1903: Bills, government correspondence, summonses to appear, receipts, bid, cemetery commission letter, work contract, documents in case of synagogue vs. Sankowski; cemetery commission meeting agenda, sketches, contracts with builder, correspondence, minutes and accounts of cemetery commission
Folder 133: Letter concerning payments for cemetery walls and gravestones 1905
Folder 134: Renting and building of slaughterhouse 1885: Excerpts from communal minutes, decisions, correspondence with renter, cost estimate for building new slaughterhouse stall, contract with builder, permit petition, government correspondence, permit
Folder 135: Krupka 1880-1891: Announcements of auctions, communal decisions, Krupka (meat tax) contract and rules, bids, petitions
Folder 136: Fleischer 1905: Letters of application, letters inquiring about need for butcher, correspondence with Dutch cattle dealer, advertisement in Jewish newspaper, copy of newspaper
Folder 137: 25 Jaehriges Bestehen – Frauenverein 1900: Letter of Vorstand to president of women’s organization (and draft) on her 25th anniversary as president, letter to Vorstand, decision, announcement of secret meeting, etc.
Folder 138: Religious instruction in branch community of Lissew 1903: Incoming correspondence and copies of outgoing correspondence with Deutsch Israelitische Gemeindebund requesting aid; letter from a Lissewo Jew, communal decisions
Folder 139: Rights to deliver various products to community 1883-1893: Oil, matses for poor, announcements of auctions, minutes of auctions, decisions of community, bills, lists of poor to receive matses, etc., petitions; board meeting agenda (1889)
Folder 140: Josef David Streitsache 1914: Complaint against hiring outside rabbi at wedding and associated fees; correspondence with government; David’s correspondence with government, government documents
Folder 141: Materialen 1919: Correspondence concerning various purchases: archive closet, war memorial plaque, paper; correspondence, bills, sketches
Folder 142: Circulars calling meetings of Vorstand and Reprasentanten, excerpts from minutes 1889, 1894, 1896-1898
Folder 143: Circular calling meeting; meetings not valid for lack of quorum 1883, 1885: also notes for a sermon (?)
Folder 144: Jewish rights 1893, 1894: Letter from Comite zur Abwehr des Anti-Semitism’s requesting aid, 1894; letter from Berlin Jewish community with suggested letter to government concerning defense of shkhite, 1893
Folder 145: Acta des Juedischen Lesevereins – Briesen 1901-1908: (Records of the Jewish Reading Society) Circular announcements and agendas of meetings and lectures, list of members, program of parties; postcard to rabbi (includes all lecture topics)
Folder 146: Synagogue rules forbidding bringing children under age 6; repeated in 1910 1910
Folder 146 A: Synagogue Order undated, 1883: Announcement concerning order and decorum in synagogue service; letter to individual warning of punishment unless he stops holding private services
Folder 147: Government letter concerning exemption from communal taxes for communal employees; request by an employee for raise 1887
Folder 148: Education questionnaire 1908.: Two letters from Verband der Westpreussischen Synagogen-Gemeinden concerning education questionnaire aimed at obtaining state subsidy
Folder 149: Letter appointing G. Goetz, a Tempelvorsteher 1913
Folder 150: A divorce case 1889: Request by rabbi, minutes of communal meetings and decisions, circulars calling meetings
Folder 151: Two letters from head of Vorstand to head of Reprasentanten 1896 June
Folder 152: Communal meeting and government correspondence about budget 1887-1888
Folder 153: Miscellaneous 1880, 1889, 1891, 1893, 1896-1897, 1905, 1912, 1920: Bills, tax list (?), correspondence, telegram, government letter, a smikhe certificate
Folder 154: Miscellaneous 1885, 1892-1894, 1916: Correspondence, bills, communal meetings re: financial and other matters
Folder 155: Journal of finance records 1912-1913: Lists all major expenses
Folder 156: Matse distribution 1917: Book of tickets for matse distribution (from Zentrale fur Mazzosversorgung Frankfurt a.M.)
Folder 157: Miscellaneous 1890-1891, 1902, 1913: Postal receipt, 1913; letter, 1891; collection list for communal taxes, 1890; letter to government about communal taxes in community branch, 1902, etc.