Stettin

District of Pomerania, with its capital of the same name. On Dec. 2, 1261, Duke Barnim I. of Pomerania ordered that the Jews of Stettin, and those of other parts of his duchy, should enjoy rights similar to those accorded the Jews of Magdeburg. But less than three years later (July 26, 1264) he permitted the town of Greifswald to expel its Jews and to forbid them to return. The reason for this action is said to have been that the Jews had acquired control of the mint. In the seventeenth century Glückel of Hameln was a resident of the city of Stettin. Since the middle of the nineteenth century there has existed in the city a Hebrew printing-press, from which Buxtorf's "Concordance" was issued in 1856, and the Shulḥan 'Aruk in 1862 (2 vols.).

The entire district of Stettin contains 6,416 Jews in a total population of 1,634,654. The capital, Stettin, contains 3,000 Jews. Its present (1905) rabbi is H. Vogelstein. The community maintains a Jewish orphan asylum; a Jewish infirmary, with which is connected an endowment society; and seven other benevolent societies.

Next in importance is Stargard with 600 Jews. The present rabbi is Dr. Silberstein; and the leading benevolent institution is a hospital for the poor, founded by Reisemann. The town of Pasewalk contains 164 Jews; its present rabbi is E. Finkel; and there are four Jewish benevolent societies. To the rabbinate of Posewalk belong the communities of Demmin, Greifswald, Stralsund, Swinemünde, and Uekermünde, together with the entire district of Cöslin.

Bibliography:

  * Aronius, Regesten, p. 283, No. 678;
  * Die Memoiren der Glückel von Hameln, ed. Kaufmann, pp. 155-165, Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1896;
  * Kohut, Gesch. der Deutschen Juden, pp. 227, 337, 634, 800;
  * Statistisches Jahrbuch, 1903, pp. 23-26.



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