Berek Joselewicz

Berek Joselewicz, Berek, son of Josel (Joseph ), Hebrew דוב בער Dov Ber (* ~ 1764 in Kretinga, Grand Duchy of Lithuania; † May 5, 1809 in Kock near Lublin ) was a Jewish colonel in the Polish Army, a 1794 Jewish cavalry unit aufstellte and commanded in the Kościuszko uprising against the Russian troops. He fell in 1809 at the head of a squadron of the army of the Duchy of Warsaw in the Battle of Kock against Austria. He is revered as both Polish and Jewish freedom fighters.

Joselewicz was probably born on September 17, 1764 in the Lithuanian Kretinga, a small town about 12 km east of the port city of Palanga and 25 km north of Klaipeda, with a Jewish population of 14 families (1771 ), where he received a traditional Jewish education. At first he was administrator of the local prince and bishop of Vilnius Prince Massalski, in whose behalf he also toured Western Europe. He then worked as a dealer in Vilnius and later in the Warsaw suburb of Praga, supplying the army with particular goods.

After the second partition of Poland Joselewicz supported the Polish insurrection under Tadeusz Kosciuszko, in the hope that this would bring the Jews equality with the Christians in the Kingdom of Poland. 1794 was formed on his initiative and Jozef Aronowiczs a Jewish cavalry unit. In September Kościuszko appointed him colonel. In an appeal in October, Joselewicz turned in biblical words to the Jews of Poland-Lithuania to join the regiment. The number of Jewish fighters who followed his call is not known, many of them fell to the Russian assault on Praga on 4 November in 1794. The rest of the regiment made ​​his way to France, the Polish Legion under Napoleon joined and participated later in the establishment of the Duchy of Warsaw. Joselewicz made ​​against it in Lviv in now belonging to the Austrian monarchy Galicia down. His proposal to form a troupe of Jewish volunteers in the Austrian army was defeated in Vienna.

Joselewicz became an officer in the Polish Legion under General Jan Henryk Dabrowski and fought in Italy and Germany on the French side. After the Peace of Luneville in February 1801, he requested discharge from the army, probably because of difficulties to which he was exposed as a Jew and in the conviction that a liberation of Poland by the Polish Legion was hopeless. In 1803 he joined the under French command legion of Hanoverian Dragoons and fought in France, Austria and Italy. After the establishment of the Duchy of Warsaw in 1807, he returned back to Poland, where he commanded a cavalry squadron. On 5 May 1809, he fell in battle against the Austrian army hussars at Kock, where a monument was erected in his honor.

Joselewiczs widow received a pension and allowed to settle in an otherwise closed to the Jews of Warsaw. Joselewiczs grave in Kock is visited today. For the centenary of his death, a memorial stone was erected, with the following text:

" Berek Joselewicz - Józef Berkowicz Berkowel, born in 1760 in Kretynga in Lithuania. Colonel of the Polish Army, leader of a squadron of the 5th cavalry regiment of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw, Knight of the Legion of Honour and of the Order Virtuti Militari. He fell in 1809 at the Battle of Kock. He is buried here. Not by dizziness or drinking he has acquired fame, but with his blood. "

For the two-hundredth anniversary of his death was simultaneously issued a special stamp with a portrait of Juliusz Kossak Joselewiczs 2009 in Poland and Israel.

Joselewiczs son Józef Berkowicz (1789-1846) was also an officer in the Polish Legion fought in the Battle of Kock and took part in the Russian campaign of Napoleon.