Krojanke

General information: First Jewish presence: 1557; peak Jewish population: 693 in 1799 (44% of the total population); Jewish population in 1933: unknown (146 in 1936)
Summary: The earliest record of a Jewish presence in Krojanke (presentday Krajenka, Poland) is dated 1447. We also know that the town was home to a rabbi, a cemetery and a synagogue by 1682. When Prussia annexed Krojanke from Poland in 1772, approximately 200 Jews lived in the town. By the early 19th century, nearly half of the town’s population was Jewish. Erich Wolfsfeld, a renowned Jewish painter and graphic artist, was a native of Krojanke. The Jewish population of Krojanke had dwindled significantly by the time the Nazis came to power. On Pogrom Night, the synagogue was destroyed and the town’s remaining Jewish men were sent to Sachsenhausen. In March 1940, Krojanke’s remaining Jews were interned in a camp near Schneidemuehl and, later, deported to the East, where they perished.
Author / Sources: Fred Gottlieb
Sources: EJL, FJG, LJG
Located in: posen-west-prussia