Września

Infobox Settlement
name = Września
imagesize = 250px
image_shield = POL Września COA.svg
pushpin_

pushpin_label_position = bottom
subdivision_type = Country
subdivision_name = POL
subdivision_type1 = Voivodeship
subdivision_name1 = Greater Poland
subdivision_type2 = County
subdivision_name2 = Września County
subdivision_type3 = Gmina
subdivision_name3 = Gmina Września
leader_title = Mayor
leader_name = Tomasz Kałużny
established_title = Established
established_date = 1256
established_title3 = Town rights
established_date3 = 1375
elevation_min_m = 90
elevation_max_m = 110
area_total_km2 = 12.73
population_as_of = 2006
population_total = 28617
population_density_km2 = auto
timezone = CET
utc_offset = +1
timezone_DST = CEST
utc_offset_DST = +2
latd = 52
latm = 20
lats =
latNS = N
longd = 17
longm = 35
longs =
longEW = E
postal_code_type = Postal code
postal_code = 62-300
area_code = +48 61
blank_name = Car plates
blank_info = PWR
website = http://www.wrzesnia.pl Września [IPA-pl|'|w|ż|e|ś|ń|a] ( _de. Wreschen) is a town in central Poland with 28,600 inhabitants (1995).

It is situated in the Greater Poland Voivodeship (since 1999), previously in Poznań Voivodeship (1975-1998), on the Wrzesnica River.

History

The city was first mentioned in 1256. Early sources speak of Wressna (1317) or Wresna (1364). Września was granted town privileges in the 14th century. The town was burned down 1664 (other sources speak of 1656) in the war against Sweden. The majority of inhabitants were Poles, but since mid-17th century there have also been German settlements.The city fell to Prussia in 1793, following the second Partition of Poland. In 1807 it became part of the Duchy of Warsaw, but fell back to Prussia in 1815.In late-1918 unrest occurred in Września against the German inhabitants. In 1920, the city became part of the Second Polish Republic.On September 10. 1939 Germans occupied the city. The Synagogue was destroyed by the Nazis in 1940. During the War camp was erected for French POWs. The Red Army reached the city in 1945, and Września became Polish again.

Jewish Wreschen

Wreschen's Jewish community formerly ranked among the largest of southern Prussia, and is mentioned as one of the congregations which suffered severely during the persecutions of the years 1648-1651.All the early documents were destroyed in the conflagration of 1873, in which the synagogue, an old wooden building, also was burned. The gravestones of the ancient cemetery, which has been closed that year, afford no historical data, since the great majority of the older inscriptions have been obliterated.

Among the members of the community special mention may be made of Rabbi Ẓebi Hirsch b. Aaron Mirels, and his father Rabbi Aaron Mirels ("Kaufmann", "Die Letzte Vertreibung der Juden aus Wien und Niederösterreich", pp. 79 et seq., Vienna, 1889), and the Bible commentator Rabbi Meïr Löb Malbim.

Ẓebi Mirels, who was called also "Hirsch Aaron London", was the author of the "Mispar Ẓeba'am", and presented a Hebrew hymn to General Möllendorf when the latter was sent by the Prussian king Frederick William II. to receive the allegiance of the new province of southern Prussia ("Das Jahr 1793", p. 16, note, Posen, 1895). Rabbi Aaron Mirels, the author of the "Bet Aharon", is buried in the cemetery at Hirschberg in Silesia. In Wreschen, Malbim wrote his first work, the collection of annotations on the first chapters of the Shulḥan 'Aruk, Oraḥ Ḥayyim, which laid the foundation of his renown as a scholar. In Wreschen, moreover, the musical director Louis Lewandowski was born April 3, 1821.

In 1905 the Jewish population of Wreschen numbered 490 out of a total population of 5,435.

Września school strike of 1901

Września is known in Poland for a school strike by Polish children in May 1901 in response to the intensification of Germanization (i.e. prohibition of the Polish language at school). The Polish language had long been tolerated in the schools, so the introduction of German as mandatory language led to protests. The controversy led to drawn-out protests between parents and authorities. For refusing to speak German, Polish children were severely beaten by Prussian teachers for several hours. Parents who tried to break into the school and protect their children from Prussian teachers were punished later by a Prussian court stating that their actions were "atrocious acts against the state". [http://www.sdw.icpnet.pl/historia.html] The strike spread to neighboring cities and eventually ended in 1904.

Education

* Wyższa Szkoła Handlu i Rachunkowości w Poznaniu, Wydział Zamiejscowy we Wrześni

People

* Zygmunt Gorgolewski
* Louis Lewandowski, Jewish musician
* Rabbi Malbim
* Mirels Rabbinical family
* Jarosław Kukulski Polish composer

See also

* Września County
* Kreis Wreschen / Landkreis Wreschen

External links

* [http://www.wrzesnia.pl Września]
* [http://www.sdw.icpnet.pl Poland-wide competition for school children, dedicated to the one-hundredth anniversary of the school strike in Września]

References

* [http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=289&letter=W Article on JewishEncyclopedia.com] By: Gotthard Deutsch & M. Lewin