Glogau

GLOGAU (Pol. Głogó), town in Silesia, W. Poland. Jews are first mentioned there in 1280. In 1299 the duke of Gross-Glogau granted them a charter of privileges. The community possessed a cemetery, a synagogue, inhabited a "Jews' lane," and engaged in moneylending, and the cloth and fur trade. The Jews of Glogau escaped persecution during the *Black Death, 1348–49, but in 1401 two Jews were burned to death for an alleged *Host desecration, and the synagogue and other buildings were destroyed in a riot by the populace in 1442. The community subsequently recovered and prospered until 1488, when Duke Hans, after first taxing them heavily, expelled them. Nevertheless, a few Jews continued to live outside the city bounds. After the expulsion of Silesian Jewry in 1582 the family of Israel Benedict was allowed to live in Glogau and received a letter of privilege in 1598. Protected by this, other members of his family and numerous fictitious relatives flocked to the city from Poland and Prague. A Jewish quarter was organized and a synagogue built in 1636. Despite the sufferings caused by the Thirty Years' War, the plague, a general conflagration in 1678, and local opposition, the community grew from 81 families in 1673 to 1,564 persons in 1725. After it returned to Prussia in 1745. *Frederick II confirmed the limited rights of the community. One of the most prosperous communities in Central Europe, Glogau Jewry overshadowed that of *Breslau. From the beginning of the 18^th century, the community possessed its own seal. The Jewish population gradually outgrew the confines of the Jewish quarter and totaled 2,000 in 1791 (one-fifth of Silesian Jewry). In the 19^th century, the community decreased from 1,516 in 1812 (12% of the total population) to 1,010 in 1880 (5.4%), and 716 in 1900. Solomon and Eduard *Munk, Michael *Sachs, and David and Paulus *Cassel were born in Glogau. Solomon *Maimon was buried in the old cemetery. The community remained approximately the same size (around 600) until 1933. Many left during the Nazi persecutions and their numbers had declined to 120 by 1939. Most were deported to the East from March 1942. The community was not reestablished after World War II.

Sources: Encyclopaedia Judaica. © 2007 The Gale Group. All Rights Reserved.