Ludność żydowska w miastach województwa podlaskiego w końcu XVIII wieku

Abstract

Statistical data demonstrate that the censuses numbering Jewish population conducted prior to the Partitions in the years 1765-1790 give doubtful results for the whole Rzeczpospolita (Polish state), and hence, within its borders, also for the Podlasie Voivodship. The census conducted by Prussian authorities ni 1799 gives the number over a half higher than those obtained in the censuses from the last years of Rzeczpospolita. And then even Prussian censuses tended not to be complete. In the literature of the subject it is stressed that Jews avoided censuses to evade taxes and for religious reasons (the reference was the story from the Bible of King David's sinful attempt to count his subjects which caused God's anger). It is suggested that the study of civil documents concerning the Jewish population from the first half of the 19th century may have signijicance for the estimates of the population in the period prior to the Partitions. The Podlaskie Voivodship belonged to the least urbanized areas of Korona. From the data of 1765 it appears that in the towns of this voivodship there were over 19 000 Jewish people over 1 year old. From the census data for other parts of Poland it appears that the results of this census present the data at least 32% lowered in relation to reality. According to the Prussian sources from 1799, Jews were to constitute about 35,8% of the whole urban population of the previous Podlaskie Voivodship. This made exceptional percentage for the whole Korona (Poland). It seems that this situation was caused by low urbanization of Podlasie as well as the lack of church towns closed for Jewish settlements. The paper contains tables indicating the number of homesteads and Jewish population in the towns of Podlasie in the years 1765-1799.