In 1674, they constituted a group of 37 people (11.1% of the town's total population), in 1777 - 101 (21.6%), in 1784 - 224, in 1793 - 321 (33.3%), in 1816 - 208 (22.7%), in 1819 - 335 (25.1%), in 1825 - 371 (24.1%), in 1830 - 531 (33.2%), in 1840 - 548 (32,2%), in 1845 - 588 (29.8%), in 1850 - 575 (29.9%), in 1855 - 563 (29.1%), in 1861 - 527 (28.3%), in 1871 - 435 (19.8%), in 1885 - 382 (14.7%), in 1895 - 292 (8.3%), in 1905 - 223 (4.3%), in 1910 - 202 (3.2%), in 1921 - 113 (1.6%), in 1932 - approx. 50, w 1939 - 52.

With demographic growth in the 18th century, Żydowska Street (Polish: ul. Żydowska) was formed adjacent to the Market Square. The Jewish Community Co-operative had a synagogue in 1686; it was situated in Kozia Street (Polish: ul. Kozia). According to data from 1752, another synagogue was located in Żydowska Street. From the 17th century, a cheder, a ritual bath, and a Jewish well were functioning next to the synagogue. A fire that broke out on 21 May 1773 destroyed a large part of the city, including Żydowska Street. Twenty houses and 40 other buildings with warehouses, distilleries and a synagogue were burnt. The latter was rebuilt before 1793. Another, a brick one, was built in 1841-1843. The synagogue was devastated during World War II, and after 1945 it was turned into a warehouse, then into a school gymnasium. The building of the former synagogue is nowadays located in Mała Street (Polish: ul. Mała).

Rabbis provided religious services. At the beginning of the settlement, many of them included Aron ben Mordechai Zwi, Mordechai Yitzchak Zwi ben Schimon, Israel ben Nachman (called Morenu) Josef ben Israel Zwi, Menachem ben Mordechai Chaim. In the second half of the 19th century, the rabbis represented a current far removed from religious orthodoxy, preferring moderate reforms. In 1842, the beit ha-midrash was no longer in operation, but sermons were not yet preached in German. The last community rabbis were: Nachum Jacob Gotthelf (rabbi in Jarocin from 1817 until he died in 1852), Jacob Auerbach (d. 1860), Rosenthal (from 1861, simultaneously a ritual slaughterer) and S. M. Bloch (from 1868 until he died in 1903). After Bloch, the rabbinate remained vacant. From 1 September 1906, the Jews of Jarocin were subject to the rabbinate in Koźmin.

Various organisations supported the municipality's activities, which were given the status of associations in the 19th century. These included the Chevra Kadisha Funeral Association (Chevra Kadischa Verein), the Israelite Women's Association (Israelitische Frauenverein), the Talmud-Torah Association (Talmud Torah Verein), and the Israelite Association of the Poor (Israelitische Armenverein). Jewish children and young people attended a folk school (Volksschule) and a religious Talmud-Torah school. At the turn of the 20th century, there were 30 and 20 pupils, respectively.

In the Second Republic, the community was no longer able to provide proper services to its members. In 1932, it was incorporated into the Jewish community of Środa Wielkopolska, together with other communities from the districts of Jarocin, Września, Śrem and Środa Śląska.

After the outbreak of war on 22 October 1939, the Germans arrested 50 local Jews and seven from neighbouring towns and deported them to Łodź. The Germans took the remaining Jews from the Jarocin district to the Jarocin Market Square on 9 November 1939. The next day, they were also deported.

The Description

The property of the municipality also included a cemetery. It was built in the second half of the 18th century. It was located outside the town on the then road to Mieszkowo and Poznań. With time, it was within the town boundaries, on its outskirts. Its current address is 32 Poznańska Street (Polish: ul. Poznańska 32). On its grounds, on the inside of a high brick wall, a funeral house with a mortuary and a funeral hall was built on a rectangular plan. Outside, just inside the outer wall, adjacent to the road, there was an overseer's house with buildings. Both appear on period maps and plans.

Today, the pre-burial house no longer exists, having probably been destroyed, like the cemetery itself, during World War II. Only the overseer's building has survived. The cemetery itself is neglected and overgrown with trees.

References

• D. Dąbrowska, Zagłada skupisk żydowskich w „Kraju Warty” w okresie okupacji hitlerowskiej, „Biuletyn Żydowskiego Instytutu Historycznego w Warszawie” 1955, no. 13–14.
• Dzieje Jarocina, ed. Cz. Łuczak, Poznań 1998.
• Z. Guldon, J. Wijaczka, Osadnictwo żydowskie w województwach poznańskim i kaliskim w XVI-XVII wieku, "Biuletyn Żydowskiego Instytutu Historycznego" 1992, no. 2-3.
• Heppner, A. Herzberg, Aus Verganheit und Gegenwart der Juden und der jüdischen Gemeinden in den Posener Landen, Koschmin – Bromberg 1904–1909.
• S. Kemlein, Żydzi w Wielkim Księstwie Poznańskim 1815-1848, Poznań 2001;
• A. Skupień, Ludność żydowska w województwie poznańskim w latach 1919-1938, Poznań 2007.

Właściciel praw autorskich do opisu: Muzeum Historii Żydów Polskich POLIN.